Good food, good times at tonight’s sold-out Eat Local Now!

One day after we bumped into Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle founding director Aviva Furman between a cornfield and a future orchard, we found her again tonight at Eat Local Now! where she was honored with the Jeff Fairhall Local Food Hero Award. Aviva’s in our photo above with Bill Reiswig from Sustainable West Seattle, one of the groups that presented tonight’s 7th annual edition of the gala dinner/auction:

Though this year’s Eat Local Now! was in SODO, it had lots of West Seattle presence, not just because of presenting organizations like SWS and CoolMom.org, but also the food and beverages:

West Seattle-area flavors included Raven’s Brew coffee from Bird on a Wire Espresso, beer from Elliott Bay Brewery and Big Al Brewing, wine selected by Bin 41 (WSB sponsor), sustainable sushi by Chef Hajime Sato from Mashiko, sweet potato crab cakes by Fresh Bistro‘s Chef Dalis Chea, Red Beet and Butternut Squash Salad by Blackboard Bistro‘s Chef Jacob Wiegner:

And we could go on … those are just a few items from the menu (which even included Apple Honey Tarts by On Safari Foods‘ Pastry Chef Traci Knight, described as “local apples cooked with honey from the West Seattle Meadery”). Eat Local Now! also featured a silent auction benefiting SWS, CoolMom, and BALLE Seattle, with a long list of donations from three dozen businesses, many from West Seattle (as previewed here):

(As a co-sponsor of Eat Local Now!, we donated an item for the silent-auction too – a social-media how-to consultation.) One more note – when we caught up with SWS members promoting Eat Local Now! at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market last Sunday, they mentioned “the famous Eat Local Now! underwear” would be on sale too. We thought they were joking. Nope:

The Eat Local Now! gala also featured live music and speakers, and was sold out again this year – all 300 tickets gone by late morning today. Want to learn more about sustainable locally grown food? Check out the videos on the Eat Local Now! YouTube channel, produced by sustainability advocate Wendy Hughes-Jelen of High Point.

10 Replies to "Good food, good times at tonight's sold-out Eat Local Now!"

  • Garden_nymph September 30, 2010 (11:34 pm)

    The “Eat Local Now!” underwear reminds me of the “scratch’n sniff” patch my brother had on the seat of his jeans. Not for everyone, but I find them humorous.

  • RJB October 1, 2010 (9:56 am)

    Hope they have it again next year at Herban Feast…I missed it this year and I love Fresh Bistro and Herban Feast!! Congrats to a successful event!! Here’s to eating local!

  • sam October 1, 2010 (3:51 pm)

    does any-one know what those plates are on the rolling tray tower ? it looks like mounds of raw meat on plates but I am sure that is not what it is. I’ve been wondering all day….

    • WSB October 1, 2010 (3:55 pm)

      If nobody has an answer sooner, Sam, I’ll compare it to the menu when I get back to HQ (still at the courthouse). Patrick took our photos but nobody was near them to identify the dish. – TR

  • Wendy Hughes-Jelen October 1, 2010 (4:19 pm)

    I’ve posted my photos from the event on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1626601&id=1291175867#!/album.php?aid=88772&id=1291175867&ref=mf
    Much of it pre-event behind the scenes in the kitchen. Some of them are blurry due to no flash since I was using my video camera to take stills.

  • Garden_nymph October 1, 2010 (5:24 pm)

    Sam,

    My guess is Red Beet and Butternut Squash Salad by Blackboard Bistro’s Chef Jacob Wiegner.

  • Bill Reiswig October 1, 2010 (9:09 pm)

    That was the beet salad. Delicious!

  • SpeakLoud October 1, 2010 (9:58 pm)

    Eat Local underwear-HYSTERICAL…….

  • sam October 2, 2010 (8:40 am)

    thanks ! it looks good (now that I know it’s not a mound of raw meat)

  • Kelly October 2, 2010 (11:19 am)

    Congrats to Aviva! The event was gorgeous and the food was amazing. Can’t wait to volunteer again next year :)

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