Food for Thought
I Tracy Freeman, Editor It’s summertime in Sarasota and the livin’ is … HOT! But I think this is our coolest summer issue ever. Because the weather has us all screaming for ice cream, this issue is piled high with endless variations of America’s favorite dessert spiked with seasonal add-ins like fresh sweet corn and backyard mangoes. It was great to have Charlotte Abrams back in the Edible test kitchen for all of us ice cream lovers.
A few weeks ago the Edible team participated in some heavy lifting with our friends at the Sarasota Bay Watch program. In their mission to improve our bay’s water quality and restore marine ecosystems, Sarasota Bay Watch with dozens of volunteers set out to drop 30,000 clams into the Sarasota Bay. We hauled heavy baskets full of clams down the dock and loaded them on to a large barge. The water-filtering clams are so essential to the bay’s health, it was really an awesome opportunity to give back. The Gulf of Mexico is our biggest resource and we must all do our part to keep it clean. You can learn more about this in the pages ahead.
The fifth annual Sustainable Seafood dinner is scheduled for Sunday, August 5, at Louies Modern. As the sustainable-food movement flourishes, consumers are developing a keener awareness of the fish we eat and are demanding more information. This event is a delicious opportunity to taste invasive and underutilized seafood species, to learn about the future of sustainable seafood, and to connect with leading change makers in our culinary community.
What happens when you pair an owner of a cold-pressed juice business with a talented craft cocktail expert? CROPtails, of course. Karen Odierna, owner of CROP organic juice bar, and Spencer Taliaferro came together to develop three simple yet enhanced cocktails designed for the at-home mixologist. Cocktails with ingredients to help with brain function, decrease inflammation, and boost immunity? I know what I will be sipping by the pool this summer.
If one of your favorite summer activities is spending the day at the beach, there is no single item that can be more important than a properly packed beach cooler. In this issue we hit the beach with all our favorites; make sure to check it out before your next trip to the #1 beach in the country.
The call to spit plastic straws out of our food system is growing louder and louder. I’m excited to announce that more and more restaurants have taken the pledge and joined Skip the Straw Suncoast. Let’s keep this momentum alive and ban plastic straws once and for all.
I hope this issue of Edible Sarasota finds you cooling off in style.
