On August 16th, 2006 during the San Juan County Fair Chef Neal spoke about the importance of supporting local agriculture systems and of buying local foods. The presentation, accompanied by a cooking demonstration using locally produced ingredients, was given to a small audience of around 45 listeners. Chef Neal’s San Juan County Paella kicked off a celebration of local foods and farmers which included additional presentations by local San Juan Islanders Tim Barrette and Laurie Paul and Pacific Northwest chef Greg Atkinson.

Scott Rasmussen of The San Juan Journal had this to say:

Beans from Orcas, Pork from Lopez, Mussels by way of Wescott Bay on San Juan. Mix them together, and what do you get?

If you’re Shaw Island Based Chef Neal Foley, it’s another delicous batch of paella prepared for an appreciative crowd at the San Juan County Fair.

Foley, also known as the “Podchef”, kicked off a tour de force of renown island chefs, who, during the fair’s four day run, will demonstrait how to prepare an assortment of culinary masterpieces made exclusively from locally-grown ingredients, like produce, grains, shellfish and meats.

. . .On opening day of the fair, Foley’s paella, which included prawns, chorizo sausage, and red bell peppers served on a bed of arborio rice was well recieved by. . .the fairgoers who were lucky enough to sample the tasty dish.

“It’s outstanding,” said Lynn Danforth, a native of Nantucket, MA, and frequent visitor to San Juan Island, “You’ve got to try it.”

You can listen to the audio¹ of the event here:²

or download the audio and listen to it on you computer or mp3 player. You may also with to subscribe to The Gastrocast and have future shows download automatically on your computer either with iTunes, or your favorite podcatcher.

Technorati Tags: gastrocast, san juan county fair, podchef, paella, local foods, farming, agriculture, san juan journal, cooking demonstration, sustainability

1. From Gastrocast episode #73 [↩]
2. Just a hair under 1 hour 30 minutes long [↩]