Last Monday (November 24th), five of us held an Alternative Food Fair in front of the school for approximately an hour. It was Ann (of the sea vegetables), Emily (of the local foods), Matt (of the vegan food), Rosanna (of the insects), and I at a table set up in front of the main building at school. Matt made us a wonderful poster, but since we were short on time, not many got put up, so I think most of those who visited our table just happened to be going by. In fact, we definitely benefitted from the departure and arrival of several Oakland shuttles. We advertised that we would have free samples relating to each of our projects from 3 to 4 pm, but ended up setting up a bit early. When I looked at my watch at 3:05, I was amazed at how early it was since so much of my food was gone. What was my free sample, you ask? Well, since many foods are naturally corn free but wouldn’t necessarily make a statement, I really had to dig deep to come up with what I wanted to hand out. I wanted something that would really get people’s attention. I realized that I really want people to focus not on eliminating all corn from their lives, but to gain an overall awareness of how much we accidentally consume and knowledge that there is food beyond corn. So my decision was to make corn-free corn bread. Sounds pretty crazy, right? Well, people certainly did a couple double takes when I said, “no, that’s not corn bread. it’s corn-free corn bread.” Everyone asked me how that was possible, but no one seemed to question it once they tried a bite. With a mouth full of delicious bread, no one was missing the corn, much to my delight.
Along with the corn bread, I gave out cards with my blog address and facts about corn. I also made a little table tent (which I don’t think anyone took the time to read. it was all eat and run) and a couple of anti-corn buttons which were snatched right up. Overall, I think the fair was a success. We closed up shop early since several of us were out of food. Emily had delicious local tomato-basil-cheese kabobs as well as local clementines and apple cider. Ann handed out spicy toasted nori, which I had never had before and thought was excellent. Matt’s vegan spicy tempeh sushi flew off his plates. Rosanna’s chocolate covered crickets and mealworm chex mix were surprisingly really popular. Some people came over to our table just because they heard there were bug samples, while others were disgusted and walked right by her end of the table. Still others ate some of her samples, perhaps without fully realizing that bugs were inside…
I promised tasters that I would include a copy of the corn-free corn bread here, so voila:
1 cup white rice flour
2 tablespoons Ancient Harvest quinoa flakes*
2 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons corn-free baking powder (1 teaspoon cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon arrowroot powder, and 1 teaspoon baking soda)
3/4 teaspoon non-iodized salt
1/2 teaspoon Mexican granulated garlic
sprinkle of caraway seeds
2 tablespoons expeller-pressed oil
1 organic, free-range egg
1/2 cup water
Preheat oven to 425, and grease an 8’’ glass pie plate.
Whisk together dry ingredients in large bowl.
In smaller bowl, combine wet ingredients with fork or whisk. Pour over dry ingredients, combining gently with a rubber spatula just until moist. Do not overmix!
Pout into greased glass pie plate.** Top with 1 tablespoon minced onion and a sprinkling of dried parsley or oregano.
Bake for about 17-20 minutes until lightly browned.
Cool, still in pie plate, on wire rack. Cut into wedges and serve with hearty bowlfuls of winter vegetable soup!
*After frantically running around Rainbow for a good 30 minutes, I finally found these quinoa flakes in the cereal aisle!
**I don’t have a pie plate, much less a glass one, so I filled each of my loaf pans with a double recipe and it worked out just fine. Note that I had to bake them for approximately double the length of time.
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