Published: 8/16/2019 5:47:15 PM
Modified: 8/16/2019 5:47:03 PM
GREENFIELD — The community will celebrate 15 years of local food and kinship at the annual Harvest Supper on Sunday.
The free supper, served on the Greenfield Common, includes locally grown foods prepared by local chefs, including Kirsten Levitt, executive chef and executive director of Stone Soup Cafe and organizer of the Harvest Supper.
Levitt said the dinner is unique to the area.
“Where else than Greenfield can you go to an event where local farmers donate out of their fields or hen houses or shelves, so people can come together to eat?” Levitt asked. “It’s a community event where neighbors can eat next to each other and hold each other up.”
The idea of the supper was sparked by the late Juanita Nelson, a Deerfield farmer and peace activist, who remembered a 1981 community dinner sponsored by the Greenfield Farmers Market.
The meal begins at 4:30 p.m., with appetizers that are shared as people wait in line for the buffet items. Beyond the food, there will be music and entertainment. Also, there will be a “free market” of donated produce that people can shop for and take home.
Levitt said she has an idea of some menu items, but with the variety of donations, it can be difficult to know what she’s making until the day before the dinner.
“I have some ideas for the meals, some popular recipes, but it’s like an episode of ‘Chopped’ — I don’t know what I have until I open the basket,” Levitt said. “One thing I know is that this year we have more proteins than ever before.”
However, there will also be vegan and vegetarian dishes, Levitt added.
A core group of organizers are helping to get all the logistics and structures of the meal in place, with up to 100 volunteers on the day of the event.
“We ask that you support the meal’s zero-landfill goal by bringing your own plate, utensils and napkins with you, then take them home to wash,” says a statement put out by organizers. If you don’t have them, the dinner will have compostable supplies on hand.
Although the food and the labor to put the meal together has all been donated, there are costs to providing a meal for 800 people or more, including signs, nametags, portable toilet rentals and insurance. There will be collection jars at the supper. Donations will offset the costs, with any extra money supporting the Stone Soup Cafe.
Donations may be sent by check to: Stone Soup Cafe c/o All Souls Church, P.O. Box 542, Greenfield MA 01302. Write “Free Harvest Supper” in the memo line of the check. Donations are also accepted at bit.ly/2Z9taPJ.
Or, to sign up to volunteer, visit volunteersignup.org/BPTX3.
Reach Melina Bourdeau at mbourdeau@recorder.com or at 413-772-0261, ext. 263.