Innovative cocktails, sustainable food creations and mealworms will all take center stage in Atlanta next weekend.
On Sunday, Oct. 22, Development in Gardening (DIG) will hold its food and drink fundraiser Cocktails & Castoffs where attendees can sample dishes and cocktails inspired by Africa from seven Atlanta chefs.
DIG is a nonprofit that teaches agroecology practices to marginalized communities in Africa. The program helps farmers build long-lasting food systems while they become more self-sufficient and food secure, said Sarah Koch, executive director and co-founder of DIG.
Cocktails & Castoffs gives attendees an opportunity to support DIG’s mission from Atlanta while learning about how they can incorporate more sustainable practices into their own kitchens.
“You’ll get to go on a journey throughout the room and try a bunch of different things that hopefully inspire you to try some different practices at home and get excited about the work that DIG is doing,” Koch said.
Each chef was given the challenge of developing a dish or beverage incorporating produce found in DIG gardens. Attendees will be able to taste each creation, speak with the chefs about the dish and learn how it connects to the larger idea of decreasing food waste and supporting more resilient food systems.
Building a resilient source of protein is what inspired Karim Nelson and Akissi Stokes to form WunderGrubs. They cultivate mealworms, an insect that requires very little water or space and can eat food scraps and styrofoam.
Events like Cocktails & Castoffs make their work seem less intimidating to curious foodies, Nelson said. They turn the mealworms into a powder that can be added to any kind of food, including one of their more popular treats, chocolate chip cookies.
Credit: Tyson Horne
Credit: Tyson Horne
Cocktails & Castoffs gives them a chance to experiment with different flavors and methods of incorporating the critters into food.
Other chefs hope to show people ways to decrease their food waste. Chef Mark Phillips of Southern Temptations said he tries to reuse the scraps and skins of vegetables in his own cooking by composting them. At the event, he said he plans to combine a type of rice grown in DIG gardens with vegetables and a tamarind, lemongrass and sesame oil sauce.
Credit: Courtesy of Wild Grain Photography
Credit: Courtesy of Wild Grain Photography
Demetrius Brown, executive chef of Bread and Butterfly in Inman Park, plans to highlight the food of Senegal with a salad made of fonio grain, which is similar to quinoa and can be grown in sandy soil without much water.
Brown said participating in this event was a “no-brainer” for him as he frequently highlights Caribbean and African American food and culture with his Heritage Supper Club pop-up.
When he launched Heritage, he began growing some of his own produce and tried his best to use every part of a plant to decrease waste. He continues to focus on decreasing waste at Bread & Butterfly.
“I want people to look deeper into the way they cook at home, the way they eat at home, to where people get more than one use out of one single ingredient,” he said.
Credit: Courtesy of Wild Grain Photography
Credit: Courtesy of Wild Grain Photography
Eating locally and in season is another lesson chefs hope to drive home with their dishes. Elijah Lee, professionally known as Chef Zu from Kings Apron, said he likely won’t know what he’s making for the event until he sees what local farmers have available.
He said he wants to show attendees the importance of “seasonality, nutrition and a new creative, innovative way to think about (a) plant-based lifestyle.”
Koch hopes the event helps people “understand how we’re connected through food.”
“Reducing our food waste is a really important step that we need to take, not just for our own farming and agricultural security in the United States, but for global farmers,” she said.
If You Go
Cocktails & Castoffs.
5:30-7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22. $50 suggested donation. Matchstic in Grant Park, 437 Memorial Drive SE, Atlanta. 619-274-7218, dig.org/projects/atlanta.
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