Menu: May 4, 2013

Steel Rail EPA
Berkshire Brewing Company

Persian Breakfast Tacos
A Tenuous Affair: catering for those with nothing on the line.
a.tenuous.affair (at) gmail (dot) com

• Venezuelan style refried beans with Morningstar Meadows' Jacob's cattle beans (Glover, VT) and PBR 
• Persian rice with barberries and fried onions
• Root vegetable hash from North Star Farm (N. Dartmouth, MA)
• Fresh corn tortillas from Tortillería La Niña (Everett, MA)
• Grilled cabbage slaw
• Pickled red onions
• Grafton Village cheddar (Brattleboro, VT)
• Cilantro paste
• Smokey ketchup
• Creamy jalapeño sauce
• Tosconini's ice cream with homemade Taza chocolate sauce (Cambridge, MA)

If you remember anything at all from this meal, you probably remember the smokey chipotle ketchup ("the taste of Home Depot") and the creamy jalapeño sauce. Recipe for the creamy jalapeño sauce can be found here: http://www.food.com/recipe/chuys-jalapeno-ranch-dip-the-real-deal-200577.

Feast 9!

Photos by Kelly Creedon.

PROPOSAL: We Come In Peace

Ian Deleón

Describe your project.

We Come In Peace is a performance art flash mob happening in and with the Villa Victoria community in the South End. The performance will take place on July 19, during the Festival Betances, an event that commemorates the struggles of Villa Victoria against gentrification as well as the Puerto Rican nationalist leader Betances, which worked for independence during the war with Spain.

The performance will feature a salvaged children’s playhouse, repurposed into a modern-day sedan chair. This symbol of colonization is being reclaimed and used to store dozens of Dymaxion globes (created with community members), which present a more spatially accurate, less Western-centric view of the world. These will be given out to the audience, along with information about Puerto Rico’s continued status as a colony, in a fun, procession-style way.

How will you use the grant?

The grant money will go towards hiring 4–5 performers to carry the sedan chair sculpture and participate in crowd engagement/handing out globes—also, materials to construct wooden support for the house, costuming for the performers, and for the assembly and decoration of these globes. 

Why and to whom is your project important?

The project is important in that it brings into a public sphere the often overlooked scope of the United States’ interventionist foreign policy. The public is for the most part, thinking about this in terms of Afghanistan, Iraq, etc—but I am interested in the Caribbean, how the U.S. came to occupy Cuba, Panama, the Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, etc, etc. My primary focus is to engage the Latin community of Villa Victoria and educate the public about their revolutionary history—this is important, especially in the context of the festival— shining light on the fact that Puerto Rico is one of the oldest colonies in the world, and has not stopped being one since the Spanish conquest. It’s about education, and a call to action.

PROPOSAL: Relish: Center For Urban Agriculture

Mimi Graney

Describe your project.

Relish is starting as a 7-month pop-up education and retail center in Union Square, Somerville. We will offer classes, workshops and supplies for all things related to urban agriculture, including beekeeping, chickens, small-scale farming, mushrooming, canning, and more. Relish Kids will run over summer break and vacations, offering week long classes for kids. If we are successful as a pop-up in 2013 we plan to continue into 2014 and beyond.

How will you use the grant?

The grant will pay for our initial retail items to help stock our shelves. Most urban farmers have to drive outside the city or order online for their supplies, and we would like to offer a decent selection of quality items. We will also use the money to paint our space and pay for our signs and banners.

Why and to whom is your project important?

There is not a center for urban agriculture in our metro area. There are many clubs, and city ordinances are starting to catch up with public interest. Our center will provide high quality instructors and accurate information for everyone interested in urban agriculture and home food-production, from seasoned urban farmers to those just becoming interested. Our classes will be hands-on, guiding aspiring urban farmers step by step as they implement their agriculture plans.

PROPOSAL: C.U.R.B.: Changing Urban Refuse in Boston

Emily Rath & Bricia Trejo

Describe your project.

Every trash day, we see numerous pieces of salvageable furniture sitting on the curb next to trash bags. At the same time, we see people finding ways to make ends meet, including rummaging through other people’s refuse.

The aim of our project is to take furniture and people off of the streets of Boston. We want to empower people by teaching them how to fix and refinish furniture. We want to share our knowledge and help people attain skills that can transfer to other opportunities and means of support. In a city filled with colleges, we believe that there is a market for this affordable and renewed furniture.

How will you use the grant?

Because our main supplies (paint and furniture) will be little to no cost, we will use this funding to cover promotional costs. These costs include creating a website along with a video that communicates our mission and our vision and will help garner support for our project. In the near future, we plan to rent a space to house the furniture.

Why and to whom is your project important?

Americans throw away an estimated 7.1 pounds of trash per day. Add it up, and over a lifetime this totals to more than 100 tons of trash. Statistics for 2005 estimated that 8.8 million tons of furniture ended up in U.S. landfills. Helping people make use of materials that would otherwise go into the landfill is not only about human empowerment but it is also about caring for our environment.

PROPOSAL: Project V

 Tome Barros, Sidney Baptista, Donny Tavares & Project V

Describe your project.

Project V is a free-admission block party in the middle of what are supposed to be the most dangerous streets of Boston. A block party, promoting responsible drinking, aimed at bringing peace and changing the image of young minorities. A peaceful block party that brought together young adults from every ethnicity in the heart of Boston in the middle of rival gang turfs! 5 guys, 1 dream, in what turned out to be the biggest block party in the history of Boston. What started as a party has turned into a movement to take back their streets! Project V was born.

We are in the early stages of planning for Project V 2 which will be held on July 20, 2013. This year the event will be a lot bigger.

Mission Statement: Established in 2012, Project  V is a Boston-based organization that seeks to increase civic engagement in what are historically underserved communities. Founded and managed by a group of young professionals, Project V works to combat stigmas associated with living in inner city communities by changing attitudes, building skills and creating powerful partnerships.

How will you use the grant? 

Money from the grant will go directly to funding the Project V event on July 20, 2013: paying for rental space, equipment and hiring security.

Why and to whom is your project important?

Project V is important to anyone who wants to enjoy a peaceful event in their neighborhood. The idea is to go against social norms and prove that inner city young adults can be peaceful.

PROPOSAL: The Community Bread Oven

Maria Khim

Describe your project.

Community Bread Oven builds outdoor brick ovens throughout neighborhoods in Boston, around which we host myriad events that encourage members to take an active role in food and community-building. These tangible ovens are built with and by the community and serve as delicious gathering
spots for various forms of sharing, learning, celebrating, and eating.

The beauty of the outdoor brick ovens that CBO builds is that they set up a scene for what can be a community event, a social experiment, a film, a fresh-out-of-the-oven meal, and a temporary or permanent installation.

CBO works alongside various groups including community gardens, food-based causes, schools, and other engaged community members. Along with these partners, CBO hosts various events such as including fresh pizza-baking events, oven-building and food/nutrition workshops, and farmer’s markets. 

We want to revolutionize how people interact with food. In our most recent summer program, we facilitated weekly farmer’s markets at Tobin in Roxbury, a local community center. Children between the ages of 8 and 13 hosted their own farmer’s markets, created homemade dishes out of fresh produce, and participated in hands-on workshops based around an outdoor brick oven that they had painted and built themselves.

CBO is a social enterprise dedicated to enriching public spaces and opening up cultural and nutritional dialogue.

How will you use the grant?

We will use the grant to fund the building of two subsequent community bread ovens and to host open community events including farmers markets and fresh-pizza baking. More specifically, we would use the grant to:

• Buy bricks, metal, and paint for oven-building
• An oven can be built with as low as ~$100 in material costs
• Procure produce for farmer’s market and pizza-baking events
• CBO is able to procure produce at low cost from local food-rescue programs such as Fair Foods
• Cover labor costs (adult and youth)
• CBO partners with other community organizations, including community centers, to host programs and events and make an effort to compensate those who help support and facilitate the program, including youth.

Why and to whom is your project important?

CBO has identified a missed opportunity in the breadth of underutilized resources in our community: unused public spaces, fresh food and produce, and the community members themselves (including youth) to address the need for initiatives that community members with the tools to take back their health and contribute to building meaningful community spaces.

 We want to make fresh food accessible, easy, and fun—especially for youth—while also getting communities to buy in to the process through a real involvement and stake in the program.

PROPOSAL: A Farm Year

Kelly Burgess

Describe your project.

A Farm Year is a photographic documentary project about Busa Farm in Lexington, MA. Busa Farm has been owned and run by the Busa family since 1919. This current generation’s farmer, Dennis, is going to be the last Busa to be able to own and work the land. I am working on documenting the family’s last year as farmers from January to December.

How will you use the grant?

The photographs themselves are already being shot and will continue for the duration of the farming year. Once that has concluded, I am looking to put together an exhibition as well as a book of photographs and writings. The writings will be my own observations from shooting the land as well as writing from the family members and community about what having the farm has added to the life of Lexington and surrounding towns. The grant will be used to produce the exhibition: framing, space, publicity and reception; as well as the book: publication, printing and marketing.

Why and to whom is your project important?

On a smaller scale, the project is important to the Lexington community. It will bring awareness to local eating, sustainable living, and how those can be done in the Northeast. By producing an exhibition and book, I hope to bring community awareness to what the land can offer. On a larger scale, it will show the importance of farmers such as the Busa family. The project will bring attention to the effects of the current food market and how it is quickly eliminating locally grown food from the marketplace and putting family farms out of business.

PROPOSAL: Community Mural on Somerville’s First Urban Farm

Kristin DelViscio — winner, $950

Describe your project.

Somerville’s first urban farm is South Street Farm, built in April 2012 by a team of teenagers working to, in their words, “Create Life!” The farm sits on a previously abandoned parking lot on the edge of the city, amid brownfields and junkyards. Every harvest is sold at the Mystic Mobile Market in low income neighborhoods and donated to local food pantries. Building this farm has created positive momentum within the Somerville community for growing local organic food. South Street Farm is nestled on land near a future Green Line extension stop. At the moment, the space is bordered by a 9-foot corrugated fence, which, in a post-industrial kind of way, is an interesting feature. In order to solidify this as a community space which accommodates people of all socioeconomic brackets, we are painting a mural to reflect important elements of this community in addition to improving the aesthetic quality of the farm. We’re not just going to slap on any mural though, we’re painting a data mural! The mural we want to paint will visually represent both food deserts and solutions regarding hunger within Somerville. The purpose of a data mural is not just to beautify the farm but also to display useful information and resources around support for hunger relief in Somerville.

How will you use the grant?

The grant will be used to hire a local artist, the wonderful Emily Bhargava, who will lead a community data mural workshop to create an appropriate visual out of the quantitative data on hunger in Somerville. Emily’s extensive experience painting data murals in South America and the U.S. will ensure the visual will be created by the community and the mural itself will be engaging for all viewers. Funds will also go towards paint and materials for volunteers to prep and prime the fence.

Why and to whom is your project important?

Somerville is the most densely populated city in New England, with 77% of its area paved. Among the slew of health equity concerns are access to fresh produce and a lack of green spaces in the city. South Street Farm not only empowers underserved teenagers with leadership trainings and practical skills with which to carry on the sustainability movement, but also serves as a respite for all citizens of Somerville from the relentless concrete of the several highways and bus lines running through the city. Furthermore, South Street Farm’s harvests supply the Mystic Mobile Market with fresh, affordable, local produce. Low income residents are customers of this market who do not have ready access to fresh food and would greatly benefit from access to resources regarding hunger solutions in Somerville. Adding a mural to this farm will enhance the community aspect of the farm itself.

You're the Expert: May 7th @ Oberon

You're the Expert is a really fun show that won a Feast grant last summer. We've been several times, and it's definitely worth seeing. Here's a special invitation from Chris Duffy, the show's creator:

Hi Feasters! You're the Expert, a live show and podcast, that was born at Feast July 2012 is having a live taping at the Oberon Theater in Harvard Square on Tuesday, May 7th at 8:00 p.m. There's a special discount for Feast attendees. Just use the discount code "Feast!" for $5 off. Tickets available here.