Small Bites: News and Updates
CAUSE COOKIES
Nonprofit catering company Freedom a la Cart, which provides jobs, support services and hope to victims of human trafficking, is using its popular cookies to attract donors to an end-of-the-year fundraising campaign. Edible Columbus described in the Summer 2020 edition how the pandemic had disrupted the group’s annual April fundraising dinner.
The Cause Cookies campaign will provide donors with a box of a dozen made-from-scratch cookies for each $25 donation. The box has an assortment of brown butter rosemary pecan, coconut macaroon kisses, lemon snowball cookies and the traditional gingersnap.
Order cookies at freedomalacart.org/cause-cookies/ and pick them up at the Freedom kitchen, or have them delivered for a donation of $100 or more.
Luul Sheikh of Highland youth Garden
GARDEN WINNERS
A trio of community gardens profiled in the Summer 2020 edition of Edible Columbus had reason to celebrate the 2020 Growing to Green Awards given by Franklin Park Conservatory to promote participation in city beautification and community gardening. All of the awards came with cash prizes to further the work of the gardeners.
Franklinton Farms was honored as Sustainability Garden of the Year for its organic gardening practices and community-building activities in its West Side neighborhood. Kossuth Street Garden, started by Michael Doody, was named the Neighborhood Improvement Project of the Year for its work in the South Side area. The Paul B. Redman Youth Leadership Award, given to an outstanding gardener age 18 or younger, went to Luul Sheikh for her work at the Highland Youth Garden in the Hilltop neighborhood.
The Slow Food Reynoldsburg Urban Farm, profiled in the Edible Columbus Fall 2019 issue, won the Boyd W. Bowden Garden Impact Award for education work. It’s run by the nation’s first high school chapter of Slow Food USA.
James Anderson
BARBECUE EXPANSION
When we last caught up with James Anderson, he was giving Edible Columbus a tour of his hog farm in Granville for our Winter 2019 issue. The founder of Ray Ray’s Hog Pit launched Anderson Farms to raise heritage hogs for his barbecue business, which has continued to expand. He has food trucks in Clintonville, Franklinton and Powell, as well as a walk-up and drive-through spot in Westerville.
Now he has signed up longtime friend and collaborator Bill Glover, formerly the executive chef at Hilton Columbus Downtown, to be the company’s CEO and strategist.
Next up for Anderson is a brick-and-mortar restaurant with indoor seating, expected to open in a space he acquired in Granville in early 2021. “I’ve always wanted to open a meat-and-three joint,” Anderson said, referring to a Southern-style restaurant where customers choose a meat and three side dishes. “But we’ll do it our way, with hometown barbecue and Bill using his genius to help build a menu of incredible sides.”
COCKTAIL EVENTS
Two award-winning Columbus bartenders have teamed up to launch a company to produce events and classes built around cocktails. Jesse Hubbard (Great Southern Whiskey Bar) and Nate Howe (Huli Huli Tiki Lounge) bring their expertise to Saint Russell Productions, which will stage Cocktails for a Cause to benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation on Nov. 28 at Buckeye Bourbon House, 36 E. Gay St.
The pair also will produce A Very ’80s Christmas on Dec. 6 at Two Truths, 1205 N. High St. Track their future events at saintrussellproductions.com.
FOOD OVER POLITICS
In a year of heated political debates, Capri Cafaro found one thing that all politicians can agree on: food. Cafaro is the author of United We Eat: 50 Great American Recipes to Bring Us Together (Story Farm, $30), a collection of recipes from all 50 states and representing politicians from both major parties.
“Everyone has a family recipe. Everyone has state pride,” said Cafaro, a Youngstown native who served as an Ohio state senator from 2007 to 2016. “This is a way to find the similarities, the common ground.”
The book includes recipes from former presidential candidates Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Taconite Tater Tot Hotdish), former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (Pork Butt and Smoked Corn) and former South Bend (IN) Mayor Pete Buttigieg (Hoosier Pie). Representing Ohio is a Zucchini and Eggs breakfast recipe supplied by Rep. Tim Ryan. You also will find Mama D’Amato’s Lasagna from former New York Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, Camden Gooey Cake from Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and an Alaskan Halibut Bake from Alaska Rep. Don Young.
The book is available in local bookstores and on Amazon.
