Category: Food News

Food News revolves around the happenings within the national Hospitality Industry and how it relates to the local restaurant scene. Here in the Commonwealth, the dining scene is vibrant and is influenced by—and sometimes influences—the national spotlight.

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Fezziwig’s Ball Brings Dickensian Flare to Spark the Christmas Season

First Annual Fezziwig's Ball at The Citizen in Worcester, MA

Literary juggernaut Charles Dickens did one of his last readings in Worcester, Mass. at Mechanic’s Hall in 1868. And, Vaillancourt Folk Art has been flying Charles Dicken’s great-great grandson, Gerald, to their theatre in Sutton, Mass. to perform A Christmas Carol every Thanksgiving weekend since 2009.

Seeing the play will certainly put you in the holiday spirit but now Vaillancourt Folk Art and Niche Hospitality Group are joining forces to bring a little more Dickens to Central Massachusetts. Experience Act 1, Scene 5 at the First Annual Fezziwig’s Ball located at The Citizen Wine Bar on Friday, December 4 at 6 p.m.

First Annual Fezziwig's Ball at The Citizen in Worcester, MAThe Citizen’s covered patio will be transformed into a Dickensian themed dinner party featuring a traditional English feast including a carving station and 19th century inspired cocktails as well as music from the era. Decked out in authentic threads, Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig will be there to show everyone how to party like it’s 1822.

Niche Hospitality’s Mike Covino hopes the event will be a party for all ages. “When I think about Fezziwig’s Christmas Eve party in the book, I think about merriment, joy and fun. I hope our version of Fezziwig’s Ball brings people together from all walks of life to celebrate and to be grateful for our family, friends, and community.”

To give you the Cliffs Notes, the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge a time when he worked as an apprentice for Mr. Fezziwig. Fezziwig cared more about spreading joy to people than profits, which is why he hosted a jubilant Christmas Eve party with his wife.

“Fezziwig’s party epitomizes the celebratory nature of the holiday season and what better way to bring it to life than by partnering with the masters of hospitality: Niche Hospitality Group,” says Luke M. Vaillancourt, Director of Digital Marketing for Vaillancourt Folk Art, which is considered one of the last “Made in America” Christmas studios.

The authentic menu for the first annual Fezziwig's Ball at The Citizen in Worcester, MASome guests are opting to dress in traditional Victorian-era garb as Covino will offer prizes for tye best dressed. (For a little Industrial Revolution attire inspiration, women’s dresses began to change at that time. Waistlines dropped to the smallest part of the waist and skirts were wide with tucks, pleats, ruffles or loops. Men’s fashion emphasized broad shoulders with puffed sleeves and narrow waistcoats.)

No matter what outfit you pick, the mission of the party is meant to unite guests. Vaillancourt Folk Art and Niche Hospitality Group hopes to turn strangers into old friends by the end of the night with the help of some warm-hearted Christmas cheer—that maybe we’ll hold onto all year.

Like Dickens wrote, “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” And, there’s no better place to find merriment and the Christmas spirit than at a ball dedicated to the same sentiment. Tickets are $75 (inclusive of gratuity) and are available online or by calling (508) 459-9090. A cash bar will be available also.

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Armsby Abbey’s Bionutrient-grown four-course dinner

Course Two of Armsby Abbey's Bionutrient-grown dinner

Dan Kittredge talking about Bionutrient Food Association (photo submitted by Gary Neves)

Can healthy food be full of flavor? Turns out, most of us don’t even know how good it could be.

Grocery store food and restaurants that buy from big distributors like Sysco may be dulling our taste buds and lowering our standards. These options may be more convenient, and most likely it’s cheaper when you don’t have to pay your restaurant to grow the food as well prepare it, but Dan Kittredge, founder of Bionutrient Food Association and activist, taught us on Tuesday night at Armsby Abbey’s Bionutrient-grown four-course dinner precisely what we’re missing.

Course Two of Armsby Abbey's Bionutrient-grown dinner
Course Two of Armsby Abbey’s Bionutrient-grown dinner (Photo submitted by Crystal Caron)

Kittredge’s credentials are pretty legit. He grew up on an organic farm and he lives on a farm with his wife and children. More than that he told me his kids fight over the broccoli he grows. I like a good broccoli with lemon, garlic and a sprinkle of Romano, but I rarely, if ever, elbow out the competition to snag broccoli served straight up.

According to Kittredge, we’re missing out on more than just flavor, average nutrient levels of crops over the last 80 years have been decreasing from 25 to 85 percent based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s reports. At the same time, Kittredge says, we’re seeing degenerative diseases in humans, which can be linked to nutritional deficiencies in crops.

Turns out, the better produce and food tastes, the higher the level of nutrients it holds.

His organization, the Bionutrient Food Association, is a national association of voting members who agree to increase quality in the food supply through advocacy and farming-practices.

The BFA travels around teaching farmers a high-functioning biological system focused on the soil because the soil determines the vigor, vitality, yield production, pest and disease resistance, the nutrient level of the crop, the flavor and the shelf life.

Dan Kittredge talking about Bionutrient Food Association at Armsby Abbey. (photo submitted by Gary Neves)In addition to being an important resource for improving soil health and building a foundation for nutrient rich crops, the method BFA teaches farmers is a carbon-negative technology that would lead to a net withdrawal of CO2 from the atmosphere, while producing and consuming energy.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. The excess of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth’s atmosphere is warming the planet and increasing the severity and intensity of extreme weather events because the atmosphere can only absorb so much of this greenhouse gas, excess CO2 is dissolving into our oceans, causing them to acidify. Ocean acidification not only harms marine life, it puts food webs at risk.

The proliferation of bionutrient crop production would solve this problem in three and a half years, says Kittredge. That seems slightly more compelling than Al Gore’s post-presidential defeat beard-growing days when he asked us to change our lightbulbs in the PowerPoint presentation turned Oscar-winning documentary an Inconvenient Truth.

When I spoke with Kittredge, he was on his way to speak at the United Nations with Al Gore’s daughter, Karenna Gore.

Course Three of Armsby Abbey's Bionutrient-grown dinner
Course Three of Armsby Abbey’s Bionutrient-grown dinner (Photo submitted by Crystal Caron)

His plan is to go all around the country and proselytize so farmers will not have to rely on giants like Monstanto, which produces and sells controversial insecticides and bovine growth hormone. He believes paying lobbyists to shut down Monstanto is a waste of time. Instead we should just make them obsolete, Kittredge says.

Kittredge along with his wife and kids live on a North Brookfield farm where they quite literally live off the fat of the land, and for a night we did too.

For Tuesday night’s dinner, Armsby Abbey Chef Damian Evangelous used all produce and meat sourced from the Kittredge farm to make an incredible meal.

While the food was spectacular, the tastes weren’t all that different from what you would expect from a farm-to-table restaurant. The most remarkable aspect of the meal was how I felt afterward. Most dining-out experiences lead me to a swift coma-like ascension. Thanks to a meal devoid of processed foods and cane sugar, I felt energetic after eating four courses.

The dinner consisted of:

Course One: Raw tomatoes, roasted red and yellow peppers, cherry tomatoes and mixed baby greens dressed in a watermelon vinaigrette finished with crispy onions and aged goat cheese in what Evangelous dubbed the final farewell to summer.

Course Two: Charred beef tallow cooked vegetables with a vegetable reduction, apple chips and pickled onions.

Course Three: Slow cooked beef with a puree of potato and rutabaga, maple caramelized leeks, Brussel sprouts and winter squash in a beef reduction.

Course Four: Caramelized butternut squash with apple butter, aerated butternut and roasted apple custard, crispy butternut crumbs and brown butter.

While Kittredge’s mission may seem like a political battle, it’s a bipartisan issue. Believing in Global Warming or not, the stakes are indisputably important to anyone who eats food.

People don’t have to buy the farm or give up all indulgences. But listening to Kittredge, I saw a pretty cool future if his plan works. We could live in a world where tomatoes smell like tomatoes and kids fight over broccoli.