Coming together for a celebration of local food
Evan Mallett is the chef and owner of Black Trumpet in Portsmouth. He is passionate about food and where it comes from. Twenty-five years ago, he struggled with a dilemma.
“We were doing these dinners called the Barn Dinner once a year in a very old barn in Stratham, New Hampshire,” Mallett said, “and each chef contributed a different course. And each of the ingredients that we used were heirloom varieties that were commercially extinct and had a story to tell. We had done the Barn Dinner for a few years, and it became clear that that was a very exclusive event that only a certain privileged population could attend. And we wanted farmers at the table. We wanted everyone in our community at the table.”
Which is how the first Farm-A-Q happened.
“It was a group of chefs, farmers, gardeners, and people interested in galvanizing our local food community,” Mallett said. “We did this outdoor festival and added music. And each of the chefs who had done a course at the Barn Dinner now had a table outside and were cooking outdoors. There was a big fire pit, and everyone sort of gathered around that and cooked overnight. So that tradition has stayed alive now for I think it’s been 15 years.”
This year’s Farm-A-Q will take place Sunday, June 28, at Tuckaway Farm in Lee. Sarah Cox is an owner of Tuckaway Farm. She said the event is a way to look at area food through several different lenses.
“The Farm-A-Q is an event that has really grown into a way for the community to come together and celebrate and learn about local farms, local chefs, and also more education on agriculture. It’s an inclusive kind of family-friendly event and features local chefs using local food as a way to bring the community together.”
Cox said anyone attending Farm-A-Q will have a chance to explore any number of food interests.
“They will come up onto one of our big farm fields,” she said, “and with one ticket, they’re going to have access to different chefs set up around the field. They can come and sample food and talk to those chefs. And there are tables where they could meet some of the farmers. There are tables with kids’ activities around food and farming. Kids can get their passes to go check things off all around the event as they’re tasting things. We have agricultural organizations like the Conservation District who come and they show some of the ways that they help support area agriculture. But for the most part, a family coming or a person coming just comes informally with a lawn chair or a blanket, and they can set up for the afternoon, walk around, get some food, and just enjoy themselves. It’s meant to be informal, but a way to really connect with [New Hampshire] food and get to know what’s around us, get to know maybe the chefs of places you’ve wanted to go or have been or introduce people to them; to connect how they work with farms and meet some of the farmers who are growing that food.”
Evan Mallett described the dish that he and his restaurant will serve at Farm-A-Q: “Black Trumpet is teaming up with a woman named Dina Wilford, and she is the owner of Vita Tortilla, which makes its tortillas from a masa that is in turn made from the corn grown on the farm where we are. So we are going to be cooking grass-fed beef shanks in a smoker and then braising them and then serving them barbacoa style with her tortillas.”
The Hollis Strawberry Festival and Band Concert
Where: Hollis Town Common (3 Monument Square, Hollis) or at Middle School in case of bad weather.
When: Sunday, June 28, from 2 to 4 p.m.
Admission: The concert, which will feature patriotic and popular instrumental music, is free. The money raised will come from the purchase of strawberry desserts.farm-a-q.
Featured photo: Photo from cultivatenewengland.com/farm-a-q.