Food & Garden Festival at Fairchild This Weekend

Paula Niño

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

​It's only Monday, so you might not be thinking about the weekend yet, but we thought you could use some help planning ahead. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden will host a series of cooking demos, lectures, and panels about local food at its Food & Garden Festival this weekend.

Festival organizers tell Short Order they want the event to be for the community, by the community, so the program was created with the input of participating farmers, chefs, and local groups.

Demos include Ingrid Hoffman teaching how to cook with Latin veggies, Eleanor Hoh (better known as Wok Star) on wok cooking, and chef Elizabeth Barlow from Canyon Ranch preparing a tropical caesar salad with banana-nut bread.

You will also hear from farmers. Gabriele Mariewski of Paradise Farms will speak about local mushrooms, while Margie Pikarsky of Bee Heaven Farm will teach how to preserve your harvest through drying and other methods.

Other things you might learn: knowing your sustainable seafood, maintaining your garden over the summer, and packing healthful school lunches. The event will also feature a bloggers' corner at the Garden House for those who want to blog during the event.

Admission is free for Fairchild members and $20 for nonmembers (download a $5 off coupon here). Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday.