 | "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." --Michael Pollan, Food Rules |
Eating like our ancestors, whether Paleolithic or pioneer, is increasingly coming into vogue. For the true enthusiast, efforts to eat local food can be supported through the recovery of traditional practices, from fermentation to backyard gardening to canning.
While skills like canning, bread-making,freezing, and menu planning used to be handed on as "secret family" recipes and tips at grandma's stove, these days many grandmothers are as lost in the kitchen as the millennial generation. Enter Leni Sorensen, a local blogger, contributor to In the Kitchen online, and culinary historian, who wants to be your stand-in grandmother for instruction in the pioneer arts.
Leni teaches classes in traditional culinary techniques on summer weekends at her home, nestled in the nook of a mountain stream outside of Charlottesville. The opportunity to marvel at her productive garden/micro-farm is reason enough to take her classes!
Leni has seen food movements come and go. Peppered with the practical wisdom of her family and lifetime ("if you only offer your kids food that is good, you don't have to worry about what they eat"), her conversation celebrates eating while eschewing false solemnity and faddish pieties about food. Having farmed with her husband in South Dakota for a number of years, she embraces the authenticity of real food and friendly gatherings -- her reminiscences about potlucks of barbecue ribs and rich pies are still making me hungry a week later!
Equally at-home with the cerebral (how historically zoning restrictions for local markets reflected racial tension and the rise of supermarkets) and the practical (how would you prepare the meat if you bought half a pig?), Leni exudes curious engagement with the world and instructs with a captivating interweave of anecdote, fact, and maxim.
And of course she leads by delicious example with her mouth-watering canned goods, her bountiful garden, and the details of her own choices ("We only eat tomatoes when they're in season--and then we eat them every day").
Leni's Classes
Leni offers classes all summer, and is happy to create unique classes to suit your needs and curiosity. It's best to contact her and sign up through her blog.May 21 / 22: Breadmaking
June 11 / 12: Breadmaking
July 16 / 17: Canning tomatoes and peaches
July 23 / 24: Canning tomatoes and peaches
August 13 / 14: Canning tomatoes and peaches
August 27 / 28: Canning tomatoes and peaches
September 10 / 11: Canning tomatoes and pickles
September 24 / 25: Canning tomatoes and pickles
November 12 / 13 / 19: Freezing meat, making sausage
Hope to see you there this summer!
And if you'd like to try out food preservation on your own before going to visit Leni, check out this fantastic one-click recipe for Spicy Pickled Carrots (or any other veggies, really) from our very own Bella Eats!
Relay products related to this post:
 |  |  |
Local Hydroponic Greenhouse Tomatoes, about 1 lb. | Horse and Buggy Couples Share | Local Whole Wheat Bread Flour, 5 lbs |
| $3.49 per Item | $23.00 per Item | $5.71 per Item |
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