Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Edible Garden
Posted in Mario Batali's Edible Garden on July 21 2014, by Lansing Moore
On the heels of last month’s hugely successful Whole Foods 5% Day, we are very excited for the start of the next special event series to support the Garden’s Edible Academy initiative. This Sunday, MasterCard® Priceless® New York presents the first of four Family Dinners with Mario Batali’s Chefs!
Celebrated chef and NYBG Board Member Mario Batali is Honorary Chair of the Edible Academy Committee, and for four nights only the Garden will host chefs from the Batali & Bastanich Hospitality Group‘s acclaimed restaurants to prepare a three-course, family-style menu to be served al fresco in the most secluded green oasis in New York City. Your family can join in the fun too, so read on for more details about the special menu and fun activities in store!
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Posted in Mario Batali's Edible Garden on September 16 2013, by Matt Newman
At first I set out to tease you (not maliciously!) with menu selections from this Saturday’s upcoming Family Dinner featuring Chef “Dodo” Fortunato Nicotra of Felidia, one of Mario Batali‘s trusted culinary masterminds. But then it came to my attention that this week’s evening is ALMOST sold out! Not to worry, though—you can still get tickets for Saturday if you rush, but even if you aren’t able to land tickets to this weekend’s event, there’s still one more opportunity on the horizon for gourmands with an appetite in tow. And one more opportunity for me to tease you, I suppose.
On Sunday, September 29, we’re firing up the grills in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden for one last seasonal gourmet gathering. This time around we’ll be spotlighting dishes and demonstrations from the dynamic duo of Chef Dan Drohan of Otto Enoteca Pizzeria and Chef Josh Laurano of Tarry Market.
Before dinner, kids and parents alike are invited to join Family Garden staff in the vegetable beds for hands-on gardening and craft activities, after which we’ll jump straight into preparation with an expert cooking demonstration by our visiting chefs. Save room for cavolo nero and ricotta salad, agnolotti al forno with swiss chard and pecorino, sweet potato and walnut budino, as well as paired wines and more. Trust me—you’ll leave well-fed.
For more info on upcoming menus and getting your tickets, visit our Edible Garden page. Though I’d suggest registering soon—judging by September 21’s dwindling tickets, the one taking place on the 29th should fill up quickly as well. Don’t miss these last opportunities to enjoy the flavors of summer with Mario Batali’s finest!
Photo courtesy of Andrea House.
Posted in Programs and Events on July 24 2013, by Matt Newman
Four days and counting! We’re ticking off the calendar squares ahead of summer’s first Family Dinner with Mario Batali’s Chefs, and with good reason: we’ve had the menu for weeks and it’s making us unbelievably hungry. Simple, right? Of course, the seasonal flavors and aromas are anything but. This Sunday, July 28, Chef Cruz Goler of Lupa Osteria Romana teams with Chef Frank Langello of Babbo, creating a kitchen super group in the NYBG‘s own Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden.
If Mozzarella di Bufala, marinated strip steak, pistachio olive oil cake, and the fresh, kaleidoscopic flavors created by two of New York’s best restaurants pique your appetite, this MasterCard® Priceless event isn’t something you’ll settle for missing.
The three-course, family-style meal doesn’t skimp, providing expertly-paired wines, sparkling Italian water, and all the fixings necessary for a picture perfect night around the table. But it wouldn’t be a proper Garden event without some extra variety, so we’ve gone ahead and flushed out the evening with a romp in the Family Garden. Expect plenty of hands-on gardening crafts and activities to keep the little ones occupied, while we encourage adults to get their hands dirty, too. We’re also bookending the dinner service with cooking demonstrations by Mario’s Chefs, giving you a glimpse into the expertise that creates each gourmet recipe. Even better, you’ll be able to ask them questions as they go!
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Posted in Around the Garden on August 24 2012, by Matt Newman
Would I say there’s a busy atmosphere about the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden this weekend? Definitely. But would I say there’s a…buzzy atmosphere? Seeing as I’m absolutely the kind of guy to kick off a wave of pained groans by dropping such a boulder of a pun, I’m going to go ahead and affirm that one. As of this week, New York’s favorite vegetable garden is looking beyond the tomatoes and cucumbers to the pollinators that make them possible, and that includes our lively honey bees!
Overlooking the NYBG‘s one-acre vegetable plot is a pair of active beehives that you can see and read about in one of our earlier picture galleries, but if you really want to grasp just what it is that has New York City’s rooftop gardeners going mad for apiculture, you and your children should come and visit. Through “Pollinator Pals,” we’re opening up this integral piece of the agricultural puzzle with fun activities for kids, as well as the opportunity to see first-hand how a beehive works and even sample a few different types of honey. The experience isn’t limited to what you get in a bear-shaped squeeze bottle at the supermarket–what’s growing near the hive can noticeably influence the nuanced flavors of the honey the bees produce.
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Posted in Around the Garden, Mario Batali's Edible Garden on August 6 2012, by Matt Newman
It’s not often I get the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden to myself, but last week, before the school groups arrived, I snuck a peek at what was happening in Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens ahead of the coming Edible Garden Festival. The sun was high and bright, yet the sight of ripening vegetables, familiar varieties tucked in among the somewhat more exotic heirlooms, made it easy to deal with the summer heat.
I picked my way around the garden plots, noting leafy greens and sweet potatoes, kohlrabi, flowering artichokes, and a few ready globes of garlic. And dangling in friendly groups above them all: new tomatoes, plump and prolific in the sunshine. Some are already settling into that quirky adolescent phase, not yet ripe, blushing with spots of bright reds and oranges on one side while still a shy green on the other. Certain varieties are lumpy and rustic-looking, others smooth and plum-shaped, and all of them have been hand-selected by Mario Batali’s top chefs–some of the finest culinary minds in New York.
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Posted in Around the Garden, Programs and Events on July 27 2012, by Matt Newman
Is it too early to plan for your child’s critically acclaimed gallery showings? Maybe not! Because sometimes inspiration just needs a little coaxing. Join the NYBG on Saturday, July 28, as we host MasterCard® “Priceless Budding Masters” in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, guiding each young artist through a hands-on exploration of the links between nature and their own boundless creativity.
Just as Claude Monet looked to his garden to find his muse, kids will enjoy the opportunity to indulge inspiration through the plants and flowers around them, channeling what they see, smell, and touch into masterpieces of their own. Once finished, each young Impressionist’s painting will be photographed for our online gallery–or even hang in the Budding Masters Gallery if your child chooses. That’s a long way from sticking it on the kitchen fridge. So be sure to sign up today, as remaining spots are sure to disappear quickly!
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Posted in Exhibitions, The Edible Garden on September 21 2010, by Plant Talk
With cooking demonstrations every day, a Greenmarket filled with regional foods, a festival honoring Hispanic Heritage Month, and other food-related programming during The Edible Garden, the Botanical Garden is the place to be to kick off and participate in Eat Drink Local Week.
This second annual celebration of local foods is more than a restaurant week—and it’s more than a week! From September 26 through October 6, this statewide event co-produced by Edible magazines and GrowNYC, is a time to get to know your neighborhood markets and area farmers.
Wine tastings, lectures, garden tours, farm-to-table dinners, and many other events, including edible programming at the Botanical Garden, will be held throughout New York during Eat Drink Local Week.
The Garden’s Fiesta de Flores y Comida Weekend, September 25 and 26, features flowers, food, dancing, cooking demonstrations with celebrity chefs, home gardening demonstrations, food and wine tastings, cookbook signings, and family activities.
Get your tickets today, and be part of the fun.
Posted in Exhibitions, The Edible Garden on September 17 2010, by Plant Talk
And on Tuesday, Mingle with Martha at a Champagne Cocktail Party
The Garden’s newly renovated Lillian and Amy Goldman Stone Mill will be open to the public again this Saturday and Sunday for a second and final weekend. Visitors can view the landmark building and tour the Stone Mill precinct, which is one of the largest, most varied historic landscapes in New York City and the Lower Hudson Valley.
In addition, this weekend visitors also can delight in cooking demos and fall activities for families as part of The Edible Garden as well as enjoy A Season in Poetry and more (details below)! You’ll also want to save the date Tuesday, September 21, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. to mingle with Martha Stewart at a Champagne Cocktail Party in the Garden.
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Posted in Exhibitions, The Edible Garden on September 11 2009, by Plant Talk
Last Chance to Experience The Edible Garden
 The summer-long celebration The Edible Garden comes to a close this weekend with two days jam-packed with exciting events. Emeril Lagasse takes center stage at the Conservatory Kitchen on Saturday and Lidia Bastianich is featured on Sunday, highlighting a lineup of cooking demonstrations by a number of renowned celebrity chefs.
Also featured on both days are cookbook author signings; food, wine, and beer tastings; home gardening demonstrations; science chats; edible gardening talks; tours of display gardens; and children’s activities. Get your tickets now to ensure premium seating for the main attractions. |
Posted in Exhibitions, Shop/Book Reviews, The Edible Garden on June 24 2009, by Plant Talk
John Suskewich is Book Manager for Shop in the Garden.
With apologies to Cicero but with respect to American eating habits: O tempura! O morels!
The Western diet—based on fats, processed foods and convenience foods, and industrialized agriculture—may be responsible for a host of ills. In the last hundred years or so, it “has changed in ways that are making us increasingly sick and fat,” one food journalist recently commented. Ever more frequently and from many quarters, it is being questioned, rethought, reinvented. So it is that The Edible Garden, the Botanical Garden’s summer-long celebration of growing, preparing, and eating great food, comes at a propitious moment. With the current debate and state of eating in the United States, what do our on-site exhibitions bring to the table? Here are a few sources for perspective on this issue.
Journalist/gardener Michael Pollan is one of the pioneers in sounding the alarm about the American diet. His most recent book, In Defense of Food, argues thoroughly, convincingly, and very readably that good health will come when we reject the current reliance on fast food, food substitutes, food byproducts, engineered food, overpackaged food, overprocessed food, or any comestible with an adjective attached. His manifesto is very close to the mission of this institution—to be an advocate for the plant kingdom—and it boils down to: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
What to Eat by Marion Nestle takes this advice and turns it into a field guide for the supermarket. What is fresh, organic, low fat, reduced fat, no fat, trans fat, polyunsaturated fat, fat free?? For the consumer trying to “do the right thing,” the grocery chain is ground zero in the food chain, but it is a mine field, with marketing, packaging, and processing tripwires that can land you with eggbeaters all over your face. What to Eat analyzes the claims, counterclaims, labels, small print, jargon, subtext, and easy-open cartons to uncover the real truth about the dairy case and the frozen food aisle to make shoppers more savvy.
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