Cooking with Grains

Our virtual lecture on Cooking With Grains has been rescheduled to March 27.

Cooking with Grains, featuring Maureen Quinn of the Oregon Extension Agency and a two-county family nutrition program, is hosted by the Foodways Program. Villages NW is partnering with Foodways for our Community Culture Through Food program. To register for this virtual lecture, please contact Stefana Sardo, chefigata50plus@gmail.com.

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Throughout 2023 there will be several virtual and in-person opportunities to celebrate the foods of different cultures, ethnicities, and regions. Get to know your neighbors and their special foods by engaging in recipe exchanges, cooking together, and telling the stories of your personal celebrations and important food traditions. Learn about new-to-you foods and how to prepare them. Build bridges in your community by partnering with friends of different cultures, ethnicity, and traditions. Celebrate moments – large and small – with new friends.

Guest speakers, a little education, and a lot of fun will be availableat intervals all year long. With a focus on seasonal foods, the year will bring you several presentations:

Winter – Focus on grains. The UN has designated 2023 ‘The Year of the Millets’, a grain that is nutritious, delicious, and grows in drought conditions. We’ll be learning about what that means around the world. From amaranth to wild rice, we’ll be hearing more about grains.

Spring – Wild foods and foraged foods. Ever been on an urban forging field trip? Fish and sea foods… Fresh spring-time produce… We will focus on the joys of real, basic foods, minimizing the processed and already-prepared items that cost more and hold reduced nutritional value.

Summer – Cultivated foods. What do you grow in your garden? Do you grow something you need for especially meaningful, traditional foods? What’s fresh and fabulous at the farmers’ markets?

Autumn – Preserving. Everything from canning and freezing to drying and fermenting. Do you have your grandmother’s recipe for berry jam or pickles? Do you know how our Indigenous Peoples preserved their harvest?