Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal

Will Work For Food: Fresh Taste Festival Recap

You may or may not know that Minnesota Monthly is a sister publication to Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal. So when the office started to buzz with preparations for Minnesota Monthly's Fresh Taste Festival, a light went off in my little foodie head. If I volunteer to help at the festival, I thought, I'll be able to nibble fancy snacks and hobnob with local chefs and organic produce suppliers ALL DAY! So I showed up, helped out, made new foodie friends and had a generally delicious time. Here are some highlights:

• With the folks at the PastureLand Coop booth, I discussed (and tasted) the merits of butter from grass-fed cattle. I've seriously never had butter this delicious. It was just butter on bread, and yet when I tasted it, I momentarily forgot there was any other food in the room. Corner Table Chef/Owner Scott Pampuch was just a few booths away, cooking up popcorn with PastureLand's butter and serving it in very tiny, very cute brown paper bags.
• And then I smelled the bacon and burger patties at the Thousand Hills Cattle Company booth. (This is probably the only thing that could have torn me away from that creamy, rich, golden-yellow butter.) If you're not familiar with the Cannon Falls-based beef supplier, go to The Strip Club in St. Paul, where Chef JD Fratzke (who did a demo at the festival) uses only beef from Thousand Hills Cattle Company. Order a steak there and taste the difference compared to a traditional steak from a grain-fed steer. It's funny that we call grain-fed beef "traditional" since cattle are ruminants and evolved to eat only grass--not the diet of corn and soy that we feed them today. I'll hold off on my diatribe about grass-fed beef and point you to Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl's take on the Thousand Hills Cattle Co. beef at The Strip Club, and this article from TIME.
• Two of my other favorites were the Chowgirls Catering booth (See those deviled eggs up there? You want one dontcha?) and the offerings from the folks at Birchwood Café (pictured at left). Whatever turkey gave his life for the cilantro-lime turkey salad made a noble sacrifice indeed. It was the brightest, summery-est thing I tasted all day. Also, their brownies made with Peace Coffee espresso were Killer. Yes, that's a capital "K."
• Speaking of dessert, I only was able to watch one of the three cooking demos, but I picked a good one. Michelle Gayer, confectioner extraordinaire, made plum- and cream-filled brioche while chatting with moderator Sue Zelickson about how she started baking, the many accolades she's earned and of course her year-old bakery inside the Midtown Global Market, The Salty Tart. Do yourself a favor and stop by for no reason whatsoever. Don't wait for a special birthday cake order, just go. The shop is cute as a button, with all the cakes and pastries displayed with as much love and care as the bakers put into making them. It's everything a bakery should be and it just makes you feel happy.

Yes, it was a good day. We're lucky to have so many catering companies, chefs, restaurants, bakers and produce suppliers in Minnesota who care about real food that's healthy, sustainable and delicious.

--Marni Ginther
Assistant Editor

Food and Dining News: August

IN THIS EDITION: Downtown's restaurant ruckus, Gettin' fresh at the Fresh Taste Festival, and Julie and Julia and ... my mom

Ok, Ok it's not really a ruckus here in the center of Minneapolis, I just really like that word and it made a nice alliteration with "restaurant." But with July's closing of Bellanotte and Morton's, plus the earlier news of D'Amico moving into the Chambers Kitchen space and the Oceanaire filing for Chaper 11, downtown dining has taken some pretty big blows in the last month. A lot of the trouble is concentrated along Hennepin Avenue and around Block E, an area already full of boarded windows and "for lease" signs. Bill Ward at the Star Tribune has a great article on the whole situation and talks to some folks right in the thick of it, including Craig Ritacco, manager of Mission American Kitchen and Solera owner Josh Thoma. It would be easy for Ward to write an article portending the doom of downtown dining, but he reminds us that we're in the middle of a recession, construction has the whole neighborhood looking like a war zone, and yet, new places are still opening up. (The Guthrie's Sea Change and Randy Norman's soon-to-open OM in the old Nate's Clothing spot are just two examples.) So there are just a whole lot of shake-ups going on. And although it's sad to see places closing, there are just as many (if not more) new places opening. Check out the City Pages Hot Dish blog, where Rachel Hutton does a monthly roundup of openings and closings. 

You know what else you should do? Come to the Fresh Taste Festival at the Nicollet Island Pavilion this Sunday, August 9! I'll be there! If you need a reason beyond that (although I can't imagine why) here are a few:

• Cooking demos by: The Strip Club's JD Fratzke, The Salty Tart's Michelle Gayer and Raghavan Iyer,  co-founder of the Asian Culinary Arts Institute and menu designer for OM. 
• Sample tasty victuals and libations from exhibitors on the leading edge of the local, sustainable and organic food movement.
• Proceeds go to Minnesota Public Radio
• Fresh Taste partners with Eureka Recycling to create a "zero waste" event--last year's event produced ONE bag of trash. That's it.

 And finally, you probably don't need anyone to tell you how delightful Julie & Julia is--but just let me tell you. It's delightful. I went to an advance screening with my mom on Wednesday and today it's open everywhere. I might go see it again.
Mom and I have loved Julia for a long time. I can trace this love back to a particular holiday episode of Martha Stewart's show on which the legendary cook made a guest appearance to bake croquembouche. This seemed an insanely elaborate undertaking for a home cook, involving stacking profiteroles into a pyramid and covering them with caramel threads. My mom and I couldn't stop laughing because Martha's wasn't turning out so well and she was clearly miffed at being upstaged by the shrill old lady. Rick Nelson has a funny post about his own personal story around the movie, involving the only time he ever met Julie Powell at the James Beard Awards.
How about you? Are you going to see the movie? Have either of these women influenced the way you think about food or cooking? 

--Marni Ginther
Assistant Edior

Photos: Julie & Julia from Sony Pictures, Fresh Taste by Jennifer Cress

Food and Dining News

Alrighty folks. I've been slacking over the Fourth of July holiday--and definitely hope you've all been doing the same. So here is my overdue monthly roundup of hospitality-related dining news.

IN THIS EDITION: D'Amico and Chambers: a match made in heaven? Plus, local chefs and restaurateurs get their bloggin’ on, while others hop on the composting train.

I’m sure by now you’ve all heard the hubbub about Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Chambers Kitchen leaving the  boutique art hotel to be replaced with a new D’Amico concept. It will be an Italian restaurant, but that’s all anyone seems to know at this point. The announcement came a few weeks after news that D’Amico Cucina would be closing near the end of June after a 22-year run in the Butler Square building. There are plenty of bloggers breaking this news faster than I can, with more details (Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, Andrew Zimmern, for instance) but I would like to direct your attention to one thing. Two years ago when Cucina celebrated its 20th birthday, Rick Nelson at the Star Tribune ran this piece featuring comments from the many talented local chefs who got their start in the D’Amico restaurants. I bet there are more than you realize—including Josh Thoma and Tim McKee, who I profiled in our summer issue. The company has been so influential in the Twin Cities' restaurant scene, it will be exciting to see what D'Amico creates in partnering with Ralph Burnet at Chambers.

Tomorrow: Earth Hour 2009

Special Events has a nice article on some venues in Toronto and Arizona that plan to participate in Earth Hour 2009 by shutting off their lights tomorrow, March 28, between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. 

Begun in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour is organized by the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness for global warming. Last year, 50 million people switched off their lights in support, and world landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all went dark. This year, lights at the Acropolis in Athens, the pyramids in Giza and the Empire State Building will also participate. Will you?

--Marni Ginther
Assistant Editor

New Sustainability Report Released

We at Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal have been talking about sustainability for meetings and events for a long time on this blog and we have even planned a green meetings panel at our State of the Industry event (Feb. 3, 2009, at the Westin Edina Galleria), so its no surprise that today's release of the State of the 2009 Sustainable Meeting Industry by Meetings Strategies Worldwide caught our eye.

In the announcement, Nancy J. Wilson, CMP, Meeting Strategies Worldwide, said, “We are proud to present our inaugural 2009 State of the Sustainable Meeting Industry report. Trends and forecasts speak to continued economic challenges and increased demand for sustainable meetings. Both present a perfect storm of conditions to continue to motivate all of us to improve the value of what we do by exploring new ideas to be most sustainable and maximize return on investment."

Green Scene: A Case Study in Tradeshow Waste

In this industry, we know that tradeshows accumulate a lot of waste. I came across this post on TreeHugger by Tom Szaky of Trenton, N.J.-based TerraCycle. In his post, he applauds the Eco Gift Festival (held this past December) for its goal of being 100 percent waste free.

While the tradeshow, which had hundreds of exhibitors, didn't reach its goal, it did manage to be nearly 90 percent waste free. Quite the accomplishment, I must say. Some of the methods the conference implemented include: setting up Resource Recovery Stations to help exhibitors dispose of their waste in a friendly manner, in turn educating people on what is, in fact, recyclable; using linen tablecloths; packaging food in biodegradable ware; and using a green printer - with vegetable-based ink and recycled paper - for all printed materials.

Even if Eco Gift hadn't nearly accomplish its goal, the effort that the tradeshow put forth just to try is pretty impressive. I would be interested to know if the efforts cost a considerable amount more, or if in the end, they ended up saving money. Also, while Szaky seemed thrilled with the show, it would be interesting to hear from other exhibitors that attended as well about how they responded to the recycling stations, in particular.

What do you think? Did Eco Gift go above and beyond, or with a little extra work, could we all accomplish a 90-percent waste-free tradeshow?

[Note: While both the TreeHugger post and Eco Gift's Web site state that the tradeshow industry is the second-most wasteful behind construction, if you read the comments posted on TreeHugger, you'll see that stat has been refuted.]

[UPDATE 1-8-09: Today I received the latest issue of Event Marketer magazine, which discusses "The Green Movement" of events and tradeshows in great depth. The stories are very interesting from Wal-mart's aim for a green annual meeting; Oracle's greenest OpenWorld event in its history; Method's super-eco pop-up stores and after-hours events; and a plethora of other tips for greening your events and your life. While I know it can feel like we're talking green, green, green all the time, I actually learned a lot from EM's coverage, so I definitely say give it a read.]

--Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

Update: Green association misses its mark

In the Openers section of our fall issue, I wrote a short blurb about the new Association of Green Meetings & Events (AGME). The association planned to provide planners with information about executing green events, as well as provide a Certification in Green Meetings & Events (CGME).

Unfortunately, the AGME and its CGME turned out to be too good to be true. According to this article from Corporate Meetings & Incentives, AGME hasn't provided its 200 some members with their promised benefits and has yet to incorporate under Georgia law. Co-founder Loriann White also lost several of her top executives, including her chief knowledge officer and VP of membership, and ended up canceling the August annual meeting. In the article, White says the organization grew too fast and she's hoping to rebuild in the new year. She may have some competition though, as the article makes mention of first-ever chapters of the Green Meeting Industry Council that may soon spring up around the country.

Please read the article for the latest information.

--Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

Seeing Green

Are you bombarded with news promoting feel-good green initiatives from every vendor on your list? Are you trying to green your meetings in a way that will really make a difference, but don’t know where to start? Pretty much every industry has been swept up in this “green” tide and for the most part it’s a good thing. But it also breeds lots of confusion and “greenwashing” (basically when companies exaggerate how good their products and services really are for the environment). In our upcoming State of the Industry issue, part of what I tried to do was to wrap my head around green meetings—what’s legit, what’s not, what’s happening now and what’s next.

You’ll have to wait for the issue to get the full story, but I wanted to share a resource that’s been great. The Green Meeting is simple and refreshing in an era when it seems everyone is trying to tell you about “Five Easy Steps To Green Your Meeting.” Instead of telling you how to green your meeting, The Green Meeting folks simply bring you daily news updates of happenings in the sustainable meetings arena. Vancouver’s convention complex just finished a green roof. The Hawaii Big Island Visitors Bureau launched a Web site instructing tourists on how to visit the island responsibly. A hotel and meeting center in Rockville, Md., is switching to 100-percent wind power electricity.

Reading these little tidbits every day gave me a fuller picture of which hospitality industry players are leading the way, how often and how many green initiatives are underway (more than I realized), and after a while I felt I had a better overall understanding of the lay of the land in terms of green meetings.

While there are tons of reliable resources out there that show planners how to organize more sustainable meetings, (which you can read about in the winter issue) it can be overwhelming. The reality is, there is no checklist of steps toward perfectly “green meetings.” It’s a process. And the beginning of that process is learning about what’s out there and being a savvy consumer of information. At least in my humble opinion, The Green Meeting makes it easy to take that first step.

--Marni Ginther
Assistant Editor

The Target Center's Green Roof and Kudos for Central Library

In the last week or so, there have been a few developments in among talk of the Target Center getting a makeover. Last Wednesday Minnpost reported that Tim Leiweke, CEO of AEG, the company that's been managing the facility for the past 18 months, met with Mayor R.T. Rybak and Timberwolves executives to talk about reviving the space. Then yesterday, Finance & Commerce reported that images of plans for the long-talked-of green roof for the center have been unveiled. The report says that at 113,000 square feet, it will be Minnesota's largest green roof and it will be finished in 2009.

One more downtown Minneapolis tidbit: MSN City Guides has included the Minneapolis Central Library on its list of America's Coolest Public Libraries. We already knew it was cool, but it's nice that other folks are realizing that too!

--Marni Ginther
Assistant Editor

TripAdvisor Forecasts 2009 Travel Trends

TripAdvisor, the online travel community, released a report yesterday of travel trends for 2009 along with its TravelCast list of emerging popular destinations both worldwide and in the U.S.

But some of the most interesting information deals with shifts in consumer choices. Overall, the study shows people are not only talking about taking “green” and active vacations, but actually doing it. Seventy-three percent of U.S. respondents said they plan on visiting a national park in 2009 and 53 percent will go hiking. Both those numbers are up from last year. Also, 34 percent of U.S. respondents said they will visit an environmentally friendly hotel or resort.

PHOTO: Budoni in Sardinia, Italy, TripAdvisor's Top Emerging World Hotspot for 2009