For the Love of Food

Strawberry season is here! There is also a new article posted on RochesterFoodNet.com about Halloumi, which is a Greek cheese from Cypress.

My food show is 24 years old in 2020, and covers restaurants, food-related events, and agriculture. Strawberries are the feature this week.

Restaurants are now allowed to reopen outdoor spaces that do not have a fixed roof. If Phase 3 reopening happens on schedule for the Finger Lakes, restaurants will be able to open dining rooms for 50% capacity on June 12.

Suzanne Stack of Suzanne’s Fine Regional Cuisine has been nominated for a James Beard Award and played a key role in the growth of the Finger Lakes as a destination for fabulous food. Although the restaurant is no longer open, she is offering cooking classes online.

New locations for a restaurant and a bakery, and a Finger Lakes restauranteur will include tips in the pricing on the menu of their new restaurants in Corning. Asparagus is now available around the region!

Flower City Pickers can process many thousands of pounds of produce that would have been thrown out at the Rochester Public Market on a Saturday in the summer. Amanda Richardson describes how volunteers sort the produce that farmers and distributors give them each Saturday, some of which is perfectly good food, other items that need to be consumed/cooked very soon, some things that can go to farm animals, and the rotten produce that needs to be composted. Catelyn Augustine is one of the founders of Eat Me Ice Cream. This Rochester company has significantly expanded their wholesale operation, while maintaining an option to pre-order and pick up their ice cream on Fridays at the Hungerford Building on East Main Street near Goodman.

The Olney Place on the east side of Keuka Lake was founded by Seth Olney as a gathering place for locals and tourists. Located between Penn Yan and Hammondsport in the Town of Barrington on East Lake Road (Route 54).

Chris Wiedemer of Cook’s World on Monroe Avenue has an online store for everything you need to cook with during this shutdown. Betty Burley of East Hill Creamery in Perry, highlighted their cheese vending machine that is available 24/7 in front of their tasting room. Also interviewed Vicki Finnefrock of Stuart’s Spices, which just reduced the free shipping threshold to $25 – their cracked black pepper will change your world! (if you like black pepper)

Samantha Buyskes is a long time chef in the Finger Lakes, who has been on Chopped on the Food Network, helped set up a dinner this past January at the James Beard House for female Finger Lakes chefs, and done so much more to promote the region. Currently she is volunteering to help BluePrint Geneva provide meals on the weekends. For the second half of the show, Michael Welch of Edible Finger Lakes describes their move to a subscription based business model. Get a subscription for $36 to support a fabulous publication that tells the stories of our region.

Kathy Turiano joins Michael to discuss their Perpetual Joy Subscription and other options during the coronavirus shutdown period. They are also looking forward to another installment in their collaboration with Katboocha, and continuing to develop relationships with specific coffee producers in South America and in Africa.