Food Fest an experience for the mind, palate
If the possibility of rain kept people home, it didn’t show as ECHO held its 25th annual Global Food & Farm festival at its farm Saturday.
Thousands came to sample food from around the world, learn how people throughout the world grow food, and witness cooking shows and workshops from around the farm and at the new Anderson Appropriate Technology Center.
There was certainly a lot to take in, and most people did, even if the rain finally washed things out just before closing time.
“The place is packed. The food tastings are very popular and the cooking shows have been overwhelmingly fun,” Danielle Food, ECHO’s public relations manager said. “Gardening appeals to many people, but everyone has to eat. People love food and that’s what we do best.”
And there were many things for people to try, more than at any time in the event’s history. There were the traditional favorites such as sugar cane, hand-squeezed orange juice and hand crushed peanut butter.
But there were other things, too. Ruth Albright was busy making papaya salad from Thailand, which used grated papaya, fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, green beans, cherry tomatoes and crushed peanuts.
“It’s good for you. There’s no added salt because the fish sauce is salty. It’s swamped here, so we’re happy,” Albright said. “Normally in Thailand they were serve this with sticky rice.”
A few feet away, John Huie was giving people popped amaranth, which is like popcorn but a lot smaller. In its unpopped state, it looked like a pale of sand. Popped, it looked only slightly bigger. But it was a lot healthier than traditional popcorn, though it takes much more heat to pop.
“It’s one of the most nutritious grains we know of. The Aztecs knew about it, but fell out of favor throughout much of the world,” Huie said. “It’s gluten free, and high in protein, niacin, magnesium and potassium.”
Other foods people got a chance to sample were watermelon radishes, and black sapote, which had a bit of a chocolate taste.
Leonardo Gonzalez, who brought his family to the event, understood the meaning of the event for his kids.
“It teaches them about nature and how created nature for them. It’s a blessing to learn the different kinds of plants to heal, to eat and to live a long life,” Gonzalez said. “The kids like to see things like this. It’s fun for them.”
Casey Beckman, of Punta Gorda, was a former volunteer at ECHO in college and her mom’s friend wanted to check things out. It brought back some great memories.
“I remember it being a really cool place on a sustainable farm. They have a lot of foods I wanted to try out. It brought back a lot of memories,” Beckman said.
The event had numerous demonstrations, from cooking shows to workshops that taught a wide-array of gardening techniques from around the world.
There was also a ton of information for people to soak in, including what man is doing to make a mess of our ecosystem.
Peter Curra, an ECHO volunteer, ran a booth where he discussed how the genetic diversity of plant life in the world has dwindled by 75 percent through manmade means.
“Many plants have been crossed in a laboratory by humans. When they’re genetically manipulated, there are non-plant genes introduced that makes them different,” Curra said. “We need to keep these 25 percent we have now.”
The volunteers, more than 100 of them, helped make the show a success. Yesenia Ramirez-Villa learned a lot from her time as a volunteer, which consisted of bringing people in on golf carts and getting them registered.
“It’s a really good event to come to and learn about living in our environment and how to live from nature,” Ramirez-Villa said. “If you have the tools and the knowledge, you can grow food anywhere.”