Taste of Spring: A review of SFI's June 1st event

I had the opportunity to host the Slow Food Indy meeting at the Ivy Tech Hospitality And Culinary Arts (ITHACA) Program on Sunday. It was wonderful to see two rooms full of people who came to taste...lettuce.

As people start to realize where their food comes from, many have gone back to making it a game to find the best farmer with specific produce. It thrills me to go and try the same thing from several different farms and find that there is a vast difference. Things that may not seem like an important part of the meal truly change when you start to analyze them.

It was absolutely mind boggling when I tried the greens from Balanced Harvest and compared them to Organic products from a grocery store and even conventional greens. Balanced Harvest smelled like lettuce. You may think that's not saying much, but have you smelled the lettuce in the store lately?

Other tasters were making comments like “makes me think of mowing the lawn on a summer day” and “smells like spring.” It really made me think. Restaurants put tons of dressing on salads because that lettuce doesn’t taste like anything. We should make dressing to accent the nuance of the greens.

It is wonderful finding out what Central Indiana tastes like.
- Thom England
(photos by Corrie Quinn)