The Green Fork is the official blog of the Eat Well Guide. Click here to Find Good Food.

“Old New York…was once New Amsterdam…”

Back then, a widely diverse population of city dwellers bought their food at the market, not at the Quizno’s.

If you are in New York on Sunday, come join thousands of other foodies, farmers and activists at the New Amsterdam Market. This is the third New Amsterdam gathering so far–the last event got hit by a snow storm but 5,000 people still showed up, so this weekend’s market is expected to be major. We’re excited about the implications of a market in the Seaport area, as is Robert LaValva, the Director of the New Amsterdam Market Association:

“The participants we have gathered for New Amsterdam Market on June 29th represent a shift in thinking. With its four century legacy as a market district, the Seaport and its empty public market halls offer New Yorkers an unprecedented opportunity to anchor the food system now emerging from this change.”

And the lineup of vendors looks amazing. I’m especially intrigued by Wild Foods (cattail hearts?!), and I hear there will even be sustainably-produced popsicles. Don’t forget your re-usable bags–you’re going to want to bring some food home.

Read on for more info:
NEW AMSTERDAM MARKET RETURNS TO THE SEAPORT - SUNDAY, JUNE 29, 2008

Celebrating regional & sustainable food systems and New York’s public market legacy.
For Immediate Release - June 13, 2008 - New York, NY - In its ongoing campaign to establish a permanent, indoor public market in the historic, public-owned Fulton Fish Market buildings at the Seaport, New Amsterdam Market will gather for the third time on Sunday, June 29th 2008 from 11am to 4pm at the South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan. Open to the public at no charge ($5 suggested donation) the market will take place in the plaza fronting the New Market Building, on the East River between Beekman Street and Peck Slip.

This one day event will be twice the size of the second New Amsterdam Market (held at the Seaport on December 16th, 2007) which drew 5,000 enthusiastic supporters despite the day’s severe snowstorm. The New Amsterdam Market to be held on June 29th will include over 50 pioneers and advocates of the sustainable food movement (for full details visit www.newamsterdammarket.org).

“The participants we have gathered for New Amsterdam Market on June 29th represent a shift in thinking. With its four century legacy as a market district, the Seaport and its empty public market halls offer New Yorkers an unprecedented opportunity to anchor the food system now emerging from this change.” says Robert LaValva, who organized the first New Amsterdam Market in October 2005 and directs the New Amsterdam Public Market Association. “The rich history and dramatic setting of the Tin Building, New Market Building, the plaza connecting them, and its open views of the Brooklyn Bridge are a world-class iconic venue, reminding us of the working waterfront and the vital connection its food markets have provided through nearly four centuries of commerce and sustenance. By retaining these buildings as genuine public markets dedicated to a new mission, the City of New York will encourage existing and future businesses to create innovative approaches for procuring, distributing, processing, and selling regional and sustainably produced food. As a civic institution, New Amsterdam Market will join the city’s thriving Greenmarket system to place the city at the forefront of the evolving regional and sustainable food movement, offering alternatives to industrial food production, and restoring the original vision for the Seaport to be a public, cultural destination for all New Yorkers.”

New Amsterdam Market on June 29th will feature:

THE BAKER’S DOZEN
In a special tribute to New York’s public market legacy organized by Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery, THE BAKER’S DOZEN will bring together or region’s renowned bread bakers, including Roger Gural and Karen Bomarth of the French Culinary Institute, Peter Endriss of Bouchon & Per Se, Mark Fiorentino of Daniel, Sim Cass of Balthazar, Kathy Hester of Bakehouse, Amy Sherber of Amy’s Bread, Rhonda Crosson of AQ Kafe, and Jessamyn Waldman of Hot Bread Kitchen, each creating a signature bread for New Amsterdam Market;

Fruits of the Farm including seasonal produce and fruit by McEnroe Organic Farms of Millerton, NY, East New York Farms, a community-based urban farm in Brooklyn, NY, and the Queens Farm Museum, which stewards 47 acres farmed continuously since 1697; and wines produced by Brotherhood Winery of Washingtonville, NY and Paumanok Vineyard of Aquebogue, Long Island;

Milk and Honey including regional milk produced by Hudson Valley Fresh, a non-profit cooperative formed by Dr. Sam Simon to preserve small-scale dairies in Dutchess and Putnam counties; farmstead cheese produced by Mecox Bay Dairy from the East End of Long Island; Meadow Creek Dairy of Galax, VA, and the Farmstead Fresh collaborative of Pennsylvania; and biodynamic honey by Bee’s Needs of Amagansett, NY;

Wild Foods (including Virginia waterleaf, wild chervil, wood nettles, garlic mustard, cattail hearts, and bracken ferns) gathered by Nova Kim and Les Hook, founders of Vermont’s Wild Food Guild; and - if chance permits - line-caught wild tuna from Long Island, expertly filleted by a celebrated Fulton Fish Market monger;

Pastured Meats including lamb from 3-Corner Field Farm and heritage pork from Flying Pigs Farm, both in Shushan, NY; registered Berkshire pork, poultry, chicken and duck eggs from JohnBoy’s-Mountainview Farm of Cambridge, NY; and beef and seasonal veal (including primal cuts for chefs) by St. Brigid’s Farm of Kennedyville, MD;

Local-Source Producers who specialize in using regional ingredients, including Pika’s Farm Table of Big Indian, NY (Catskills value-added products) Paumanok Preserves of Center Moriches, NY (jams and jellies made of Long Island fruit); ricks’ picks of New York City (pickles) The Bent Spoon of Princeton, NJ (ice cream made with all-local, seasonal ingredients); the people’s popsicle (making its debut at the market) and Milk & Cookies Bakery of New York, NY (cookies made with local and seasonal ingredients);

Purveyors who source from the region, including Saxelby Cheesemongers, New York, NY (northeastern cheeses); Formaggio Kitchen of Cambridge, MA and New York, NY (cheeses from Quebec); Marlow and Sons of Brooklyn, NY (seasonal produce, regional and house-made products, and fresh ice cream); The Health Shoppe of Morristown, NJ (Garden State products) Dickson’s Farmstand Inc., a new business in New York City (regional grass-fed meat); and Bridge Urban Winery of Williamsburg, Brooklyn - a vintner and purveyor who sources wine from the four wine regions of New York State;

Distributors including The Pampered Cow of Ghent, NY (New York State cheeses); BoBo Poultry and Piccinini Brothers of New York, NY (regionally produced chicken and other poultry); and Regional Access of Trumansburg, NY (Finger Lakes products);

Caterers who use regional ingredients including Green/Brown/Orange (New York, New York) and Great Performances (which sources primarily from its own upstate Katchkie Farms) as well as Sweet Deliverance (Brooklyn, NY), Sweet Pea Nourishment (Philadelphia, PA), and Pizza a Casa (New York, NY), all of whom provide meals or cooking instruction using local and seasonal ingredients.

Advocates including the Watershed Agricultural Council (promoting sustainable agriculture to protect the New York City watershed); CADE (promoting value-added farming in New York State); Edible Finger Lakes, Edible East End, Edible Brooklyn, Edible Manhattan, (publications promoting local food culture); The Fair Food Project (bringing locally grown food into the Philadelphia marketplace); Severine von Tscharner Fleming, who is conducting a census of the growing number of young farmers and directing the Greenhorns - a documentary film about this movement; and the New York Coffee Society, which will offer a selection of exceptional coffees from micro-roasters who source exclusively from independent, ecologically sensitive growers. In keeping with a 19th century New York City public market tradition, proceeds from coffee sales will benefit charitable causes;

New York Chefs including Alejandro Alcocer of Brown, Patti Jackson of Centovini, Willis Loughhead of Country, Caroline Fidanza of Diner, Ignacio Mattos of il Buco, Phillip Kirschen Clark of Jimmy’s No. 43, Jason Hicks of Orsay, Frank DeCarlo of Peasant, and Darren Pettigrew of Stella Maris will prepare market fare with regional, seasonal ingredients.

SOUTH STREET
Award winning photographer Barbara Mensch will be present to sign copies of SOUTH STREET (Columbia University Press, 2007). The book chronicles the lives of the Fulton Fish Market workers from the turbulent years when the Seaport was transformed into a shopping mall district until the fish market’s recent relocation to the Bronx. The message of SOUTH STREET is truly universal, posing the questions surrounding progress and change. Its images are a potent reminder of the work that took place in the market’s historic structures, and of their potential for renewal and reconnection to daily life.

For further details on all vendors and participants visit www.newamsterdammarket.org

Recycling and composting services at the market will be provided by Sprint Recycling.

NEW AMSTERDAM MARKET
New Amsterdam Market was established in 2005 as a forum to gather the proponents and practitioners of regional and sustainable food systems. Recognizing the need to define these evolving concepts, New Amsterdam Market will continue meeting as a series of seasonal markets of increasing frequency and size, building towards a permanent institution. This same incremental approach was taken at Borough Market in London, which began as a British food festival in 1999 and has now become a thriving, year-round market held thrice weekly inside former wholesale market stalls. Housed within the public-owned New Market Building and Tin Building, New Amsterdam Market will preserve the Seaport’s 400 year legacy as a public market district to lead New York into the future.