Tuesday, May 16, 2006, 4:30 to 8:00 pm
Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle (directions to the Graham Visitors Center)
Registration form: download here as a Word document

Have you ever tasted a fiddlehead? Or wished for the opportunity to eat nettle Gouda cheese or something as interesting as ramp leaves? Come and join us for this enjoyable, educational and delicious springtime event featuring Kären Jurgensen: chef and advocate for local foods in restaurant and home kitchens. Karen has designed a fabulous dinner using foods from our hills, streams and fields that reflect the bounty of our springtime foods!

The evening will begin at 4:30 with light appetizers while re-connecting with your colleagues and enjoying the beauty of the Arboretum. An optional native plant tour by an Arboretum volunteer will begin at 5:00.

Our program begins at 5:30. Karen will be sharing information on what sustainability means and the efforts of local chefs to utilize locally grown products. Kären teaches in the Culinary Arts Program at Seattle Central Community College and has a grant that focuses on sustainability. In addition, Julie Wuesthoff, convivia leader for Slow Food Seattle will briefly tell us about the Slow Food movement and their local efforts and activities.

The evening concludes with a delicious buffet dinner prepared by Kären. Please join us for this opportunity to re-connect with your fellow Food & Nutrition Council members in a learning and networking environment. For non-members, we hope you’ll join us for a great opportunity to get a ‘taste’ of Washington State Food & Nutrition Council and meet some of our members. Members and non-members alike, this will be a fun, delicious and educational evening that you won’t want to miss.

Kären Jurgensen is currently the Chef Instructor at Quillisascut Cheese Company’s Farm School and at Seattle Culinary Academy teaching professional chefs, culinary students and agricultural professionals, farm to table practices and philosophy. Kären serves as president of the Seattle chapter of Chefs Collaborative. She is the co-author of Rethinking the Kitchen, the sustainable kitchen handbook.