On Monday, I logged onto my Twitter account and saw
Chef Ben Knack (of
Sel de la Terre and
Hell's Kitchen fame) tweet about doing a cooking demonstration at the Government Center Farmers' Market. Since this was going to happen at noon and the farmers' market is right by my work, I figured that I would drop by and check it out during my lunch break. I asked my friend
Alicia if she had any interest in this and luckily she was free to join me.
We walked over and found Chef Ben setting up for his cooking demo a little before noon. This demonstration was sponsored by the always helpful
Epicurious (a great online resource for food lovers) and this was one of their stops in third annual national
Farmers' Market Tour.
While Chef Ben set up his station, I snapped a few photos. I found this stand to be completely adorable with the chalkboard sign and an "I'm Local" sign!
The "I'm Local" sign was just a small indication of Chef Ben's passion for local food. He started his demonstration by explaining why it is important to get local ingredients because they are just so much better in quality and freshness. In fact, besides the salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar (which are staples in most kitchens), every ingredient was purchased that day from the
Stillman's Farm stand just a few tents down!
As he chatted, Chef Ben made a fantastic refreshing salad with watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, cucumber, scallions, green beans and arugula. I loved that he spoke so sincerely about the importance of why we cook. We cook for others (whether it is for our friends or family) and we should enjoy that time. Cooking should be kept simple and with great local ingredients, you don't need to do much to let the flavors shine. His thoughts on food and cooking are something I completely agree with and it was lovely to hear this from a professional. Before you knew it, the salad was done and was given a nice toss with salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic before the dish was plated.
This looked like the perfect summer dish, especially on such a hot day like Monday.
Afterwards, Alicia and I got chance to chat with the chef about some of his sources for local food. He was so down-to-earth and so sincere that it was hard to resist his contagious enthusiasm. And he graciously posed for a photo with us, despite the sweltering heat!
There was a great crowd at Epicurious Farmers' Market Tour and I believe Chef Ben had another demonstration afterwards. I think these demonstrations are so important because it makes cooking so much less intimidating for so many people. For me, I couldn't think of a better way to spend my lunchtime and I'm seriously enthused about checking out more of Chef Ben Knack's cooking at Sel de la Terre soon!
Which farmers' market do you frequent, if any? Also, don't forget to enter my CSN Stores reader giveaway!
