What’s new in food: Tahini Jar rolls in with vegan Middle Eastern cuisine

Ron Jimenez had a literal eye-opening epiphany. “I woke up one morning a couple years ago with an out-of-the-blue conviction to become a vegetarian,” he recalls. “From that day forward, I stopped eating meat and cut back on all animal products.” Raised in Asheville, Jimenez later relocated to Florida to pursue his culinary education before returning to […]

What’s new in food: Food Connection introduces Fran the mobile meals truck

Flori Pate, Food Connection’s founder and current leader of community engagement, wants the communities it serves to be on a first-name basis with the nonprofit’s newest venture, a mobile meals truck. “An anonymous donor gave us $55,000 to help commission the truck, and his only request was we name it Fran,” Pate explains with a […]

What’s new in food: MANNA FoodBank hosts latest Outpace Hunger campaign

“MANNA is serving an average of 100,000 people per month through our network of 200-plus partner agencies,” says Kelly Schwartz, MANNA FoodBank’s special events manager. “With the rising cost of groceries, the need is still critical, especially for working families, seniors and veterans on a fixed budget.” With that in mind, MANNA is preparing for its […]

Making the grade: WNC’s college dining programs get high scores for sustainabi­lity

Increasingly, U.S. colleges and universities are working to make their institutions as environmentally sustainable as possible. These efforts cover a broad spectrum, from a recycling initiative at Stanford University that diverts 65 percent of the school’s solid waste away from landfills to Cornell’s plan to be carbon-neutral by 2035, as noted in The Princeton Review’s annual ranking […]

Small bites: Karen Washington uses food to connect the dots

The 2014 James Beard Leadership Award-winner Karen Washington will lead a workshop in anticipation of the Organic Growers School spring conference. Also, Food Connection hosts Chefs in Action; Curragh Chase pop-up dinner at Summit Coffee; White Labs Kitchen & Tap debuts fermentation series; Hickory Nut Gap Farm hosts whole hog butchery class; and James Beard Award semifinalists are announced.