At the Manhattan, KS Farmer’s Market on Saturday, Chefs Bryan and Sarah Severns demonstrated cooking with local ingredients. At their cooking station, you could find an array of utensils, several cutting boards (separate ones for raw and cooked meats and vegetables—no cross-contamination), hand sanitizer, and a three-bucket washing station.
The purpose of their demonstration was to show a variety of recipes with ingredients found at the market. Samples were provided; they were delicious. Since it is recommended to wash your hands prior to eating, the chefs had hand sanitizer available for patrons.
Bryan commented on their cooking at the market as being more of food art than food porn. Both Bryan and Sarah will return to the market for another demonstration August 1.
On a beautiful sunny Saturday in Lawrence, the handwashing word was spread from the Farmers market, through the fabric store, to the Merc. The combination of Chinese characters and the Don’t Eat Poop web address were enough to spark conversations in food safety and educational techniques. The most common initial reaction is wide eyed disbelief that anyone would say that in public, but upon further explanation most people have stories of their own to relate, and the conversation is off and rolling. 