Food Dance Celebrates 20 Years of Locally-Focused Culinary & Agricultural Experiences

You’re invited to a 20th Anniversary Farm to Street Party, August 30 at Food Dance in Kalamazoo.

In honor of this long-standing tradition, Food Dance is hosting two give-back events to recognize the farmers, producers, staff and community that have been essential to their success and growth. From Noon to 4pm, a “Flavor Festival” will celebrate all things local: food, drink, music and more. Then, starting at 6pm, a community “Long Table Dinner” featuring a four-course family-style meal, each with a Michigan wine pairing, space is limited. All proceeds from both events benefit Fair Food Matters – Growing Matters Garden program.

There are tiered ticket prices for each event. Choose between $20 and $30 eco-friendly ticket for the Flavor Festival. A $20 festival ticket provides admission and 4 small plates (or 4 tickets). A $30 festival ticket also includes a Food Dance 20th Anniversary Edition Camelbak® water bottle. Additional food and drink tickets will be available for purchase at the event.

Tickets for the Long Table Dinner range from $100 to $150 per person with a portion of each ticket including a direct donation to the Fair Food Matters – Growing Matters Garden Program at Woodward School. The $150 level also includes a limited edition commemorative Food Dance 20th Anniversary T-shirt featuring local artists.

Over the years, Food Dance has built a strong relationship with dozens of local and regional growers, producers and farmers who have helped craft a one-of-a-kind menu that is fresh, inventive and appeals to the senses. Through its commitment to building a thriving and sustainable local food system, Food Dance creates casual and inviting opportunities for people to come together and connect through the experience of food.

Food Dance is dedicated to relationships that support artisans who practice craft food processes that have been around for generations—growing, raising, preserving, curing, aging, pickling, butchering and more. This is evident not only in the daily menus, but in the special dining experiences and educational programs that are aimed to introduce guests to new elements of the culinary and agricultural worlds.

An on-site market also offers amazing ingredients sourced from a family of purveyors–from sustainable, humanely-raised meats, housemade sausages and artisan cheeses, to housemade bread, pastries and savory baked goods. The market also offers a selection of speciality sauces, pickled produce, pastas, wines, cooking accessories and cookbooks, making it a great place for stocking the pantry or refrigerator, and for personal & gift shopping.

“For me it's important to know the values and practices of the people we buy our food from,” says owner Julie Stanley. “Caring for the planet, my community and my health are decisions I consciously make. I try to eat well because I just feel better. Knowing where my food comes from matters to me.”

Long before it became a trend in our society to eat locally (for so many cultures this was and remains their only choice, lucky them) I found that shopping at the Farmers Markets made the food I was cooking taste much better. Here at Food Dance, we’ve found the same rings true. I know it makes it more challenging for our chefs to prep all this fresh food and our wait staff to remember all the seasonal changes that show up on our menus, but they taste the difference so they feel it is worth it. We hope you feel the same way.”

Food Dance creates opportunities for people to come together and connect through the experience of food. We passionately cook with the freshest locally produced ingredients and believe in giving great, caring service, and providing great experiences for everyone we come in contact with.

FOOD DANCE
401 E. Michigan Avenue
Kalamazoo MI 49007

www.FoodDance.net
www.facebook.com/FoodDanceRestauran
www.twitter.com/Food_Dance

Five Top Chefs Team Up for Harvest Dinner - Benefitting Fair Food Matters, Kalamazoo

Five of the region’s top chefs will team up on Sunday, August 25 (6-8pm) for a Harvest Dinner at Carlson’s Farm in Lawton – a culinary experience benefitting Kalamazoo’s Fair Food Matters. The unique farm-side dinner is being coordinated by Food Dance, West Michigan’s premier locally-focused eatery.

Exectutive Chef Robb Hammond – who has been with Food Dance for five years – has invited four of his colleagues to join him in this one-of-a-kind, on-the-farm five-course dinner, celebrating the best of the season’s offerings. These chefs include the James Beard nominated Chef Matthew Millar from Fennville; Chef Matthew Pietsch of Salt of the Earth in Fennville, Chef Matt Green of Reserve Wine & Food in Grand Rapids; and Chef Chad Miller of Soe Café in Sawyer.

Food Dance has been a long time supporter and promoter of Fair Food Matters and its various initiatives. Dinners such as this support programs that protect the stewardship of our land and strengthen our local economy by educating the next generation about food and where it comes from.

Fair Food Matters exists to improve access to healthy, local food by educating, connecting and empowering the Kalamazoo community. It’s programs include the Can-Do Kitchen (a licensed incubator kitchen facility), Common Ground (a collaborative program supporting community gardens throughout Kalamazoo County), Growing Matters Garden (a children’s educational gardening project), Douglass Farmers’ Market (featuring local producers on the north side of town) and Southwest Michigan Community Harvest Fest (celebrating local food, local farming and sustainable living with speakers, music and more).

The cost for the Harvest Dinner, including entertainment by local musicians Paul Hoffman and Joshua Davis, is $75 per person (plus tax/gratuity). Space is limited to 100 and reservations are required by calling 269-382-1888.

Other upcoming dinners in the 2013 Farm to Fork series include:

KIRKLIN FARMS … HEIRLOOM TOMATO DINNER
Thurs., Sept. 5 • 6-8pm
Celebrate tomato season with a five-course tomato dinner featuring Kirklin Farms. Seem a bit over the top? Not when you consider the flavors and versatility of thousands of varieties of tomatoes. You’ll never think of them as just plain ol’ sliced fruit again. $55 per person

COOKING CLASS - PRESERVING THE HARVEST
Wed., Sept. 18 • 6-8pm
Useful Kitchen Skills, not just recipes! Come learn how to preserve the flavors of the harvest for months to come. In this class you will learn techniques of preserving food with modern flavors. $65 per person

3-DAIRY DINNER
Thurs., Oct. 17 • 6-8pm
October is National Cheese Month. Celebrate with us at this special dinner featuring three local artisan cheese makers. Chef Robb will create four courses with Evergreen Lane Creamery, Zingerman’s Creamery and another creamery, TBA. $55 per person

To make reservations for any of the Food Dance dinners, classes or events, call 269-382-1888.

Food Dance creates opportunities for people to come together and connect through the experience of food. We passionately cook with the freshest locally produced ingredients and believe in giving great, caring service, and providing great experiences for everyone we come in contact with.

FOOD DANCE
401 E. Michigan Avenue
Kalamazoo MI 49007

www.FoodDance.net
www.facebook.com/FoodDanceRestaurant
www.twitter.com/Food_Dance

Food Dance Welcomes Artist Conrad Kaufman to March ArtHop for Live Painting Demonstration

On the first Friday of each month, the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo hosts a popular Art Hop at dozens of venues thorughout the downtown area. On Friday March 1, renowned artist Conrad Kaufman – and six of his studio artists – will be set up in the private dining room at Food Dance for live painting demonstrations from 5-9pm. The studio artists include Jodi Arnett, Eric Klein, Susan McBain, Patti Sholler-Barber, Sharon Strazdas and Brian Walters.

Throughout the evening, guests will have the chance to talk to the artists and see their work in progress. This piece of art will be auction off that evening with proceeds will going to Fair Food Matters – a local non profit focused on educating and empowering the community around local food. The artwork, however, will remain on display at Food Dance throughout the month of March.

“Not many places in Kalamazoo have artists paint live,” says Michelle Miller, marketing director for Food Dance. “It’s such a great experience for the guests to support the community through the art and the art of food.”

Kaufman’s work can be seen throughout Food Dance – in the shape of corn fields, fairies and pumpkins that make up the unique décor. A graduate of Western Michigan University, Kaufman – a native of Bangor – has ties to the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and teaches weekly classes at his Fence Rows Studio in Galesburg. With more than 17 years experience in painting murals in the Kalamazoo area and throughout Michigan, many of his murals are outdoors, on public and private buildings, and some have involved large groups of volunteers in their creation.

When Food Dance moved to its current location in 2007, Kaufman was contracted to create the larger-than-life farm-influenced décor – including floor to ceiling corn stalks which house a collection of fairies and a vibrant orange pumpkin that adorn the walls of the marketplace. Those who had visited the original Food Dance location may recall Kaufman’s work adorning the walls there as well.

“We wanted to keep the Food Dance décor and feel and he recreated it bigger and better at our current location” Miller says. “The pumpkin and vines in the market were actually transported a few blocks to its new home at 401 Michigan Avenue.”

Kaufman’s demonstration during Art Hop is free and light hor d’ouevres will be served. A slide show will also run on the large-screen HDTV featuring the artists work and the community work that Fair Food Matters focuses on. Food Dance will also be open until 11 pm for those wishing to enjoy dinner, dessert or drinks.

As one of the original West Michigan farm-to-fork restaurants dedicated to using locally-produced food, the culinary team at Food Dance works to provide a positive environmental impact and educates its staff and guests on the importance that this mindset has to the culture and community in which we live. Food Dance also supports the belief that we are all mutually-accountable to obtain excellence, by providing opportunities that create community engagement through great food and great service.

FOOD DANCE
401 E. Michigan Avenue
Kalamazoo MI 49007

www.FoodDance.net
www.facebook.com/FoodDanceRestaurant
www.twitter.com/Food_Dance