Relish Is Open

Relish pitched at Feast last May. Now they're open in Union Square in Somerville. Congrats to them! Stop by for a visit or check them out online: http://relishurbanag.com.

The Tenth Feast

Thanks to David Goligorsky for capturing the memories.

Menu: September 22, 2013

Salad: dark star watermelon, arugula, sheep's milk feta, red onion, balsamic vinegar, olive oil

Sunflower seeds

Noodle bowls: fresh rice/wheat noodles, lacinato kale, carrots, beets, cilantro, Sriracha + broth: mushrooms, vegetables, star anise, fennel, cardamom, cloves, ginger, sesame oil

Black pepper tofu

Lemon verbena + ginger drink

Cape Ann Brewing
Imperial Pumpkin Stout
Fisherman's Brew Double Bock
Fisherman's Brew Saison

Popsicles:
Grapefruit, Campari, Calaminth
Balsamic, Beach Rose, Fig, Scotch
Burnt Lemon, Watermelon, Thyme, Vodka
Tomato, Gin, Holy Basil

Major thanks to our talented chefs, Aya Maruyama & Liam Van Vleet; to Josh Lewin and crew for the delicious, boozy popsicles; to all the willing hands who helped out in the kitchen and on the floor; and to our purveyors: Red Fire Farms, Formaggio, Farmers To You, Chang Shing Tofu Factory, Sun Hing Noodles, and Cape Ann Brewing

Telephone Pictionary

At September's Feast, we invited guests to play one of our favorite games, Telephone Pictionary. Nerissa started it off with "Pizza Smootie" and the Feast diners took it from there. Here's what they made.

? ? ?

Thanks & Congrats!

Big thanks to everyone who came out to the tenth Feast Mass yesterday! It was a beautiful sunny fall party, and we couldn't have done it without all of you.

Congratulations to the Big and Little Sisters at Gathering for Girls for winning the crowd and taking home $1000 in cash! We'll be posting theirs and all the other proposals soon.

Not only that, but we'll post the menu (and maybe even recipes), photos, the results of Telephone Pictionary, and your stories and shout-outs from Turnip the Dial, the Feast Mass podcas'.

—Alex & Nerissa

PROPOSAL: B.I.R.D. Street: Building Individuals, Reconstructing Dorchester

JayPix Belmer

Describe your project.
B.I.R.D. Street is a touring photographic exhibition, whose purpose is to expose local unconsidered and undiscovered people in Boston. The mission is to get the word out, share the connection, and introduce residents to the other kinds of people who exist in their neighborhood.

During this 3-neighborhood tour, we will invite undiscovered individuals to tell their stories and make a connection. I am a community leader motivated to capture images of people and places that are undiscovered by most, and that go unnoticed in day-to-day life. During the changes and transitions in our neighborhoods, I will serve as a photographer and resource to enhance and connect various communities. I am here to shine a light on the people of this city, and to convince people to get involved by seeing themselves in the community. I want to capture who you are and what you’re all about though my photographic work. This tour is part of a larger project called B.I.R.D. Street (Building Individuals, Reconstructing Dorchester).

How will you use the grant to make your idea happen?
This grant will allow me to prepare for the exhibition. I also plan to get outside help for promotion and space for the tour through 3 neighborhoods and an accompanying social event.

A printed hardcover book called Bird Street will be at each show on the tour to inspire more conversation about changes in the community and the people and places that make community valuable.

Why and to whom is your project important?
The people, streets and values of Dorchester are continuously changing. My goal is to create a visual record of people, places and things that are important and that bring value to our community. I want to motivate. By showing my work, I will create a visual demonstration that inspires folks to learn more about the people, streets and values of the community we live in. I am currently engaged in documenting and updating the work of Eugene Richards, a respected documentary photographer from Dorchester, whose book Dorchester Days was published in 1972. Richards’ collection showed the hardships of the city, both political and personal, up until that time. The “B.I.R.D Street” portrait series shows the vibrancy of the people, the places, and the greatness of the city today.

PROPOSAL: Reinvigorating The Present Tense!

Sandrine Schaefer & Philip Fryer

Describe your project.

The Present Tense is a live art initiative that acts as an evolving historical document for performance art. Since 2004, the Present Tense has been active in organizing live events and exchanges, documenting live work and hosting an online archive of videos, photos and writing.

Celebrating our 10-year birthday in 2014, we will be overhauling our web-based archive to become a leading portal into discourse around contemporary experimental art practices. In addition to making the web archive easier to navigate, we will feature guest writers, offer a new Online Residency Program, bring the anticipated Dream Festival to life, and introduce a new Workshop and Discourse series. Members of Boston’s vibrant art community and international artists traveling through Boston will teach workshops. The Workshop and Discourse Series will tackle complex issues presented when working in this medium and will be made accessible to artists at various stages in their careers.

How will you use the grant to make your idea happen?

The Present Tense has been primarily funded out of pocket. Our plans for the next year, however, are impossible without funding. Funds would be used for the following:

• Web design
• Artist/curatorial fees
• Stipends for contributing writers
• Stipends for panelists
• Space rental
• Promotion materials

Why and to whom is your project important?

As Performance Art gains support and popularity throughout The United States, it is crucial for Boston-based initiatives like The Present Tense to be part of national and international discourse. It is crucial for us to continue to support the legacy of experiential art that exists in Boston. This project is important to all who are impacted by the creative climate of Boston and its international networks.

PROPOSAL: ESL: English as a Subsistence Language

Sarah Cadorette

Describe your project.

This isn’t your typical ESL (English as a Second Language) class. Over the course of 2 “semesters” (October–December and January–March), Iwill run an ESL class that meets once a week for 3 hours, during which time students will learn necessary English skills alongside gardening skills and vocabulary for our New England produce and how to prepare it. Many ESL learners don’t have the words to describe food, or any familiarity with the food grown in our climate, and so don’t know how to grocery shop or read a nutrition label. Students will not only receive English lessons, but lessons in gardening in Cambridge’s climate and a CSA share, with instruction on how to prepare the produce.
The class will be capped at 10 students to provide maximum one-on-one tutoring and subsidization of their CSA shares.

How will you use the grant to make your idea happen?

In partnership with Stone Soup Farm, we will provide subsidized CSA shares to all of the students. Shares for the winter season, which extend over 28 weeks and provide enough fresh produce for an entire family, cost $400. All of this grant and any other grants received (I’m planning for another $1,000 grant) will go towards subsidizing the students shares. With $2,000, we can cover half of the cost ($200) for 10 students, and they will provide the rest.

Space will be provided free-of-charge by the Democracy Center in Cambridge. English instruction will be provided free-of-charge by myself and volunteers from Harvard University, and volunteers from Stone Soup Farm will provide free instruction on gardening.

Why and to whom is your project important?

Immigrants are highly at risk for living in food deserts in the greater Boston area. While teaching ESL in one such low-income and low-access area in Dorchester, I realized that it wasn’t lack of interest in healthy eating and home cooking, it was lack of access and knowledge of how to prepare New England’s produce. My students were often forced to eat heavily processed food because it was the most easily available to them.

Free ESL classes in the greater Boston area are difficult to find, and often difficult to access for immigrants who use public transportation and/or work during the week. This location is easily accessible by T, and the classes will be held on the weekend to accommodate working schedules.

PROPOSAL: Gathering for Girls

Deb Reinhert & Big Sisters

Describe your project.

Gathering for Girls is a movement to inspire and motivate women to take action in their communities by serving as mentors for young girls. Current mentors (Big Sisters) will invite friends to dinner and use the time to demonstrate the beauty and impact that mentoring can have in the life of a girl. Each mentor will use her personal story to awaken a sense of service that inspires her guests to take action towards social justice by giving girls a chance to live to their full potential.

Big Sisters know that inspiring a young girl, believing in her, empowering her to believe in herself, has the chance to transform not only that one girl’s life, but also to transform an entire community of people. Inspiration is contagious. 

Big Sisters will educate their friends on the power of mentorship.

• 88.4% of girls (Little Sisters) matched with Big Sisters finish High School.
• 88.6% of girls matched with Big Sisters go to college.
• 99.2% of girls matched with Big Sisters express avoidance of risky behaviors such as drug and tobacco use.
• 94.4% of girls matched with Big Sisters express improved relationships with adults in their lives.

How will you use the grant to make your idea happen?

The grant will be used to supply the food for the meals shared between Big Sisters and their networks. Big Sisters who host dinners will have the option of using the money to develop photos or create a scrapbook that demonstrates the relationship they have built with their Little Sister. These materials will be used to exemplify the importance of sisterhood and the impact of mentorship.

We hope to give 20 Big Sisters $50 each to buy the food and materials to host a Gathering for Girls. Our goal will be to inspire 10 women at each Gathering for Girls to become a mentor, allowing us to match 200 girls with Big Sisters.

Why and to whom is your project important?

Our project is important to the 500 girls in Boston’s neighborhoods who are waiting to be matched to a Big Sister and have been waiting for 6 months to a year. Our longest-waiting Little Sisters come from Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury.

• 72% of our Little Sisters come from Boston:
• 23% come from Dorchester.
• Another 23% come from Roxbury.

Little Sisters come from a wide-range of ethnic, socio-economic, and family backgrounds. However, our typical Little Sister is 12 years old, living with a single mother in Dorchester or Roxbury and is black or Hispanic.

This project is important because finding the mentors for these 500 girls will ensure that each of them has the support and encouragement to live up to her full potential, whatever that happens to be. With the love and support of a Big Sister, each of these 500 girls will learn how to speak up for herself, will have the opportunity to try new experiences, build understanding and respect across differences, and join a sisterhood of strong, supportive women. Little Sisters, supported by their Big Sisters, develop confidence, courage, and competence to learn, live, and thrive in Greater Boston.

Feast 10 Menu Preview

We got a delivery today from the friendly and gracious folks at Cape Ann Brewing of a literal wall of beer. We also have a homemade non-alcoholic offering from our top chefs Aya & Liam's own garden.

The meal is almost entirely vegan, and uses some ingredients we've never had at Feast before. The main course is not gluten-free, but there will be heaps of lacinato kale, napa cabbage, beets and carrots for all to enjoy.

Also, popsicles. That's all we'll say.

Can't wait to see your hungry faces on Sunday!