Great Performances is adding its own sustainable menu to the eco experiment currently engrossing the event industry. The caterer is creating a "100 Mile Menu" made entirely of locally sourced ingredients for a July 18 benefit in its Spring Street kitchen: Everything on the table will come from within 100 miles of Lower Manhattan. Since the season is so bountiful, the fare is flush—fish, lamb, beef, vegetables, and fruit were all easy to find. To drink, there's apple vodka, cider, and New York seltzer. Salt was not available, so the chefs will use herbs instead, and there is no flour mill, so the caterer will be grinding wheat to make pasta. The night will also feature interactive activities such as pickling, preserving, and composting.
Owner Liz Neumark doesn't anticipate a rush of requests for similar menus from clients. "It's really about consciousness-raising," she said. Proceeds benefit the Sylvia Center, which is a health and culinary education program for at-risk kids run out of the caterer's organic farm in Columbia County, and Just Food, whose goal is to make fresh, locally grown food available to all New Yorkers.
Owner Liz Neumark doesn't anticipate a rush of requests for similar menus from clients. "It's really about consciousness-raising," she said. Proceeds benefit the Sylvia Center, which is a health and culinary education program for at-risk kids run out of the caterer's organic farm in Columbia County, and Just Food, whose goal is to make fresh, locally grown food available to all New Yorkers.
