Chefs for the Marcellus

Chefs for the Marcellus founder Jimmy Carbone with Holley Atkinson at last year’s Gumbo Cook-Off

Join us for the Second Annual Chefs for the Marcellus Gumbo Cook-off. Help keep New York State frack-free while enjoying awesome gumbo prepared by some of NYC’s most talented and creative professional and amateur chefs.

Participants include Mary Cleaver, Green Table; Tim Trobey, L & W Oyster; Nissa Pierson, Ger-Nis; Jon Bratton, NYC Hot Sauce; Paul Gerard, Exchange Alley; Deepak Ballaney, International Wings Factory; Michele Lamort; Adrian Ashby; Simon Glenn, Tchoup Shop; Dave Katleski, Empire Brewing Company; Ron Carlson, Horsehead Beer; Dave Miss, Jimmy’s No 43.

Judges include Rozanne Gold, “Radically Simply” & former chef to late Mayor Ed Koch; Will Blunt, Managing Editor, StarChefs.com; Cathy Erway, NotEatingOutInNY.com.

Sunday, February 10, 1:00p-3:00 p.m.  Jimmy’s No. 43, 43 E. 7th Street. Admission: $20 at the door

Photo by Lorraine Lewandrowski.

Join us Monday, February 4, 7pm  for “Food Not Frack on Film”, an evening of short films and an informal panel discussion followed by an after-party at Jimmy’s No. 43 featuring frack-free New York beer.

Films include An Aerial View of Hydraulic Fracking Along the Marcellus Shale, shot over rural Pennsylvania by Pete Saltonstall of King Ferry Winery; The Sky is Pink,  a short by the Oscar-nominated director Josh Fox, and excerpts from  Dear Governor Cuomo, directed by Jon Bowermaster.

A panel discussion, moderated by Kerry Trueman, will follow the screening. Speakers include: Greg Swartz, Willow Wisp Farm; Elizabeth Royte, environmental  journalist; Chef Heather Carlucci, co-founder of Chefs for the Marcellus; David Braun, New Yorkers Against Fracking.

Film screening:  Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue.  Doors open at 6:30. Program,  7-9 pm.  Purchase $20 tickets here. Tickets also available at the door.

After-party (cash bar):  Jimmy’s No 43,  43 E. 7th Street.

On Sunday, January 27, protestors in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania blockaded a newly-constructed gas well, located less than 4,000 feet from an organic farm that has been in the same family for generations. Farmer Maggie Henry, who raises organic pork and poultry, said: “People buy my food because they know that it is literally the purest that you can get. My animals run around out on ground, in pasture. They’re not cooped up in cages.  Agriculture, not fracking, is the number one industry in Pennsylvania. This threatens my air, my water, my farm, my livelihood.” The well, which had been flaring for weeks, burning off toxic emissions of excess hydrocarbons, is one of thousands that dot the Pennsylvania landscape, and which are increasingly implicated in pollution of the state’s water, air and soil and illness in livestock.  READ MORE

The petition we recently delivered to Governor Cuomo asking him to ban fracking in New York State is getting noticed.  Tune in tomorrow, Thursday January 31,  to Fox Business Network to hear Chefs for the Marcellus founder Chef Heather Carlucci talk about the petition in an interview with conservative business journalist Stuart Varney, host of Varney & Co. The show airs from 9:20 to 11:00 a.m. EST;  Heather’s segment is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.  Heather will talk about the petition, signed by more than 150 prominent chefs and food professionals, and about the enthusiastic response we’ve received since we announced it.  If you miss the show,  come back to our site where we will link to the archived interview if and when it becomes available.

Farmer Jeremy Carlisle’s Dairy Cows, October 4, 2012

On January 22, Chefs for the Marcellus, in concert with Food & Water Watch will deliver a letter signed by more than 150 of New York  State’s top chefs, including Mario Batali (Babbo), Michael Anthony (Gramercy Tavern) and Mary Cleaver (Cleaver & Co.), to Governor Andrew Cuomo, urging him to ban hydrofracking for natural gas in New York State. In a press release sent to the media, Chef Bill Telepan said:  “The success of my restaurant and so many others depends on clean, healthy, safe ingredients in the dishes we serve. If I can’t trust the quality of the food I’m purchasing from upstate farmers and food producers, I’ll have to look elsewhere for those products. Upstate agriculture will pay the price if fracking comes to New York. ” READ FULL PRESS RELEASE

Our movement to ban fracking in New York grows stronger by the day, and we know the governor noticed and appeared to slow things down. However, appearances can be deceiving: now comes the last minute demand that the public comment within 30 days on the newly proposed fracking regulations. We must respond by January 11, 2013 by flooding the Dept of Environment Conservation with thousands of letters!  To learn more and submit your comments visit this page.

Writer Elizabeth Royte, author of an excellent article on fracking our foodshed in the Nation, was featured on the Leonard Lopate show. It’s must listening for all food professionals. Tune in and then sign on to our campaign urging Governor Cuomo to protect New York’s agricultural communities, water, air and soil from fracking. LISTEN NOW

An in-depth article in The Nation by Elizabeth Royte should put to rest any doubts about the lethal consequences of hydrofracking on our  farms and food supply. The article profiles farmers in fracked states.  New York has been temporarily spared, but Governor Cuomo is just months away from deciding to let drillers have their way with our farmlands. Let him know that as a food professional, you want to protect our farms and food by banning fracking in New York. Sign on to our campaign today. 

We’ll be with Riverkeeper at the Tarrytown Farmers Market tomorrow 8:30 am – 1:00 pm, talking to folks about fracking and food.  Stop by and say hello.  LEARN MORE

Ohio restaurateur Christine Hughes has made a video that points out, that “the restaurant industry industry is a bigger part of the American economy than the entire oil, gas and tar sands industry.”  Yet restaurants — unlike drillers for oil and gas — are not exempt from  laws that keep Americans safe. WATCH THE VIDEO