Women in Food of WNY presents:
Cooking Class with Farm-to-Table Coordinator, Bethany Ortquist + Guest, Nina Adam
Cultural Cooking: Lu Dan + Sukuma Wiki
Bethany & Nina in the kitchen at MAP, cooking together.
Join me (Missy) along with Alex Levine from Yelp as your hostess and host for this Virtual gathering of the Women in Food of WNY. In this Free Class with Bethany Ortquist, Farm-to-Table Coordinator at Massachusetts Ave. Project (MAP) along with MAP Youth Graduate, Nina Adams they’ll help us to explore how food can connect us to our own culture or that of another part of the world.
Eggs are such a versatile food and in some cases can be a whole nutrition. Bethany will show us a style of preparing eggs from her culture called Lu Dan - Soy Marinated Eggs. This style of egg adds layers of flavor and creates an egg that can easily be added to any other dish you may be making.
Greens, like collards or kale, are also a great source of vitamins and grow readily all season long, but sometimes ways to use them seem boring. Nina will teach us how to jazz up our greens, in her traditional East African style - with tomatoes.
Along the way, we’ll be talking about the relationship between food and culture. Food is such a universal experience and basic need for all living beings. It is something that can connect us: to one another, to a place, a culture, or familiar comfort. Food can also take us on wild adventures into the unknown. It is the gateway to our shared humanity.
Learn with Bethany & Nina about how Mass Ave project shares food with Young People and invites everyone who steps through their door to connect with one another on the common ground of nourishment. Along the way, I’ll be asking them questions and chatting about their food and farm journey, being women in food in WNY and whatever spontaneously comes in our shared storytelling. I’ll also share some bits about Crown HIll Farm and my own passion for food and YOU will have a chance to ask questions as you follow along with us!
Whether you cook along with us or just sit at the “table” and enjoy the conversation, I’m sure you’ll learn a few new things to add to your own culinary creations! In addition to learning with us during this live, play-along, how-to adventure in the kitchen with Bethany & Nina, you will get a copy of the recipes to use over & over again and revisit this delicious East African dish!
About Bethany Ortquist: HMy first job in Buffalo after graduating Houghton College in 2011 was serving as an AmeriCorps member at the Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) where I headed up the cooking portion of their summer youth program. In 2018, I found my way back to MAP as their Farm-to-Table Coordinator.
In the years in between, I ran an after-school program where I oversaw school-year and summer programming for middle school refugee students. I was passionate about teaching my students life skills such as gardening, cooking, nutrition, and self-care, and I am excited to bring that passion to MAP. I live in a housing co-op with several friends and love being a part of the vibrant and diverse West Side community. I enjoy gardening, beekeeping, ultimate frisbee, and cuddling with my chickens.
Some of my earliest food memories are of my mom’s homemade Chinese food. I remember eating mei fan (stir fried rice noodles), jiaozi (dumplings), and fish ball soup throughout my childhood. My favorite home cooked meal by far was my mom’s Lu Dan, but back then my sister and I just called it chicken and eggs. The smell of star anise, ginger, soy sauce, and five spice powder would fill the whole house. Eaten over rice drenched in the savory marinade was the epitome of comfort food. To this day, it’s still one of my favorite dishes.
About Nina Adam: Hello, my name is Nina Adam. I’m seventeen years rising senior at Mckinley High School. Joining Massachusetts Avenue Project in the summer of 2017 was a great experience. I learned more about working with plants which inspired me to take a horticulture class in school. Starting at MAP I was really uncomfortable with my public speaking, I hated talking to a group or audience, I had more opportunity to practice my public speaking to people. I was able to make a podcast on an issue I strongly believed in I had to step out of my comfort zone to do presentations. I learned about issue that I never expect to exist in this world, like global warming, GFPP, nutrition values and locally grown food etc. After four years working at MAP I had opportunity to lead a youth caucus and make a workshop with my fellows at the Tomorrow’s Leaders conference. MAP has helped me grow as a youth activist.
About the Women in Food of WNY series: Being a solo Woman Farmer and Woman Entrepreneur I have always kept my eye out for fellow women in business with whom to connect (and commiserate). As i’ve established myself in the WNY area, I have loved meeting new chefs and farmers alike. However, one thing that I noticed was a serious lack in attention towards women Chefs and Farmers of the region, despite the fact that there are many of us. Here at Crown Hill Farm, we love to host Farm-to-Table dinners featuring local chefs preparing seasonal foods. From there, I saw a vision: A series of dinners highlighting the women chefs of WNY. Now, in 2020 with COVID keeping us all away from social gatherings in person, I had to get creative while hanging on to this vision of featuring women in food in WNY. And so, after many conversations with incredible women, this series was born! This is the first step to what I hope will be a Conference of WNY Women in Food. For now, let’s gather around our respective kitchens to chat, cook and learn together.