From Farm to Fork

Beth Dooley

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

10-9-2017

Abstract

An author, chef and local food expert will be making a stop on her book tour at the College of Saint Benedict.

“From Farm to Fork: Beth Dooley at the College of Saint Benedict” is at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 9, at room 204, Gorecki Center, CSB.

Her conversation, which will include a look at the local food scene in the St. Cloud area and developments, concerns and history unique to Minnesota, is free and open to the public.

Dooley is promoting her book, “In Winter’s Kitchen: Growing Roots and Breaking Bread in the Northern Heartland” (2015, Milkweed Editions). The book was a finalist for the 2016 Minnesota Book Awards in the Memoir and Creative Nonfiction category.

A native of New Jersey, Dooley moved to Minnesota and discovered a local food movement strong enough to survive the toughest winter. The memoir demonstrates that even in a place with a short growing season like Minnesota, food grown locally and organically can be healthy, community-based, environmentally conscious and delicious.

CSB Sustainability Coordinator Elissa Brown said Dooley and Milkwood Editions chose CSB as a stop for the book tour because of the school’s and St. Joseph’s support of local foods and farmers.

“They were impressed in their research by the Minnesota Street Market food and art co-op in St. Joseph, and that the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota holds its annual conference at CSB each February,” Brown said.

In recognition of Oct. 9 being “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” Dooley will be highlighting the Ojibwe and Sioux perspectives in her conversation, Brown added.

Dooley said she found it astounding that you can eat local food so well in winter in Minnesota.

“So many people dismiss the idea that you can eat local in Minnesota during the winter months, but I actually find it’s very easy to do so, you just need to be thoughtful about it,” Dooley said in a 2015 article that appeared on MinnPost.

“The change in the season forces you to slow down and pay attention to what’s present at that time, and let go of the idea of what isn’t available. So much is available. The more deeply I got to know the food that grows here, and the people who grow it, the more this place felt like my own home,” she added.

Dooley writes for Mpls.St. Paul Magazine, the Taste section of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper and Heavy Table.

She wrote “Minnesota’s Bounty: The Farmers Market Cookbook” (2013) and “The Northern Heartland Kitchen” (2011), and coauthored “Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland” (2004).

Dooley also guides local food trips and teaches cooking classes at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

This event is sponsored by Milkweed Editions, the CSB Sustainability Office and the Minnesota Street Market. It’s also made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

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