News Releases

March 12, 2010
For Immediate Release
For additional information: 
Barbara Kerr, APR
Executive Director of
Communications and Marketing
Telephone:  360-992-2921
E-mail:  bkerr@clark.edu

Thinking Green about Food

Clark College’s Cooking and Wine School will host a sustainability and locavore resource fair on Saturday,
March 27 at Clark College at Columbia Tech Center 

VANCOUVER, Wash. — In a state-of-the-art kitchen in a facility built to LEED standards, Clark College’s Cooking and Wine School is taking The Next Step in supporting environmental sustainability through a focus on community supported agriculture, also known as locavore. 

The school will host a sustainability resource fair on Saturday, March 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  The event is free and open to the public.  Clark’s Cooking and Wine School is located at Clark College at Columbia Tech Center (CTC), 18700 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver.  For more information about the day’s events – including maps and driving directions -- visit www.clark.edu/cc/cooking. 

In addition to demonstrations on the hour, visitors will be able to talk to local farmers and learn about home composting and food preservation.  

Schedule of Events

Columbia Tech Center – Room 148 -- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

• “Meet the Farmers” -- a community supported agriculture fair featuring 10-12 local farmers who will provide information about their farms.  

• Master Composters Program – Columbia Springs Environmental Center

• Vancouver “Farm Girls” – Information about food preservation at home

• Kitchen Kaboodle – demonstrations of products to support home composting and food preservation

Columbia Tech Center – Kitchen demonstrations -- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• 10 a.m. -- “Panna Cotta” (an Italian dessert) -- Lucy Vaserfirer
  Chef Lucy Vaserfirer has associate degrees in culinary arts, as well as patisserie and baking, from Le Cordon Bleu at the Western Culinary Institute in Portland. She has also earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing. She is the author of the food blog, Hungry Cravings. Her first cookbook, Seared to Perfection, is scheduled to be published in 2010 by Harvard Common Press.  She has served a private chef, cooking school chef at In Good Taste Cooking School in Portland, Ore. and store chef at Wild Oats Market in Lake Oswego, Ore.

• 11 a.m. -- “Thai Salad Rolls & Spring Rolls” -- Vivi Khamkeo
  Vivi Khamkeo, a native of Laos, formerly French Indochina, has spent years in France. She has operated both French and Thai restaurants in Laos and Vancouver. 

• Noon -- “How to Roast Vegetables” – Southwest Washington Community Supported Agriculture (SWWACSA)

• 1 p.m. -- “Fun with Gadgets” -- Kitchen Kaboodle

What is Community Supported Agriculture?

Over the last 20 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer.  In a CSA program, a farmer grows food for a group of local residents (called "shareholders" or "subscribers") who commit at the beginning of each year to purchase part of that farm's crop. The shareholders thus directly support a local farm and receive a low-cost weekly or monthly supply of fresh, high-quality produce. The farmers receive an initial cash investment to finance their operation and a higher percentage of each crop dollar because of direct delivery.

While the U.S. government does not track CSAs, the Web site LocalHarvest.org has more than 2,500 CSAs listed in their grassroots database.

Information about community supported agriculture in Southwest Washington is available at http://www.swwa-csafarms.com/

About the Clark College Cooking and Wine School 

The Clark College Cooking and Wine School features classes for every learner – from first-time cooks to experienced chefs.  Classes are taught by food and wine experts from across the region. 

Spring classes will include: Northwest Springtime Bounty, Light & Luscious for Weight Loss,  Light & Luscious for a Healthy Heart, Men CAN Cook: Appetizers, French Cooking, Classic Quick Italian Pasta Sauces, Hands-On Baked Custards, Cinco de Mayo: Hands-On Salsas, Stir-Fry—Chinese Restaurant Favorites, Thai Cooking, Seafood Primer, Spring Wine Tour, Distillation of Spirits 101, From the Vine to the Bottle: Springtime in the Vineyard,  “Le Nez du Vin”: the Nose of Wine, Sommelier Series–Advanced Wine Expertise New World and Old World Wine Regions. 

Spring quarter begins April 5.  For more information, contact Tracy Reilly Kelly at 360-992-2163.

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