‘I Love U Lunch’ with local food in Pittsboro Feb. 14February 6, 2010
By Carol Peppe Hewitt
http://sustainablegrub.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/i-love-u-lunch-with-local-food-in-pittsboro-feb-14/On New Year’s Day I drove up to Golden Belt in Durham, curious to see the renovation of this historic space I had heard so much about, and to eat black-eyed peas and collards with the Slow Food Triangle folks at their annual New Year’s Day event. I knew they had sold out but was otherwise unsure what to expect. What I found was a massive room with long lines of tables strung together with table cloths and people of all ages, including many young families. I sat down across from a young woman doing a research project on an ambitious mill renovation in Star, North Carolina, then met Margaret who had just redone the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association website, then Josh who is pulling together a network/support group for artist-scientists. I saw old friends, and made new ones. What fun. There are over 1.5 million people in the Triangle area now, and when I am in a room like that I can forget that the sustainability crowd I hang with is actually fringe and that the supermarkets are full of industrially farmed, genetically modified, imported, tasteless food, not these wonderful local collards. It was an uplifting afternoon, and an excellent article followed in the local press.
But it was the seed it germinated that matters here. We in Chatham County also have a Mill that is undergoing adaptive reuse, and I wondered how to get these delightful people together with my Pittsboro locavore friends to enjoy a local food feast at our mill. Could I host another opportunity to be in each others’ company, to be inspired by one another’s stories, and be nourished by not only good food, but by the hope we hold out for a better world for ourselves and all those children running about?
I spoke with Phoebe Lawless, queen of Slow Food Triangle and of pies. She was most encouraging and on the way home to Pittsboro ‘I Love u Lunch’ took shape. A delicious lunch, midway through the doldrums of February, on February 14th, Valentine’s Day, which falls conveniently on a Sunday. Find what grows in February, cook it up and invite a crowd.
The first call was to Tom Roberts, owner of Chatham Mills. He was enthusiastic and eager to help host the event. More phone calls, then meetings with Phoebe, Mary of Chatham Marketplace, Tami at the Abundance Foundation, and Sandi at ECO and we had a team. Several local farmers (Duck Run, Piedmont BioFarm, Screech’s Greenhouse, Celebrity Dairy, Edible Earthscapes, Scratch Baking), local caterers and chefs (Angelina’s Kitchen, General Store Café, Scurlock’s Catering, Ann Silverman) and Benjamin Vineyards Winery, and Carolina Brewery have all joined up as well.
Along with a growing cast of enthusiastic volunteers, we are well underway to a wonderful time! If we have half as much fun at the luncheon as we are having putting it together, it will be a blast: Sunday Feb. 14, 1-4 p.m. in historic Chatham Mills on Hillsborough Street on the northern edge of downtown Pittsboro. Co-sponsored by Slow Food Triangle, The Abundance Foundation, ChathamMarketplace, Chatham Mills and LOOM (advocates of bringing culture and business to Chatham Mills).
The gourmet three-course lunch will feature Greek chicken soup, sweet potato muffins, roasted tomato and goat cheese tarts, winter baby salad mix, beet chiffon pie, and more! Tickets to the event are only $10 in advance and $15 at the door (children under 12 are $8), and can be purchased online at
http://theabundancefoundation.org/i-love-u-lunch.BYOB or purchase a $3 drink ticket for Benjamin Vineyards wine or Carolina Brewery beer. The luncheon is a fundraiser for Chatham Marketplace, the local coop also located at Chatham Mills, that offers a wide selection of local foods. Specifically the proceeds will help pay to solarize the new Chatham Marketplace sign being installed this spring.
Chatham Mills produced silk and woven labels from 1925 to 1996. Having produced a livelihood for so many for decades, the mill building and grounds are being renovated for adaptive reuse. Plays, concerts, conferences and events like this luncheon spur Chatham Mills evolution as an inviting, socially vibrant, community centerpiece. Attendees can join a 3:30 – 4 pm tour of the Mill if they wish.
For more information contact Carol at
iloveulunch@gmail.com, or The Abundance Foundation at 533-5181.
