Raising Dough for Duck Island Bread Company

Julia Child is said to have once remarked, “How can a nation be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?”

It’s a question Long Island resident Robert Biancavilla took to heart when he established Duck Island Bread Company several years ago. Bob’s gorgeous European-style breads and pastries have been a fixture – and a hot commodity – at the Northport Farmers’ Market for many seasons. He hand-shapes his breads and pastries and allows each small batch of dough to develop its deep, satisfying flavors through natural fermentation and carefully nurtured starter-cultures. Duck Island's delicious offerings include brioche, baguettes, croissants, cinnamon buns and pretzel rolls, among many other options.   

I profiled Duck Island Bread Company a year ago for Edible Long Island. Bob is passionate about baking. By day, he’s an assistant district attorney for Suffolk County, but on Friday nights he shifts focus and works all night at a rented commercial bakery to shape and bake the breads and pastries sold at the market on Saturday. 

Robert Biancavilla and his wife Sherri of Duck Island Bread Company

Now, Bob is working to establish a bakeshop and retail home for Duck Island Bread Company in Huntington and has initiated a Kickstarter campaign to fund store renovations and purchase of refrigeration, mixers and a proofer. 

Check out the Duck Island Bread Company Kickstarter campaign here.  It’s a worthy cause to consider this holiday season, not only because Bob is an accomplished baker, a true gentleman and community-minded individual, but I also love the idea of the community getting behind “the raising” of a local shop that sells nourishing bread made from scratch.

Because, James Beard got it right when he said, “Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.” 

 ©2014 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

Planting to Fight Hunger

Canned food drives are so yesterday. While still an important tool for feeding the hungry, many churches are also looking at their land and their members to get more people involved and find more ways to put food on the tables of those less fortunate.   The organic church garden may well be the new food bank of the twenty-first century. 

In 2011, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in North Bellmore, New York transformed an unused 50X100 piece of property into an organic farm.  The Garden at St. Mark’s has since harvested and donated thousands of pounds of fresh organic produce to the Long Island Council of Churches food pantry in Freeport, New York. 

Recently, St. Mark’s kicked off its third growing season, and many members, friends and volunteers rolled up their sleeves to tend to the garden. You can read more about the effort at my post for Edible Long Island.  

Through the connection of soil and spirit, the Garden at St. Mark’s aims to harvest heavenly vegetables and nurture a community of healthy bodies, big hearts, open arms and achy muscles.

©2013 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

Fresh and Local, Even in Winter

Long Island sisters Jaime Greci and Lona Graepel may have a touch of the farmer in their DNA. While most would be inclined to hibernate during these months of cold and darkness, they have sown the seeds and sprouted Long Island’s first winter farmers market.

It’s the coldest Saturday of the season yet, but the parking lot is full and people are streaming into Sweet Hollow Hall at the West Hills County Park in Huntington. The surrounding area is blanketed with fresh snow. Inside the hall, a musician plays guitar, pasture-raised meat is sizzling on a barbecue grill and visitors sample from vats of pungent homemade pickles. There are seniors tasting artisan cheese and kids having fun with crafts. It’s a community event.

Summer farmers markets are now so ubiquitous that one rarely considers how they come together. There are two-dozen summer markets on Long Island. Many communities offer winter markets, but it took Jaime and Lona to notice that none existed on Long Island. From the moment the idea took root last summer, they set to work planning and spreading the word. The “back-of-the market” logistics were all-consuming. They needed to confirm locations, and secure approvals, licenses and insurance. Once the details were in place, they also needed to recruit farmers and food artisans to participate.

Sisters Jaime Greci (l) and Lona Graepel (r) have created

Long Island’s first winter farmers market.

“We went to all the outdoor markets over the summer and approached different vendors,” says Jaime. “It was all word-of-mouth.”

“People were hugging me and kissing me” says Lona. She points out that after November, the opportunities for small farmers and food artisans on Long Island are quite limited. “They have no place to go in the winter and no outlet to sell here,” says Lona. “We wanted to create a nice environment, fun for the whole family, where you could bring the kids and the grandparents.”

“It’s important that we house the farmers during the winter, so they can continue to support themselves and their families, and to have a sort of community,” Jaime explains.

G&G Long Island Winter Farmers Market opened January 8th at Sweet Hollow Hall. Attendance far exceeded expectations with residents traveling from all parts of Long Island to visit. They’ve already seen repeat visitors, and some linger for hours.

“The phone’s been ringing off the hook,” says Lona who became a true market advocate during a summer stint in upstate New York working with her brother who organizes farmers markets in the region. “I would wake up each Saturday with a big smile on my face.”

A walk through the market is like a taste of Long Island, but there are also food artisans from the Hudson Valley and beyond. The team from Horman’s Best Pickles in Glen Cove sample delectably hair raising horseradish pickles and bright “Red Flannel” pickle chips garnished with sweet red peppers.

Lee’s Bees of Huntington offers a tasting of pure, raw unfiltered honey harvested by season, from the lively flavors of spring flowers, to the mellow, toasty caramel flavors of fall.

Migliorelli Farms of Dutchess County offers bins of blushingly-beautiful apple varieties as well as a selection of ruddy winter squash and root vegetables.

Old Chatham Sheepherding from the Hudson Valley serves up a smooth and peppery blue cheese that makes you wince with pleasure.

Jaime says the winter market is a win-win for the farmers and for food lovers on Long Island. “It’s fresh and it’s yummy stuff,” she says, beaming.

G&G Long Island Winter Farmers market runs every Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. from January through April, and alternates weekends at two locations. Check website for specific dates or the market's Facebook page:

Sweet Hollow Hall, West Hills County Park, Gwynne Road, Huntington.

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 270 Main Street, Northport.

©2011 T.W. Barritt all Rights Reserved

Gourmet Prep of Houston – Healthy Food, Foster Youth and Entrepreneurship

How do you tackle the issue of foster youth aging out of the system at 18-years-of age? Nearly 60 percent of foster children reach adulthood with no family support and no marketable skills to assure employment. But, Houston-based social activists Gur and Stefanie Tsabar saw a potential solution to the problem in the ingredients of a gourmet meal.

Their venture, Gourmet Prep Meals launches this month in Houston, promising fresh, ready-to-cook recipe kits to busy individuals and families who want to eat healthy and cook more at home. Imagine placing an order online and receiving all the fresh ingredients for a complete meal – pre-prepped, chopped and measured, and packaged up with cooking instructions – delivered directly to your home or office. Menu items include such chef-inspired entrees as Poached Salmon with Lemon Pesto Orzo and Roasted Asparagus, Herb Chicken with Whole Wheat Couscous and a Vegetable Medley, and Portabella Mushrooms Stuffed with Quinoa and Veggies. And, you cook it all at home in under 30 minutes.

Beyond the convenience, fresh flavor and good taste, this is food with a purpose. One hundred percent of profits are dedicated to training young adults - who are aging out of the foster care system - in entrepreneurship.

“The single problem we were looking to solve is that the majority of these kids get dumped into adulthood and don’t survive the workforce,” says Gur. “We wanted to figure out a way to build a community around this vulnerable population and raise awareness about this issue.”

The commercial kitchen which serves as home-base for Gourmet Prep Meals is located in the same building as an organization responsible for transitioning Houston's foster youth into adulthood. Cohorts of 15 youth at a time will work in the kitchen preparing the food and learning sales, marketing and customer service skills – in effect, a total experience in entrepreneurship. It’s a hands-on experience, versus a classroom. The youth work regular hours, get paid, and learn from nurturing staff.

These are real jobs with real-life consequences. Gur and Stefanie are working with a variety of social agencies in Houston that will provide support and refer youth to the program. Chef Molly Graham served as a culinary consultant on development of the menu.

“The commercial problem we want to solve,” says Gur, “is that busy parents are desperate to cook more and put healthy food on the table.”

But he says it’s not a typical not-for-profit approach. He calls Gourmet Prep Meals a “social entrepreneurial enterprise.” The commercial business serves as the mechanism to train the youth. The sale of the meal kits sustains the social mission and the youth benefit in the process, not only gaining valuable skills for future employment, but a total immersion in how a start-up works.

Good food and healthy eating are integral to the business model and the experience the youth will have.

“There is a specific reason we chose a culinary experience,” says Gur. “There’s probably no more unique skill than to be able to nourish yourself. At a most basic level, we’re going to train these youth how to cook meals for themselves and introduce them to food. That’s a key skill to becoming a self-sustaining adult.”

Gourmet Prep Meals will fill a need for time-pressured families, but Gur says the food will involve families in the issue of foster youth.

“It’s a story in a box,” he says of the meal kit. “We give people good food, they read the recipe card and get an introduction to the program. The customer learns about healthy food and the needs of foster youth. The food brings people into the conversation.”

He is optimistic about the launch of Gourmet Prep Meals and its impact on foster youth in Houston. “People want to see this group succeed,” Gur says. “There’s a lot of energy we’re hoping to tap for and on behalf of these kids.”

©2010 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved