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WilliNet Airs Documentary on Local Food and Farming |
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On: 10:00AM / Monday December 31, 2012 |
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — "Place of Stones: Food in Motion," a film about local food and farming, is being featured on WilliNet. The film will air on WilliNet's channel 17 and will be available online through Feb. 9.
The film will be aired:
► Dec. 31 at 9 p.m. Saturdays at noon, excluding Jan. 29, which will air at 7 p.m.
► Fridays at 7 p.m., except on Jan. 28 (no show)
► Wednesdays every other week at 9 p.m. and 1 p.m. (check schedule)
Sharon Wyrrick filmed Places of Stones between 2008 and 2010, which features farms, community gardens, school gardens, food assistance programs, restaurants, retail venues and other local initiatives through interviews and on-site footage. She considers Place of Stones a documentary about developing efforts in the Northern Berkshires to strengthen local food and agriculture.
"I wanted the film to cast a broad swath and give opportunity for farmers, local leaders and participants in the local food movement to have a chance to tell their story," Wyrrick said. "In this way, the film has many stories to tell with the larger story being a chronicle of the truly remarkable community-wide focus on increasing access to locally produced food."
The film chronicles the effort of a group of local citizens to catalyze a new community-supported agriculture farm that would be accessible to people of all income levels. This effort began as a part of "Target Hunger: North Berkshire," a program of The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. It resulted in the founding of a community organization, Hoosac Harvest, and an ongoing subsidized community supported agricultare share program in collaboration with Square Roots Farm in the summer of 2010.
The film first premiered at the Farm Film Feast Festival at Images Cinema in April 2012.
"I had two big surprises in this film project," Wyrrick said. "The first was that so much could change in such a short period of time between when the filming ended in 2010 and now. The second is that I would start my own small farming effort, Many Forks Farm, in Clarksburg in the summer of 2012."
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Eat To Total Health Opening On Ashland Street |
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By John Durkan On: 03:50PM / Saturday December 15, 2012 |
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Renee Tassone poses in front of the counter at her new store Eat To Total Health, located at 14 Ashland St., which is set to open Dec. 26.
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Renee Tassone's business Eat To Total Health is moving from her home to 14 Ashland St. on Dec. 26.
"We can heal our bodies from everything with the right tools and it doesn't have to come from a pill," Tassone said.
Tassone drew from her own experience with Celiac disease, which is a condition that makes the body react negatively with gluten and prevents the small intestine's lining from absorbing essential food parts.
"I realized how our connection between food and health is important," Tassone said.
The shop has two aspects — a "cleansing" program and and sales of healthy food.
Tassone said the program, which costs $30, starts with an hour-and-a-half consultation in person or by phone. She then helps the client create a program fitting to his or her goals. Tassone keeps in touch for adjustments and coaching. The program, on average, runs about three weeks, but Tassone said that many of her clients continue to eat healthy beyond the program.
"This cleanse really teaches you to eat healthy," Tassone said. "It becomes a lifestyle for people."
Her shop will sell various health foods and smoothies. The meals will be vegan and allergy free. At her home, Tassone delivered meals and smoothies to customers at their work or home. That service will continue, but now people have the option of also picking up the foods or drinks from the shop or sitting down and dining in.
Pet food will also be on sale, as well as other products such as protein powders, health books and movies, and fresh fruits and vegetables.
Tassone began consulting friends last January and the program "snowballed" from there. She consults roughly 40 people at any given time from various states as far away as Florida. Tassone said she's served about 400 people, all satisfied.
In August on her drive home from work, Tassone was excited by the prospect of selling home-cooked premade meals. She tested it out at first, posting to her Facebook what she was making and that she was taking orders. Tassone expected a couple orders, but instead ended up with more than 30. She currently serves about 100-150 meals each week. Meals typically range from $5 to $11 and she delivers as far out as Bennington, Vt., and Pittsfield.
"It kind of fell into place to open a shop," Tassone said.
When the Ashland Street location opened up, Tassone jumped at the opportunity to rent from First Congregational Church. SLC Contractors, based out of Clarksburg, is currently renovating the 700 square-foot space.
The store is located on 14 Ashland St. and will be open from Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. through 7 p.m. and on Saturday, noon to 5. For more information, check out the store's website or Facebook page.
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Joe's Diner Throwback to Old Days |
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By Stephanie Farrington On: 05:16PM / Wednesday December 12, 2012 |
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The landmark Joe's Diner offers old-fashioned diner food and great coconut cream pie — just like Grandma use to make.
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LEE, Mass. — It's not exactly good. Not exactly charming either, not really anything but what it is.
If you go to Joe’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner it won't take you long to figure it out.
Joe's is a diner, that is to say, Joe's is a throwback to the old days, the very old days, before many of us were even born, before microwaves or even TV dinners when single working folks, men especially, would routinely take their meals at little roadside spots every day. Eventually many of these men settled down, raised a family and ate their meals at home but until they did, they went to places like Joe's to get their daily nourishment.
Norman Rockwell knew this when he painted "The Runaway" using Joe's as a model. Naturally, the little boy, thinking he's big enough to go his own way, went where the grown-up working men went, to a diner.
Joe's is still that kind of restaurant. It hasn't changed a bit. Seriously — except that now, you can buy a T-shirt or a cream soda with Joe's name on it.
At Joe's, you can still have liver and onions for supper, you can get your roast beef with green beans or boiled carrots and a boiled potato on Fridays. Your milkshake comes in a glass with the metal container on the side. Portions are reasonable, satisfying, not mammoth. You can have breakfast whenever you want (or need) to but what you get is going to be plain, mom-style food.
We went on Thursday, which is corned beef night. For $7.95 you can have the traditional New England boiled dinner; corned beef, cabbage, carrots and a boiled potato, served with hot mustard and/or vinegar. Just like your grandfather would have eaten after his shift on the railroad or at the mill. You can choose to have a sandwich instead but the boiled dinner is the real deal — plain as gingham and just as all-American.
Young working men, newly living on their own, love dessert of course. After all, back in the day they weren't much more than boys. And this is where Joe's really shines.
You'd swear your grandmother made their pies. The night we went, we had two classic diner choices, actually, we planned to share one but it was so good there wasn't enough to go around. The coconut cream pie is among the best I've ever had. Great crust, perfect custard filling, just a plate full of yum. If you prefer chocolate cream, that's even better. The tapioca pudding (yes, someone still serves tapioca pudding) is light and creamy and redolent of sweet vanilla, topped with cinnamon and a dollop of whipped cream, I could eat it all day.
But the real reason to go to Joe's isn't the food, it's the people. Maybe they're remembering their early days alone, I didn't ask, but the night we went the place was full of local guys chatting and joking with the waitresses, telling all the local gossip and laughing out loud.
Within minutes we felt like part of the gang, talking about the "adult entertainment" shop down the road, the wedding announcements in the local paper, who was going where and buying what — all of it. We learned a lot about Lee in a dinner hour and I'm pretty sure you would, too.
Breakfast at Joe’s is pretty famous, it routinely gets great reviews online and Jan and Michael Stern's road food website says it's worth a detour. Late-night host Jimmy Fallon made sure to stop in a couple years ago. I didn't find it to be much different from any other diner breakfast, but I would definitely pull over for a slice of that pie and a hot cup of Joe.
Postscript: Rumor has it Joe's will be closing their doors for good in January 2013 so if you want to get your own piece of Americana for the memory book, best do it now. First opened in 1939, the Lee landmark was operated for more than 45 years by the now legendary Joe Sorrentino, until being sold in 2000.
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Resources Expert Talks on Food and World Security |
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On: 04:39PM / Tuesday November 27, 2012 |
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 | | Michael Klare |
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Author and professor Michael Klare will discuss food and world security on Monday, Dec 3, at the Clark Lecture Hall in the Fisher Science Building at Simon's Rock.
The Edible Education event is presented by Berkshire Co-op Market, Berkshire Grown and Bard College at Simon's Rock.
Klare, Five Colleges Program professor of Peace and World Security Studies, will talk about issues such as the future of food, how climate change could affect farming, food production and corporate land grabs and the effects of population growth on food supply.
For years, Klare has focused his studies on world security. Along with his work at Hampshire College and the Five College Extension, he has been the defense correspondent for The Nation Magazine and has published two books, "Resource Wars and Blood and Oil: The Dangers" and "Consequences of America's Growing Petroleum Dependency."
Klare also serves on the boards of directors of Human Rights Watch and the Arms Control Association. He is a regular contributor to many publications including The Nation, TomDispatch, Mother Jones, and is a frequent columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus. He also was the narrator of the documentary "Blood and Oil," which was produced by the Media Education Foundation.
For more information, contact Barbara Zheutlin at Berkshire Grown.
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East Side Cafe: Cheap and Easy |
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Stephanie Farrington On: 03:09PM / Saturday November 10, 2012 |
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East Side Cafe
378 Newell Street, Pittsfield, Mass.
Pizza, pasta, full bar, takeouts |
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Thin and crispy, charcaol oven-baked pizza from East Side Cafe. |
So, it’s Thursday night and you’re looking to get a pizza and a beer. There are probably more pizza places in the Berkshires than any other kind of restaurant but they’re not all created equal.
Many are pitched as "family restaurants” some are just plain ugly and the pizza is all over the place too. To be fair, I think we in the Berkshires have more than our fair share of decent pizza joints for take out and most of them are pretty good but there’s something special about the East Side Cafe.
The place is cheap. Not inexpensive — cheap. For under $25 you can stuff yourself on pizza and beer. I'd describe the decor as 70’s funk. Brown vinyl upholstery covers the soft-to-saggy benches on either side of tables topped with a thick, syrupy layer of varnish so old it looks like cracked amber.
There’s nothing much on the walls but the pizza is the real deal. If you want to have pizza, you have to come on Thursday, Friday or Saturday night. Otherwise, no pizza. They’ll make you a burger or a hot dog but no pizza. If you want to try their house made pasta your window of opportunity is even smaller; on Thursdays for lunch, you can choose from ravioli, gnocchi or ziti, Fridays you can have linguine with clam sauce. Only on those days and only until they run out.
The pizza itself is New York style, thin crust with a bit of char on the bottom, made in a charcoal burning oven, it’s tasty and slightly smokey which makes even a plain cheese pizza a little special.
We were feeling zen so we ordered a large one “with everything” and a small cheese pizza (to really taste the sauce) on the side. Pizzas are on the small side, 12 inches is a large but that’s enough for two for dinner and the most you can spend on it is $13.
Young families do show up here with their kids but the kids seem to know the place is not about them. While we were there families with babies, toddlers and school aged kids all came in, ate their pizza or took it out and socialized with a minimum of fuss. We were not subjected to someone’s children running roughshod over staff and patrons alike, there was no shouting, there are no crayons. It’s more of a pub than a restaurant, after all.
The East Side Cafe offers gluten-free beer and pizza as well as their more typical offerings. You can have anchovies on your pizza if you want them. Service was fast, friendly and no-nonsense.
Our pizzas were hot, fresh and tasty, covered in bubbling cheese with a tasty sauce serving as their foundation (East Side Cafe won best sauce in this year's Berkshire Pizza Competition, and it was deserved.) Toppings are traditional, you can't have goat cheese or fresh sage or pine nuts or anything like that - if you want that stuff, you're in the wrong spot. It was good, fresh, no-nonsense pizza and on a Thursday night, in my book, that's hard to beat.
We took the opportunity to try their pasta specials the following week. Gnocchi was fine, in a good, rich tomato sauce, the ziti was nothing special. Both dishes would have benefitted from a layer of melted cheese. (If I could ask this place to do one thing, it would be to retire the shakers full of powdery-dry “parmesan”) But the ravioli was excellent. Hand made pasta enveloped some very tasty filling, we were told the ravioli was meat-filled but we had both meat and cheese filled ravioli in our take out dish which was just fine with me. If you have the choice, the cheese filled ravioli is really a standout.
All three dishes were priced under $10 for a generous serving of pasta and bread. (I’m told they serve salad if you stay but we had ours to go, there was no salad offered.)
Unpretentious, totally local and old school, this is great comfort food for a night that’s not-quite-the-weekend yet.
We’ll be back.
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Stephanie Farrington of 
