'Fear No Fruit' at movies
Well, here's some unexpected advice: Viewers who come for the outdoor movie "Fear No Fruit" on Aug. 20 are encouraged to bring and eat "fruit that scares you." That's from the director of the movie, being shown as part of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board's Movies in the Parks series. Start time is 15 minutes after sunset, or about 8:30 p.m., at the J.D. Rivers Children's Garden in Theodore Wirth Park.
"Fear No Fruit" chronicles Frieda Caplan, known as "the queen of kiwi" and the first woman to start her own company in a man's world within the L.A. Wholesale Produce Market in the early 1960s.
Born in the 1920s, Caplan attended the University of California, Los Angeles, during World War II, then became a working mother. Her desire to breast-feed her first daughter, Karen, led her to look for part-time work in the Produce Market. She shifted from bookkeeping to selling fresh specialty mushrooms. When the Los Angeles Times wrote about her, she became the "go-to" person for out-of-the-ordinary and hard-to-find produce, eventually founding her own business. In 1962, she and her daughters introduced New Zealand kiwifruit, the first new commercial fruit in the U.S. since the banana in the late 1800s. They continued to revolutionize the produce industry by helping introduce more than 200 exotic fruits and vegetables to the U.S. Caplan's ongoing mission is to change the way America eats fruits and vegetables and to "eat one fruit a day that scares you."
To learn more about the movie, visit fearnofruit.com.
The Charlies talk farming
The ramp-up to the Nov. 13 Charlie Awards continues with the latest in its Hot Topics panel discussions, on tap Aug. 17. Panelists will discuss the farmer-chef connection from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., after a 5:30 complimentary happy hour at the Riverplace Market, 1 SE. Main St. in Minneapolis. Scheduled panelists are Audrey Arner from Moonstone Farm; Doug Harvey, board member for the Minneapolis Farmers Market; Brenda Langton of Spoonriver, the 2012 Charlie's community hero award winner; Marshall Paulsen, executive chef at Birchwood Cafe; Shur Vn Yang from Morning Fresh Farms, and Tammy Wong of Rainbow Chinese Restaurant & Bar. Moderator is Mary Jane Schlenker Miller. The event is free, but RSVPs are requested to charliesexceptionale@gmail.com by Friday.
How 'now trending' begins
How trends become trends is the subject of the seventh annual James Beard Foundation Food Conference Oct. 17 and 18 in New York City. "Now Trending: The Making of a Food Movement" will bring together a diverse group of experts to explore the genesis and life cycle of trends and apply that knowledge to food. Featured speakers will include fashion consultant Tim Gunn of "Project Runway"; James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey; New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik; Freedom to Marry founder Evan Wolfson (he'll talk about how strategies within the LGBT movement could bear on the food movement), and former Obama administration senior policy adviser Sam Kass. Tickets are $500, which includes breakfast and lunch both days of the conference. For more information, visit jbffoodconference.org.
Oops
The name of Steve Horton's milling and bakery business was incorrectly mentioned last week in the Taste section. Its correct name is Baker's Field Flour & Bread.
