Join us March 8 for “The Rise, Decline, and Rise of Food Preservation” with Ernest Miller!
Food Preservation is something that most of us take for granted. We have access to fresh food twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week without regard to seasonality or geography. We have pantries and refrigerators that can store weeks worth of food with no effort. Food preservation is something we, especially in the United States, simply don’t have to think about. But this is a relatively unique set of circumstances in human history. We are less than 100 years from the time that food preservation was an issue of major concern for every household. There were no refrigerators, markets (there were no “super” markets) had no freezer sections, and eating local wasn’t a choice, but the only option. Preserving food was something that every household had to engage in, if everyone was to eat. Learn about the rise of food preservation from the dawn of history, the decline in the mid-20th century and why it is rising again.
About the speaker:
CHSC member Ernest Miller is a chef, historian, educator, consultant and speaker who teaches classes in museums, schools and kitchens throughout Southern California. He has been a Master Food Preserver since being certified in San Bernardino County in 2009 and relaunched the MFP program in Los Angeles County in 2011. He is a Master Gardener and co-leader of Slow Food Los Angeles. He has been cooking farmers’ market fresh produce for nearly a decade, including two-and-a-half years as the Executive Chef for the Farmer’s Kitchen in Hollywood. Currently, he is the co-executive chef of Larchmont Charter School West Hollywood – producing farm-fresh from-scratch meals daily for 310 students from Kindergarten through 7th grade as part of Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard program. He is the founder of Rancho La Merced Provisions LLC., a producer of preserved foods and preservation equipment.
A reception with themed refreshments will follow the event at approximately 11:30.
Free and open to the public.