Tony Chachere's Cornbread Turducken Now Available From US Foodservice San Francisco

Tony Chachere's® Cornbread Turducken-12lbs, These Retail on the French Market Foods website at $69.95!

Overview

A Turducken is a semi-boneless turkey stuffed with duck, chicken and Creole dressing. Louisiana-style flavor and stuffed with a mouth-watering Creole Cornbread & Pork Rice dressing. The Turducken is packaged frozen in a vacuum sealed bag and weighs approximately 12 lbs.

Specifications
Turkey stuffed with duck, chicken and dressing Feeds 15 - 20 people Fully prepared, just place in oven Stuffed with homemade cornbread dressing and pork rice dressing Packaged and shipped frozen Easy to carve Authentic Creole meal

INGREDIENTS:
Turkey [contains up to 8% solution (water, sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium lactate)], pork dressing [parboiled enriched long grained rice {thiamine (thiamine mono-nitrate), niacin, iron (ferric orthophosphate) and folate (folic acid)}, pork, water, pork liver, onions, green bell pepper, salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper, white pepper, red pepper (spice)], cornbread dressing [water, yellow cornmeal (enriced with folic acid), pork all purpose flour {bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid}, evaporated milk {salt, yellow prussiate of soda}, sugar, soybean oil {TBHQ and citric acid added to protect flavor, dimethpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent added} pork liver, onions, green onions, green bell pepper, baking powder {sodium acid pyrophosphate, bicarbonate of soda, cornstarch, monocalcium phosphate}, salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper, white pepper, red pepper (spice)], chicken, duck [contains up to 8% solutin (water, sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium lactate)], Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning [salt, red pepper and other spices, garlic, silicon dioxide (to prevent caking)].

ALLERGEN INFORMATION: Contains soybean, wheat and milk

How to Cook a Tur-Duc-Hen:
Take the Tur-Duc-Hen completely out of the packaging and place it in a pan. You may line the pan with aluminum foil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Then cook the Tur-Duc-Hen for four and one half hours covered with legs pointing up and one hour uncovered or until browned. Internal temperature for a cooked Tur-Duc-Hen should be 160-180 degrees! Remove woven threading before serving.
If your Tur-Duc-Hen is frozen, allow it to thaw 3 days in the refrigerator (or 6 hours on counter). DO NOT THAW IN WATER!! If partially frozen cook for 5 hours or to an internal temperature of 165. Internal temperature for a cooked Tur-Duc-Hen should be 160-180 degrees! Remove woven threading before serving.

Testimonial By Jim Hensi
Packed 1 bird per box. We cooked one up the other day and it is really a very nice product. It was the center of attention in the last food show that we did on the Islands. We only cooked one and that was a mistake. Everyone was coming over to try it and was gone by the first hour and a half. And that was just a very small show and only giving out little samples. People were placing orders on the spot for it.

It is a great show piece and the box it comes in really sells the sizzle. Each bird feeds about 15 people, or so it says on the box. I belive it would maybe even more. Only has two legs and two wings. Not like other Madden birds with 6 legs.

And by the way...The largest recorded nested bird roast is 17 birds, attributed to a royal feast in France in the early 19th century (originally called a Rôti Sans Pareil, or "Roast without equal") - a bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an Ortolan Bunting and a Garden Warbler. The final bird is small enough that it can be stuffed with a single olive; it also suggests that, unlike modern multi-bird roasts, there was no stuffing or other packing placed in between the birds. This dish probably could not be legally recreated in the modern era as many of the listed birds are now protected species.

12th Annual Great Wine Escape Weekend

Monterey, California November 7-9, 2008

Celebrate the splendor of harvest at Monterey Wine Country’s 12th Annual Great Wine Escape Weekend. There’s something for everyone at this event! The highlights of the weekend include wine and food integration seminars, open houses at the wineries, guided wine country tours, winemaker dinners and the Grand Finale at Intercontinental: The Clement Monterey.

Monterey County is a world-class wine and grape-growing region, which the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association (MCVGA) strives for all to experience. In order for people to experience Monterey's wine country, MCVGA hosts three events each year: The Annual Winemakers' Celebration, a one-day event held the second Weekend of August, The Annual Great Wine Escape Weekend, a three day event held the second Weekend of November and The Annual Monterey Wine Auction & Gala, held the third Saturday in February.

A Curried Python Dish Has UK Environmentalist Bunched Up

Python in a coconut sauce is being offered for £9.95 all week as a Halloween promotion.

Beef Value Cuts

Friday started off like any other day, bearing in mind that there was a sales meeting going on it was as good as

Brian Meier The Hardest Working Man In Foodservice Hanging Signs At The Pebble Beach Food And Wine

it could get given the circumstances. As I walked down the hall on my way to sit on a panel in front of something like 6 breakout groups throughout the day I ran into Brian Meier, Center of the Plate Specialist at US Foodservice San Francisco. Brian is one of the hardest working men in foodservice today. He is a protein evangelist spreading the good news about meat.

As he dragged himself past me down the hall he reached over and handed me a cd that would change my life. Brian has created the ultimate Digital Beef Library!

Every slide on the CD is labeled with a Meat Buyers Guide (mbg) number. Click on it and see how, for example, a #189 whole Beef Tenderloin trims out to a series of 1190 tenderloin steaks. On and on it goes, a visual of yields, a pictoral of portions. Brian Meier is my hero.

Stay tuned as we pirate Brian's meat photo's to highlight our beef value cuts feature coming soon at Peninsula Foodnews!

Behead Ex-Employees

I have nothing to add to this story. Check it out at the Orlando Sentinel Click

School Lunch

My daughter told me last night that she was late getting up for school on Friday so she didn’t have time to pack a lunch. I knew this wasn’t good because lunch is one of her really important meals.

She will get up in the morning and work over the leftovers in the fridge, the snacks in the pantry, impose on me to slice an apple or peel an orange, there might be some soup or a fruit salad or pasta involved, and always some bread. “Lunch” to Madeline starts early and lasts all day. Mini-meals and snacks to keep her going through school, into field hockey, and then home where we usually get dinner around 7ish.

She had a game yesterday that went until about 6:30 and instead of her engine burning off a typical Madi meal she subbed in a “School Lunch Bundle”. This included Pizza, sunflower seeds, off-brand goldfish, and chocolate milk. She complained that she didn’t feel right all afternoon, and couldn’t concentrate well.

It got me thinking about an news story that I had seen recently, but can’t find now about a school food Cooperative where, since it’s inception, the students grades, behavior, and health have all improved. I did find the National Farm to School Network website and enjoyed a series of clicks that took me through what various school districts are doing to rebuild the link from the farm to the table. Here is some of what I found.

TheNational Farm to School Network is an ongoing grassroots effort to build a local food economy, a bridge between the farmer in the field and the student in the cafeteria. Kids are beginning to learn that broccoli actually tastes good, and administrators are learning that kids will eat healthy foods when they are fresh and taste good. When you factor in possible healthcare costs down the road, from diet-related illnesses, everyone wins: fresh, healthier food for school kids, support for local farmers, and less food waste at school.

California-based organizations and school districts led by Occidental College’s Center for Food and Justice are working towards advancing and institutionalizing the Farm to school concept throughout the state. While these organizations provide capacity to carry out this work, the long-term leadership for accomplishing and institutionalizing the goals of the program has come from parents, teachers, farmers, youth, food services staff and children.

With a year round growing season, California is blessed with fresh produce throughout the year. As of 2004, there are about 30 school districts operating farm to school programs in the state. Most programs in California use the salad bar model (with or without the hot entrée option) to include farm fresh fruits and vegetables in the school lunch program With support from the W.K.Kellogg Foundation, the California Farm to School Program is working towards establishing systems to ease out the barriers to developing farm to school programs in schools. In particular, the program is working to:

• Research and develop models for marketing and delivery mechanisms for family farmers to sell to school districts in California which meet the needs of both the school district and the farmer.

• Develop a viable business plan to assist school districts in the transition to farm-to-school meal programs. Check out Rethinking School Lunch at www.ecoliteracy.org

• Provide farm-to-school technical assistance to farmers, school food service staff, educators, community organizers, and others around California. Two farm to school workshops have been conducted in 2003 and more are planned for 2004-05. Check this website for more information on upcoming workshops.

• Develop farm to school related state, local, and district food policies in collaboration with other groups in California. See www.foodsecurity.org/california/index.html for details.

• Further develop model pilot programs in Davis and Winters school districts, with a system that supports the marketing, procurement and serving of locally grown fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes in school meals. The Davis and Winters programs serve as Demonstration Sites for the California program, hosting site visits for interested food service directors and organizers, and conducting outreach about the program. Starting October 2004, Compton Unified School District began to serve as a Farm to School Demonstration Site as well.

Monterey County Farm to School Partnership
The Monterey County Farm to School Partnership is working to improve school lunches by promoting fresh produce sourced from local growers and by working with schools to implement healthy school food policies. The program supporting school garden- based education where children can obtain hands-on experience in growing their own vegetables, while meeting California State Content Standards. They also link schools to local farms and farmers through our Garden of Learning program.

The Garden of Learning, now in its fourth year, is a springtime program of the Monterey County Farm to School Partnership at the Watershed Institute, California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB). The organizing principle of the program is the exchange of information and services among schoolchildren, college students, and farmers. In school greenhouses, service-learning students from CSUMB and "Garden of Learning" staff help low-income Latino farmers teach schoolchildren how to plant and care for organic vegetable starts that are later transplanted to the farmers' fields. In exchange, the farmers conduct classroom visits where the schoolchildren learn about the influence of agro-ecosystems on watershed health and personal health and lead farm trips where the students learn about their food shed by maintaining, harvesting, and eating vegetables that they have helped to grow. The program has grown from a pilot project with one farmer and 20 children in one school during its first season to numerous farmers working with over 500 students in 8 schools producing approximately 100,000 vegetable starts over the course of 4 seasons.

Funding for the program was secured from the private sector for an assessment to be carried out by CSU Monterey Bay's Watershed Institute. The result, The Smart Food Assessment- An assessment of Farm to School opportunities for schools and the schoolchildren of Monterey County, was published in March 2003.

Several organizations form the Monterey County Farm to School Partnership (MCFTSP). The founding members of this partnership are the CSU Monterey Bay Watershed Institute, Community Alliance with Family Farmers-Central Coast (CAFF), Monterey County Food Bank, Life Lab Science Program and the Monterey County Weekly newspaper.

Other activities done as part of the program are:

Chef in the Classroom
With the support of Whole Foods Market Monterey, they have been able to offer schools fresh produce tasting and a chef in the classroom program. Over 300 students and parents participated in hands-on preparation classes and/or tasting and have received numerous healthy recipes and resources. The Chef in the Classroom program uses vegan raw food recipes for demonstration and some Latino 5 a Day Tool Box recipes/activities. All chefs involved donated their time and Whole Foods Market Monterey donated the food/beverages.

Opera of Health
In collaboration, we brought the Opera of Health Theater Production to 1600 local second grade children. It taught the importance of good nutrition and healthy lifestyle through song and dance.

Contact
Kari Bernardi
100 Campus Center, Bldg. #42
Seaside, 93955
Phone: (831) 582-5115
kari_bernardi@csumb.edu

The Edible School Yard
The Edible Schoolyard is a non-profit program located on the campus of Martin Luther King Junior Middle School in Berkeley, California. The cooking and gardening program grew out of a conversation between chef and author Alice Waters, and former King Middle School Principal Neil Smith. Planning commenced in 1995 and two years later, more than an acre of asphalt parking lot had been cleared. A cover crop was planted to enrich the soil, and in 1997, the school’s unused 1930s cafeteria kitchen was refurbished to house the kitchen classroom.

Today, the program is integrated into the middle school's daily life. The organic garden is flourishing, plants feed and outgrow the adolescents who nurtured them, and the kitchen is filled with delicious smells, music, and enthusiastic young chefs.

Garden classes teach the Principles of Ecology, the origins of food, and respect for all living systems. Students work together to shape and plant beds, amend soil, turn compost, and harvest flowers, fruits, and vegetables.

In the kitchen classroom, students prepare and eat delicious seasonal dishes from produce they have grown in the garden. Students and teachers gather at the table to share food and conversation during each class. The cycle of food production is completed in the kitchen, as students eat fruits, vegetables, and grains grown in soil rich with the compost of last season's produce.
They complete the Seed to Table cycle by taking vegetable scraps back to the garden at the end of each kitchen class. The Seed to Table experience exposes children to food production, ecology, and nutrition, and fosters an appreciation of meaningful work, and of fresh and natural food.

North Dakota Natural Angus Beef

Kevin Foxwell, Vice President of Sales for North Dakota Natural Angus Beef, was in Monterey this week to discuss what makes NDNB a great program. Kevin came from Harris Ranch and has made a few changes to the NDNB program from the program that we saw on line.

Dakota Natural Angus Beef is opening a new processing facility in Fargo N.D. in November. Once this USDA inspected plant is open they will have the capacity to process 50,000 head of cattle a year. After the Fargo plant opens their current plant in New Rockford, N.D. will perform slaughter operations only.
Currently processing only 500 head of cattle a week, this is not a mass marketing program.

NDNB offers Select, Choice, and/or Prime graded products with a tenderness guarantee.

A quick overview is as follows:

This is a Never/Never program
Supplimental hormones of any kind in the feed or via implant have never been used.
Beta-agonists have never been used
Antibiotics including ionophores, either theraputic or subtherapeutic have never been used.

Feeding Regimen Specifications
Feedstuffs have not come into contact with any of the substances mentioned in the hormones and antibiotics section
Animal has been fed a grain ration for at least 100 days prior to harvest
Annimal has been fed 500IU Vitamin E daily for the last 100 days of the feeding period
Rendered protein meals of any kind (meat and bonoe meals, blood meals, feather meals, or other rendered protein products have never been used
No animal byproducts, vegetarian fed.

Age Specifications
Cattle are 24 months or younger at the time of harvest.

Breeding Specifications
Genetics of these animals contain no Bos indicus or dairy animal breeding
Angus Program
-Phenotype Criteria: 51% or more black hide
-Genotype Criteria 50% registered red or black angus parentage
Animals are sourced from North Dakota region

Source Verified Affidavits
NDNB requires that affidavits be signed by the cow-calf producer, stocker, backgrounder and feeder for the shipment of cattle to the harvest facility. NDNB has the ability to verify the source of an animal throughout the entire chain.

Humane Handling Statement
Animals graze freely upon the open spaces of North Dakota Region ranches for most of their lives.
Quality and care for the animals is of the utmost importance to the ranchers caring fo ranimals in the most humane manner possible.

Strategic Partnership
NDNB has a strategic partnership with the Educational and Research facility of North Dakota State University, making them the only beef company with on-site classrooms and laboratories for education, testing and research purposes created by the ND legislature's Beef Systems Center of Excellence program.
Two fulltime nationally acclaimed Meat Scientists dedicated to the research and implementation for a safer, more tender, better tasting and more nutritious All Natural, Never-Ever Angus Beef Program.

North Dakota ranks as the 13th state in the US for beef cow/calf production, but cattle raised in the North Central region of the US tend to produce more prime and choice cattle than those in the southern US.

Training Programs and POS available

Answers From The Meat Desk

Harley Behm of Barone Meats in Arizon emailed over the answer to a question about the iridesence that is sometimes seen in cooked meat products like roast beef and corned beef.

According to Harley the phenomena is called IRIDESCENCE. Iridescence is the sheen or rainbow effect that appears randomly on cooked meat products. This sheen is caused by the splitting of light, the same thing that happens when light is passed through a prism. The light is split into a rainbow of color which is easily visible. The potential for iridescence is present anytime in muscle tissue and especially when they contain phosphates or alkyl salts. Muscle fibers act as tiny prisms, splitting light and thereby causing the rainbow effect. Iridescence seems to be more prevalent in products made from the eye of the round. This is due to the density of the muscle fiber. Iridescence is not an indication of bad product nor is it harmful to the consumer.

Togo's Takes Advantage Of "Natural" Chicken Definition

According to a Meatingplace.com article, Togo's is using only chicken that is free from artificial flavor, coloring, chemical preservatives or any other artificial or synthetic ingredient. The restaurant also said that its all-natural chicken involves only minimal processing, including traditional processes for preservation such as smoking, roasting, freezing and drying.

Appetizers And Inc. Kosher Meals Available From US Foodservice SF

Appetizers And, Inc. runs a state of the art manufacturing facility, employing over 400 people.
At Appetizers And, Inc., every possible measure is applied to guarantee the safety and quality of their food products.
Appetizers And, Inc. is governed by both the USDA and FDA. Their commitment to food safety is further defined by their Meat & Poultry and Seafood HACCP Programs. Appetizers And, Inc. is audited, regularly, by third party auditors. They consistently achieve excellent ratings, which are the highest achievable, from organizations such as the American Institute of Baking and American Sanitation Institute.
The methods used for product processing help to support their HACCP Programs include Cryogenic inline freezing, metal detection, infrared temperature devices, and microbiological testing performed in on-site laboratory.
Every completed Appetizers And, Inc. product contains a letter of guarantee, signed and fully supported by their CEO George King. Every letter contains a toll-free number to reach George directly.
They represent a Kosher Line of Hors d’oeuvres: Kosher Gourmet Hors d’oeuvres. They are all Star-K certified. There are seven varieties in all, and six of the seven are Pareve and one is Glatt Kosher.
Finally they have a line of kosher meals that are available on a special order basis from US Foodservice San Francisco. The items are as follows:
6351928 Kosher Roasted Chicken Meal 4/13 oz.
8351926 Kosher Pot Roast W/Gravy 4/13 oz.
1351931 Kosher Filet Of Sole W/Lemon Sauce 4/13 oz..
4351920 Kosher Roasted Turkey W/Gravy 4/13 oz
2351922 Kosher Salisbury Steak 4/13 oz.
1351923 Kosher Eggplant Marinara 4/13 oz.
2341170 Kosher Assorted Dinner 4/13 oz.(Contains Roasted Chicken, Pot Roast, Filet Of Sole and Roasted Turkey)
6341168 Kosher Spanish Omelet 4/8 oz.
4341178 Kosher Apple Pancakes W/Syrup 4/8 oz.
8341166 Kosher Mushroom Omelet 4/8 oz

East Village Coffee Lounge

Mark Huber, Territory Manager with US Foodservice San Francisco has brought the East Village Coffee Lounge on board as a USF SF customer several weeks back. This has become a hot meeting spot for the USF team in Monterey who spend most of their time either getting, being, or recovering from being over-caffinated. Stop in and try a cup for yourself, and grab a quiche while you are at it.

All of Monterey seems to pass by The Lounge's central location at one time of another during each day. The Lounge is situated in a historic building situated on a popular public plaza just three blocks from the beach and right in the heart of downtown. The lounge and the plaza seem to function as one as locals and out of town visitors have a choice of sunny plaza seating or indoor style and ambience.

Monterey Wine Festival 2008

Mark Huber, Territory Manager And Brian Meier Serving Up Sliders

US Foodservice San Francisco the only food distributor that is a Bay Area Certified Green Business, At The Monterey Bay Aquarium Thursday Night.


Chef Steve White, Territory Manager, Chef Steve Salle, Exclusive Brand Specialist, and Chef Brian Meier, Center Of The Plate Specialist-All From US Foodservice San Francisco

Over the two nights of the event the US Foodservice team prepared and served over 800Kobe beef sliders, 6 flats of Portabello Mushrooms, 5 Lbs of roasted red peppers, and 1/2 gallon of sun dried tomato pesto.

For 3 generations the Robbins family has been farming oysters and clams at the mouth of the Hamma Hamma River in Washington State.

Hama Hama Oysters

The Hamma Hamma River drains the eastern flanks of the Olympic Mountans, cascading through the rainforests and emptying into Hood Canal, a salt-water fjord that forms an arm of Puget Sound. The river, one of the shortest on the Olympic Peninsula, has a fast, steep run from the mountains to the sound, so its waters stay cold year round. It's the clean, cold waters of the Hamma Hamma that give their oysters their distinctive briny flavor, firm meat, and mild finish. Their shellfish is naturally-grown on gravel beaches and is harvested by hand throughout the year. Because the river water is so cold, the oyster meat stays firm well into the summer months.



The Stagnaro Fishing Family From Gilda's Restaurant On The Wharf In Santa Cruz Hand Out Monterey Bay Calamari Salad On Thursday Night At The Aquarium




The Owner Of Grind Pepper Of Vail Colorado Continue Their Roadshow Visiting The Monterey Wine Festival

GrindPepper was established in 2001 by a waiter who was sick of dealing with ineffective pepper mills. His solution was their signature Spring Action mill, a stainless steel thumb action pepper grinder. Today, Grind has over 50 salt and pepper mills, all with a modern look and feel.

Their stainless steel mills are made from 316L Stainless; a superior corrosion resistance metal of the highest quality. Their bamboo mills are a renewable resource made from 100% Organic Bamboo. The wood mills are made with eco-friendly European farmed Beech wood.

GRIND Products are uniquely designed in Vail, Colorado and made in Taiwan by family run businesses who strive to produce the highest quality product and provide the best working conditions.


The Sales Team From Zoe's Meats Were On Hand Both Nights Of The Event To Educate Consumers And Restaurateurs About Their Sustainably Obtained Meat Products

At Zoe's Meats they continually seek to source their raw materials (meats) from farms committed to sustainable agriculture. This means that they try to work with farms that use environmentally friendly practices and treat animals humanely. It is their goal to create enough of a demand for their products to be able to source 100% of our meats from sustainable farms.



Polly Legendre and Karim Machi Serving Up Sustainable Goodness

Polly decided to become a chef at the age of 12 and her passion for good food hasn’t wavered since. After an impressive culinary career in some of the world’s best kitchens, she decided to change the way restaurants source their seafood by joining CleanFish. Polly has been cooking professionally for over 20 years both in the United States and in Europe. In the nine years she spent in France, she became the first American to graduate from the Ecole Supérieure de Cuisine Française, and was one of the first women to work in some of the world famous restaurants in Paris. After cooking at Michelin starred restaurants such as la Tour d’Argent, Henri Faugeron and the Hotel Crillon, she returned to her native Northern California where she founded La Gourmande, a Private Chef Service.

Karim Machi Having A Blast At The Clean Fish Station During The 32nd Annual Monterey Wine Festival

Our friends from CleanFish were on hand. US Foodservice San Francisco set up a distribution channel with CleanFish that eliminates the need for a seperate delivery truck picking up and delivering product to the USF Livermore Warehouse. Instead with a modified skip day order from the customer USF arranges for one of the delivery trucks that leaves full from Livermore to pick up a backhaul at the end of the day thus returning to Livermore full with product to recieve. This eliminates extra trucks on the road, decreasing our carbon footprint.

Carmel TomatoFest 2008

Ben Spungin, Pastry Chef From Bernardus Lodge Pours Out Dry Ice On His Display At The 2008 TomatoFest



Billy Lee Tosses The Football Back And Forth While At The Same Time Running Two Restaurants..Making It Look Easy






The Chef's From Wente Vinyards In Livermore Dish Up Portions For The Guests At The TomatoFest.



Our Personal Favorite Caterers, Jon Kasky And Nancy Rohan Surrounded By Some Of The Fruit From Their More Than 500 Heirloom Tomato Plants Grown At Their Home In Carmel Valley.

Happy Cows Get New Neighbors-Kosher Poultry Plant To Open In California

An L.A. based start-up firm is planning a kosher chicken production plant in Tulare, California. The facility is a new 50,000-square-foot “Leed certified” building on Walnut just south of Bardsley in the Tulare Business Park. The plant would process up to 100,000 birds a day in what would be the first West Coast kosher poultry plant.

The new company will be called House of David Poultry.

The project is headed by former Israeli chicken businessman Hillel Shamam, an orthodox Jew who will bring the kosher style of raising and slaughtering chickens for the U.S. market to Tulare.

According to Shamam, the company could open as soon as October and employ 70. “God willing, we could grow to 250.”

Shamam said they have already contracted with a number of local ranches to raise the birds and expects all the birds to be raised nearby. “We follow the teachings of the Old Testament from thousands of years ago to treat the animal with respect” before it is slaughtered, he says. “That includes raising the chickens in a stress-free environment as range free birds and everything organic as much as possible.”

The site will include space for several rabbinical personnel who are key to the operation and will actually have residential units onsite.

“They'd like to be operational by the end of the year,” said Kyle Rhinebeck, the company's Tulare real estate broker. “The plant is a first operation and will even invite tours in the future to visit the plant.”

The Central Valley is the largest chicken raising area in the state. Nearby Sanger and Porterville each have chicken packaging facilities.

More Jewish celebrants are keeping kosher and keeping up with the latest food trend this High Holiday season - buying eco-friendly, organic and locally grown kosher staples, a movement some are calling 'eco-kosher.'

This plant in Tulare will be the closest Kosher Poultry processing plant to Monterey. Meaning fresh Kosher poultry will only have to travel about 200 miles.

Roy Zahn Is Hiking To Cure Leukemia and Lymphoma

Make Strides Towards The Cures

Visit Roy's Hike For Discovery Home Page.

Hike For Discovery is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's adventure fundraising program that prepares people to experience a natural wonder in a special way.

"While I'm training, I am raising funds to help The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma. More than 712,000 Americans are battling these blood cancers. Your support of my participation in Hike For Discovery will help bring them hope and support.

Please make a donation to support my participation in Hike For Discovery and help advance the mission of LLS.

We are halfway thru the season and I am just at the halfway point in fundraising. The site is a little bit behind with the updated amounts."

I truly appreciate your support.

Roy Zahn

JC Produce To Close Doors

After nearly 30 years in business JC Produce of West Sacramento will be closing their doors this Friday.

Founded in 1980 in Sacramento, JC Produce has built its reputation as a leader in distribution since its beginning. They had grown with the industry to become one of the primary independent statewide distributor of fresh produce and other perishables in California, with facilities in Sacramento, Fresno, Hayward, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego and San Jose.

In July of this year JC Produce had filed a lawsuit against one of their customers, Steakhouse Partners, for non-payment. Ronald Stargis, Attorney for JC Produce, claimed that they hadn't received payment for produce deliveries from January through March. A total before legal fees was estimated at about $250,000.00.

Steakhouse Partners operates under the brand names of Carvers, Hungry Hunter Steakhouse, Hunter Steakhouse, Mountain Jack's, Mountain Jack's Steakhouse, Texas Loosey's and Galveston's. The firm bought Paragon's 78 restaurants and later closed five of them.

In July 2007 the company sued its former chief executive, Paul Abess, claiming he violated a non-compete agreement by starting a rival business that succeeded in taking some key customers away from JC Produce.

News reports about their closing sited the weak economy, increased fuel costs, and the tomato recall as the reason for their demise.

Heller Estate's Annual Harvest Party and Grape Stomp

In case you're wanting to have some fun stomping some grapes and drinking delicious wine, Saturday, October 25, is Heller Estate's Annual Harvest Party and Grape Stomp! The party is from 12-4pm at our Vineyards on Cachagua Rd, just off of Carmel Valley Road.

The event will give you a chance to truly experience life on an organically grown vineyard. You'll help in our annual harvest by stomping the grapes that make our delicious wine, as well as receive a tour of our winemaking facilities from Rich, our winemaker. There's a good chance he'll also feature an exclusive barrel tasting!

Wine and a catered luncheon will be served.

The event is open to the public. It will be $15 per Wine Club Member and one guest, $20 for the general public. No children under 16 are allowed at the vineyards, and no dogs, please.

Please call or email me if you're interested in attending. Space is limited. We hope to see you on October 25!

Beth Elderkin
Heller Estate Organic Vineyards
(831) 659-6220

US Foodservice San Francisco A Certified Green Business

who we are
We are a partnership of environmental agencies, professional associates,
waste management agencies, utilities and concerned public.


what we are doing
We are working together to recognize and assist businesses that operate in an environmentally friendly manner.

In Monterey please visit the Monterey Green Business website for more information. To review the US Foodservice San Francisco Green Business Listing please visit us under Foodservice Distributors in the Alameda Green Business Listings.

US Foodservice Creating Sustainable Offerings Through Stategic Partnerships

U.S. Foodservice is proud to work with the best companies in the food business. Our goal is to connect suppliers and customers to expand the range of sustainable offerings in the marketplace. As a distributor of food and related products to more than 250,000 customers, we hope to use our position in the industry to encourage the development of more sustainable agricultural, manufacturing, and packaging practices.

We think that sustainable offerings are healthy offerings - healthy for the environment, healthy for producers, and healthy for consumers. USF provides more than 40,000 products, including thousands of Exclusive Brand items. With such a large range of product offerings, this can be a challenge, but we are looking to our supplier and customer partners to help us identify the best opportunities for change.

Our health and wellness program focuses on better options for the consumer by working with our customers to provide a range of healthy menu alternatives. Today's consumer demands more choices than ever, and we aim to provide tasty and nutritious alternatives to meet their needs.

Here is a sampling of CRS initiatives focused on engaging our supplier community and expanding our sustainable product offerings:

We launched a Supplier Sustainability Network, in partnership with eight of our suppliers.

We included a Sustainability Statement and survey of our supplier's sustainability efforts in our Supplier Expectations Manual.

We included a Sustainability Statement in our U.S. Foodservice Supplier Code of Business Conduct.

We developed a list of Exclusive Brand products that are transfat-free.

We formed a group to promote packaging that uses healthier materials, reduces material waste, and effectively protects product quality.

We met with customers to learn more about their interest in sustainable offerings.

We began highlighting organic offerings in our product database.

We developed a local sourcing pilot program in San Francisco.

US Foodservice San Francisco and The Sustainable Food Lab

At US Foodservice we view Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CRS) not only as our obligation, but also as an area of opportunity. Our strategy is to help transform the environmental and social performance of the foodservice industry while enhancing the competitiveness and profitability of U.S. Foodservice and its business partners. We understand there is a relationship between doing the right thing and business success. In the long term, our success will be measured by more than profit alone. In the long term, we hope to do better as a business by being better stewards for the environment and communities in which we do business.

We believe that effective CRS programs are built on a foundation of extraordinary people. At USF, we strongly emphasize the importance of being good corporate citizens as well as being personally dedicated, compassionate and caring. Our associates take our values seriously, and we live them every day.

We also value partnership in all we do. U.S. Foodservice is a member of the Sustainable Food Lab, an organization promoting partnership for sustainability among stakeholders of global food and agriculture. As a member of the Food Lab's Business Coalition for More Sustainable Food, we have signed on to their Call to Action. Members of the Business Coalition are committed to:

Apply social, economic and environmental responsibility throughout their supply chains and in all processes and products;

Strive for continuous measurable improvement in all of their practices, processes and products;

Practice transparency in their dealings with each other and their stakeholders; and
Collaborate on sustainability and social responsibility innovations and share their learning with each other.

The following are links to the Food Lab and the Call to Action:
www.sustainablefoodlab.org
www.sustainablefoodlab.org/business-coalition

Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability At US Foodservice San Francisco

Great companies deliver exceptional value to their customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders. That is the goal of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, or CRS, at U.S. Foodservice and it starts at the top according to Bob Aiken
President.

We are emphasizing the importance of responsibility and sustainability with our associates and business partners to better manage risk and create new opportunities. Together we can inspire innovations that will protect our environment, improve quality of life for our stakeholders, and create business value. We believe this work will be essential to our business success in the years ahead.

Over the last year, we established a senior cross-functional advisory council to guide our CRS work and a team to coordinate its implementation across the company. After investigating a variety of opportunities and challenges, we have adopted an emphasis in these three areas:
1) improving environmental performance in our operations,
2) enriching engagement with internal and external communities, and
3) creating sustainable offerings through strategic business partnerships.

U.S. Foodservice has made a long-term commitment to CRS and we are beginning to see positive results. Our path to sustainability will require continued inquiry, learning, and action.

U.S. Foodservice of San Francisco The First Certified Green Broad-line Distributor In The Country

U.S. Foodservice of San Francisco is now certified by Bay Area Green Business with a "Green Certification”. We are the first Certified Green Broad-line Distributor in the country. With the help and support of every U.S. Foodservice associate, we have implemented planet friendly procedures to achieve our “Green” initiatives.

What sets us apart:

We have increased our compostable line offering to over fifty items. Specifically in our non-foods line we are trying to offer as many compostable, bio-degradeable and recycleable products as are available. We feature items such as compostable to-go containers, compostable cups, trash can liners, utensils, plates, platters etc. Additionally,
An ever expanding line of organic canned and dry ingredients, as well as fresh produce!
We offer Locally Grown Fresh Produce.
In 2006 we received an award from Pacific Gas and Electric for reducing power loads on dictated demand days. We had the largest reduction within the city of Livermore.
Our warehouse is Green Too! We recently installed new dock doors to seal the dock and allow us to become more efficient thus reducing our power usage.
We've replaced our lighting in the warehouse which has resulted in a 37% reduction while increasing our lighting by 70%.
A company wide recycle program that includes office paper, warehouse cardboard recycling, stretch film in the warehouse, as well as replacing foam cups in our break room with compostable cups just to name a few.
Download our Green Business Brochure for more details: Click Here

Related Links:

Bay Area Green Business
StopWaste.Org

Ready to go Green? For more information on how you can become a Green Business, call our Green Business Hotline at:

1-800-682-1228 x353

The 17th annual Big Sur Jade Festival

"The fire's out and the show is on!"
October 10, 11 & 12, 2008

Each year the Big Sur Jade Festival brings musicians, artists, crafts people, and rockhounds together for an annual fundraiser benefiting the South Coast Community Land Trust. The event is hosted by the Pacific Valley School, which is located across Highway One from Sand Dollar Beach and adjacent to Plaskett Campground on the South Big Sur Coast about 65 miles south of Carmel and 35 miles north of Hearst Castle. Check it out!

Full Plates Full Lives Campaign To End Hunger In America

the U.S. Foodservice program to help end hunger in America.

MST Buses Running On Mustard Seed Biodiesel

Monterey-Salinas Transit is in the process of converting its fleet of buses to operate on a biodiesel based on locally grown mustard seeds.

Mustard Seed Photo From MST Website

It is the first public transit agency in the country to produce biodiesel for fleet operations, according to Hunter Harvath, assistant general manager.

"Mustard seed has been in California for centuries and so we are just finding a new use for it, a new innovative use for the 21st century," said Harvath.

“The mustard seed will be grown locally,” said MST’s General Manager/CEO Carl Sedoryk. “To our knowledge, MST will be the first public transit agency in the country – and perhaps the world – to sustainably produce biodiesel for fleet operations.” After planting, the crop requires little to no irrigation or tending, in contrast to other higher-maintenance biofuel crops such as corn. And, because mustard seed is planted as a “cover crop” during the off-season, it would not displace other commodity crops (i.e., corn, soybeans, etc.) nor drive up prices for food – recently cited as a potentially adverse impact of the biofuel industry.

Once harvested, the mustard seeds are pressed into raw oil, which is then refined into biofuel. MST has partnered with Energy Alternatives Solutions, Inc., (BioEASI) to convert the crop into biodiesel in an effort to reduce overall energy consumption in the transportation and production of the crop. Remarked Richard Gillis, President/CEO of BioEASI, “It’s an important component to the sustainability of this demonstration project to have the mustard seed oil refined locally at our biodiesel plant here in Gonzales.”

Furthermore, mustard seed is a fully sustainable product in that the “spicy” mustard meal created as a byproduct after the oil is extracted can then be used as a biopesticide and fertilizer for crops, including the many local organic farming operations in Monterey County. Said Farm Fuel, Inc., representative Robert Van Buskirk, who has been leading the technical research and development of the mustard seed biofuel process, “These biopesticide and fertilizer properties, along with the fact that it can be grown in rotation as a cover or fallow crop in the winter, has the potential to make this process economically viable for farmers throughout many parts of the state and the U.S.”

This mustard seed biofuel initiative is a project of Competitive Clusters: C 2 – a public/private partnership for economic development in Monterey County, sponsored by the Monterey County Office of Economic Development and the Monterey County Business Council. Through this project, MST hopes to further reduce vehicle and coach emissions with the goal of operating buses using biodiesel in 2008. Mary Ann Leffel, President of the Monterey County Business Council, remarked, “Here is another ground-breaking public/private partnership of the Agricultural Cluster of the Competitive Clusters program that will showcase breakthroughs in green technology here in Monterey County.” Claude Hoover, President of San Bernabe Vineyards, commented, “We’re proud to be a partner in this innovative project that could result in significant environmental benefits for Monterey County and be a model for sustainability for agricultural areas everywhere.”

Monterey Food and Wine Festival

On Thursday, October 16 from 7:30-10:30PM, the Monterey Wine Festival will kick off its 32nd annual event at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Wine enthusiasts as well as wine buyers and media are welcome to the event, which will sponsor over 300 wines and gourmet food samples from local restaurants. Tickets are only $99.

On Saturday, October 18 from 4-9 PM, the festival continues at the Monterey County Fairgrounds. More than 600 wineries will pour at the event accompanied by gourmet food samples, live music, educational seminars and a live wine auction.
Tickets are only $99.

US Foodservice San Francisco is a Proud Participant

Both events have a lot to offer and they are a great venue for wine lovers to sample many wines at one location while educating themselves by conversing with winemakers and wine industry professionals.

Sarah Palin's Moose Stew

Check out BoldFood.com for Moose Stew Recipes, Moose meat sources and more, it's a fantastic site!

Feeds 6-8
2 - 2 1/2 lb Moose meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tb shortening
1/4 ts black pepper
1/2 ts Paprika
1 Bay leaf
1 ts Salt
2 cans condensed beef broth (10-1/2 ounces each)
1 cup dry red wine
1 Onion; diced
12-15 sm whole white onions
3-4 carrots; chopped
10 sm potatoes; peeled
2 tb butter
2 tb flour

You’ll need at least a 2-3 gallon pot to handle this volume of stew.

Saute cubes of moose meat in shortening until browned on all sides. Throw in the pepper, paprika, bay leaf, salt, beef broth, red wine, onion, and carrots. Cover and simmer for 2 hours or until the meat is tender. Add the whole onions and peeled potatoes; cover again and simmer for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until the vegetables become slightly tender. Mix the butter and flour into a paste and drop this into the stew pot. Continue to cook, stirring the stew, until the moose stew bubbles and thickens up. Serve with rice or other sides of you liking.

Retail Food Prices Rise in Third Quarter

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 2, 2008 – Retail food prices at the supermarket increased in the third quarter of 2008, according to the latest American Farm Bureau Federation Marketbasket Survey. The informal survey shows the total cost of 16 basic grocery items in the third quarter of 2008 was $48.68, up about 4 percent or $2.01 from the second quarter of 2008.

Of the 16 items surveyed, 11 increased and five decreased in average price compared to the 2008 second-quarter survey. Compared to one year ago, the overall cost for the marketbasket items increased approximately 10.5 percent.

Potatoes, cheddar cheese and apples showed the largest retail price increases. A five-pound bag of potatoes was up 83 cents to $3.38; cheddar cheese was up 31 cents to $4.91 per pound; and apples rose 26 cents to $1.80 per pound.

Other items that increased in price were: pork chops, up 22 cents to $3.62 per pound; vegetable oil, up 18 cents to $3.19 for a 32-oz. bottle; corn oil, up 15 cents to $3.63 for a 32-oz. bottle; sirloin tip roast, up 14 cents to $3.98 per pound; ground chuck, up 10 cents to $2.95 per pound; mayonnaise, up 8 cents to $3.27 for a 32-oz. jar; flour, up 5 cents to $2.62 for a 5-pound bag; and whole milk, up 4 cents to $3.92 per gallon.

We continue to see increases in several staple food items due primarily to the long-term effects of high energy prices in the food sector. Sustained high costs for processing, hauling and refrigerating food products are reverberating at the retail level,” said Jim Sartwelle, an AFBF economist.

Regarding the top gainer in this quarter’s survey Sartwelle explained, “Acreage planted to potatoes was down nearly 8 percent this year. The combination of a smaller crop and some production losses in the field has led to higher-priced spuds in the produce aisle.”

Apples prices tracked by Farm Bureau volunteer shoppers increased for the third consecutive quarter.

“The number of U.S. apple trees continues a long, slow decline which translates into less fruit for everything from processing to to Mom’s apple pie,” said Sartwelle. “As a result, retail apple prices have crept higher.”

Large eggs decreased for the second consecutive quarter, down 11 cents to $1.71 per dozen. White bread also dropped 11 cents in the third quarter, to $1.79 for a 20-oz. loaf. Whole chicken fryers and bacon both dropped 6 cents per pound, to $1.43 and $3.51, respectively, while a 9-oz. box of toasted oat cereal decreased 1 cent, to $2.97.

The combination of increased summertime chicken production and lighter demand for chicken breasts resulted in a slight retail price decrease for whole fryers, according to AFBF.

As retail grocery prices have increased gradually, the share of the average food dollar that America’s farm and ranch families receive has dropped over time.

“In the mid-1970s, farmers received about one-third of consumer retail food expenditures for food eaten at home and away from home, on average. That figure has decreased steadily over time and is now just 19 percent, according to Agriculture Department statistics,” Sartwelle said.

Using the “food at home and away from home” percentage across-the-board, the farmer’s share of this quarter’s $48.68 marketbasket total would be $9.25.

AFBF, the nation’s largest general farm organization, conducts its informal quarterly marketbasket survey as a tool to reflect retail food price trends. According to USDA statistics, Americans spend just under 10 percent of their disposable income on food annually, the lowest average of any country in the world. A total of 74 volunteer shoppers in 32 states participated in the latest survey, conducted during August.

Demitri's Bloody Mary Mix Now Available At US Foodservice SF

Back when it all began...

The story of the perfect Bloody Mary begins where many Bloody Marys do — with a bartender, and a passion.

In 1988, working at the popular jazz club, The New Orleans Restaurant in Seattle's Pioneer Square, Demitri Pallis was frustrated at the inconsistent flavor and quality of his bar's Bloody Marys. Like in many establishments, from bartender to bartender, day to day, a customer couldn't count on a consistent and delicious Bloody Mary.
So one day when he just couldn't take it anymore, Demitri set out on a journey in mixology that would change the course of his life. It took him over a year to develop his recipe for the perfect Bloody Mary, with the help of dozens of unsuspecting customers telling him, "too hot, not hot enough, needs this or that...."
At the end of it, Demitri was armed with a recipe that is now synonymous with the perfect Mary. Instead of battling the age-old effort to get everyone to follow a complex recipe, Demitri mixed his fourteen natural ingredients in advance so that any of The New Orleans' bartenders could simply add a shot glass of spices to tomato juice and they'd have it. Always fresh, exact consistency, and a recipe nobody could touch.

Everyone, including neighborhood bartenders, loved Demitri's new Bloody Marys, and he soon found himself making his secret recipe sauce for other bars in the area.
News of a good Bloody Mary spreads fast. Today, Demitri's® All Natural Bloody Mary Seasoning sells in hotels, bars, restaurants, nightclubs and grocery stores in all 50 states. Which means every American can have a perfect Bloody Mary every time, in no time.

Demitri's is made with imported Worcestershire sauce, fresh-ground horseradish, lemon juice, peppers, a touch of garlic and a few secrets. Demitri's is 100% natural, and preservative, sulfite & MSG-free!

"This stuff makes an awesome marinade!"
Not only does Demitri's Award-Winning recipe of Worcestershire, lemon juice, peppers, a touch of garlic and other spices make the world's best Bloody Marys, Demitri's is also excellent for marinating, grilling, or in your favorite recipe. Demitri's is naturally delicious on beef, chicken, pork, seafood, almost anything.

Use Demitri's instead of just salt and pepper, substitute Demitri's for Worcestershire in any recipe! Use Demitri's straight or mix Demitri's with different ingredients to use as a marinade. Mix Demitri's with cream cheese for dips, in cocktail sauce, or add a few drops on anything from fried eggs to soups to oysters on the half-shell.
The World's Best Bloody Mary Recipe
Being able to make a really good Bloody Mary lends a certain cred to your image. Not to mention the enjoyment you'll get out of drinking it! Bloody Marys are the classic brunch drink, and are also popular for watching the game, backyard barbecues or sneaking on the plane to make yourself a real Bloody Mary.
Here's all you need:
1-2 teaspoons of Demitri's® All Natural Bloody Mary Seasoning
6-8 oz. tomato juice, V8, or Clamato
1-2 ounces quality vodka (gin and tequila also make great cocktails!)
Ice
Kosher salt
good-sized lime wedge
celery sticks or pickled beans or asparagus or a tasty prawn or all of the above!
Gently moisten the rim of a 12-16 ounce glass with the lime wedge, then press into a saucer of Kosher salt. Combine Demitri's Bloody Mary Seasonings with tomato juice, vodka and ice in a shaker-can and shake. Pour the mixture into the glass and garnish with celery, asparagus, bean, all of the above or whatever your heart desires! Squeeze the lime wedge onto the top of the drink and serve.