Sustaining the Good Life

 

AT THE STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR WINE, FOOD AND CULTURE

Food and wine have brought people together for centuries, connecting diverse cultures and enhancing our quality of life. While Stony Brook University is known as a place where advanced scientific research saves many lives, it’s also a place where life’s pleasures are cultivated. To this end, the Stony Brook University Center for Wine, Food and Culture (established in 2004) rounds out the picture by hosting activities that help to sustain and promote New York’s vital agriculture and aquaculture based industries. By offering richly diverse experiences with local products (often in the context of foods and wines from other parts of the world), the Center can foster appreciation for the excellence of “farm to table” products with an understanding of how important it is to support these fragile local industries.

With Stony Brook’s acquisition of Southampton College currently in progress, the Center would like to expand its programs in order to act as a magnet for the University’s focus on Sustainability there. We plan to continue our wine and food tasting classes for the general public, add more academic classes that focus on these areas, and offer extensive training in sensory evaluation.

Starting our program with a bang, on the weekend of June 3 – 4, the Stony Brook University’s Center for Wine, Food, and Culture presents Sustaining The Good Life: A Celebration of Land, Sea and Sunlight, at Stony Brook University’s newly-acquired Southampton College campus.

“Part of our mission at the Center for Wine, Food, and Culture is to provide a forum for critical issues that impact our community,” Louisa Thomas Hargrave, the Center’s director, explains. “This lively symposium will bring awareness and create community dialogue on important issues of development and sustainability that impact the future of the East End.”

The Saturday morning program features excursions aboard the Marine Science Center’s research vessels and hands-on discovery activities with Stony Brook marine scientists at the new Southampton campus, as well as tastings of products from local farms and waters. After a picnic lunch and welcome from President Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny, a keynote address on sustainability – the challenge to live well now and maintain the wellbeing of our planet into the future – will lead into small group breakout sessions.

Panels of chefs, farmers, architects, builders and policy experts from around the region will discuss relevant topics while local producers of wine, cheese, honey and other agricultural products offer flavorful insights into artisanal farming.

Saturday’s activities will conclude with a festive reception and tasting of local wines and foods, accompanied by live music.

On Sunday, selected farms and wineries on both the North and South Forks will be open from 1PM to 4PM for exclusive tours and special tastings.

 

A REVIEW OF OUR ACTIVITIES IN 2005, accomplished with one part-time staff and director:

* To 12/05, with the cooperation of over 30 wineries, weekly evening classes for the general public at both Stony Brook Manhattan and the main campus in Stony Brook, on such topics as:

  • Creating a regional cuisine: wine and food pairings with star chefs
  • From Aroma to Bouquet: how wines age
  • Hot climate/cool climate: the taste of terroir
  • The winemaking heritage of Italian Americans in Brooklyn
  • The renaissance of Kosher wine
  • Healthy indulgences: heart-smart wine and food pairings

* Special events with wine and food stars including Arthur Schwartz, Joshua Wesson, Kevin Zraly; cultural leaders like Dr. Richard Leakey, Alice Feiring, Elin McCoy; wine professionals like Charles Curtis (M.W.), W.R. Tish, Eric Fry and Charles Massoud (to name a few).

* Participation in the Staller Film Festival with a panel discussion after the controversial film Mondovino and a tasting of artisinal wines

* A Spanish wine tasting in conjunction with Staller’s Flamenco Ballet evening

* Special tastings for medical school alumni/ae, visiting Japanese CEOs at the High Technology Incubator, SB alums in NYC, visiting scientists attending SB seminars

*participation in the Hamptons Wine and Food Festival and tastings for Edible East End magazine

*As Director of the Center, Louisa Hargrave has published op ed pieces in Newsday and the New York Times, Le Connoisseur, and Bon Appetit, as well as her regular columns in the Wine Press, the Suffolk Times and the Times Review. This fall, she also taught a series of “Wine and Culture” classes at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. She attended the Napa Valley Wine Writers’ Symposium in Feb. 2005 and judges international wines for the Los Angeles County Fair every year.

 

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