Harvest Evening Celebration

Today for breakfast I had some greek yogurt with granola and walnuts. Little Miss Fussy had Cheerios with nutritional yeast. The young man had peanut butter and honey in a bowl, with some skim milk to wash it down.

He brought $3.05 to school so he could buy the one hot lunch that’s not completely disgusting. It’s called Italian dunkers. As far as I can tell it’s deconstructed pizza, which is funny because the he doesn’t care for pizza. The meal consists of bread sticks, fried cheese sticks, and some kind of tomato sauce.

Little Miss Fussy was sent off with a ham sandwich made with 100% whole wheat bread and the exquisite european-style ham from Niman Ranch. That was accompanied by a half cup each of frozen peas and frozen mango. Snack was a bag of Trader Joe’s cheese puffs.

I’ll try to have a light lunch, probably assembled from leftovers in the fridge, because tonight I’m abandoning my family to try My Dacha, the newish Slavonian restaurant on Lark Street with a few people from the local Yelp community. Mrs. Fussy will feed the kids something. I have no idea what. There is plenty of food in the house.

Bear with me for a moment, because the above list of foods is about a much larger point.

Never, at any point of the month, do I have to wonder if there will be food to feed the family. But that’s not the case for everyone. Food insecurity affects people everywhere. From the inner cities to the affluent suburbs. It’s not something people often talk about, so you may have friends, colleagues, or loved ones who don’t know where their next meal may come from.

This Saturday, I’ll be fasting for Yom Kippur. I’m not sure how many of you have similar experiences over the course of the year, but let me tell you, being hungry sucks. And in my fast, I know that it’s temporary. I know that at sundown I’ll get a cup of tea, and the caffeine will help my throbbing headache. I know that after the final prayers are said there will be bagels, herring, and noodle pudding.

Not only does going hungry sap me of energy, but it also makes me grumpy and irritable.

While it’s not fun to fast, I think it’s an important exercise to help empathize with those who don’t have enough food to feed themselves and their families.

Which is why I’m always thrilled to support The Food Pantries for the Capital District. Their annual benefit is coming up next week, and this will be my fourth year participating in the festivities. The event is the Harvest Evening Celebration, and it’s always a fun and interesting night out.

Local chefs are challenged to make a delicious and simple dish, each getting to choose a staple ingredient stocked by Capital District food pantries. Attendees get to go around and taste all of these at Revolution Hall in Troy. I will be on the official judging panel where we will try to determine which dish stands above the rest.

This year the participating restaurants include Athos, The Point, Whole Foods Market, Allie B’s Cozy Kitchen, Brown’s Brewing Company, Field Notes, and the Tipsy Moose Tap & Tavern. Last year Allie B’s was the champion, but this is the first year Field Notes and Tipsy Moose are competing. I’m excited to see what they are able to do with these simple ingredients.

Oh, and right now, Yelp is giving away a free pair of tickets to the event too. Which I guess means, I’m giving away a free pair of tickets. Still, you have to do it over on the Yelp side of the fence. The winner will be announced on Friday, so if you do not win, there is still time to buy your own tickets.

If you do win, perhaps you can take some of those savings and apply them to the silent auction, the 50/50 raffle, or one of the other fun fundraising efforts that support The Food Pantries for the Capital District.

And if you can’t go, that’s okay too. Just by reading this post, hopefully you are more aware that food insecurity remains an issue for people in our area. That’s an important first step for a problem that is far too often unseen and ignored.

But I hope to see you there.