What: Slow Food Pittsburgh, the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, and the bigBurrito Group Restaurants team up on a tasting and teaching extravaganza of sustainable seafood.

Menu:

Hors D'oeuvre
Cheese Board
Crudites Basket of Organic Broccoli, Cauliflower, Sweet Pepper with Dip
Donated by Kretschmann Farm

Raw Bar
West Coast Oysters on the Half Shell
Eastern Shore Littleneck Clams on the Half Shell
Mignonette Sauce Cocktail Sauce Lemons

Buffet
Grilled Wild Alaskan Copper River Salmon
Donated by Wild Alaskan Salmon Company, Kenai, Alaska
Steamed Rope -Grown Prince Edward Island Mussels with Chorizo, Garlic and Oven-Dried Local Roma Tomatoes
Farmed Tilapia Roasted in Banana Leaves with Lime, Mango, Mint and Cilantro
Donated by Whole Foods Market
Artisanal Bread Basket
Donated by Mediterra Breads
Cabbage Slaw
Donated by Kretschmann Farm
Rosemary Roasted Potatoes
Donated by Kretschmann Farm

Dessert
Gala Apple Crisp with Black Pepper Crème Fraiche

Cash Bar
Shade-Grown Coffee

When: October 9th, 2005

Time: Panel Discussion begins at 4:00 pm
Dinner at 5:30 pm

Where: Under the tent at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Schenley Park

Cost: $45 for Slow Food members/ $55 for non-members.
There is a cash bar featuring wine and beer.

Reservations: Participants may opt for the lecture, dinner, or both. The lecture preceding dinner is free and open to the public, but reservations for dinner are a must. To reserve by credit card, call Karen Bracken at Phipps Garden Center at (412) 441-4442, ext. 3201. Reservations are limited.

Eat fish, live longer? Maybe, but is your catch-of-the-day safe to eat? Is there enough of it swimming that it should be fished at all? How can consumers be sure which results of scientific studies are true and which are just plain fishy? And which fish get a clean bill of health?

As the world’s shrinking and increasingly toxic seafood supply places many fish off-limits for responsible and safe eating, Slow Food Pittsburgh joins forces with Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in an educational series. The message? Despite the scaremongers, fishmongers and scary reports, many delicious and responsible options remain.

Series participants will learn as they eat. Each program offers information and guidelines along with an opportunity to sit down to a meal celebrating seafood choices that satisfy both appetite and conscience. The series opens Sunday, October 9 with a free-to-the-public panel discussion to be held at 4 p.m. in Phipps’ Botany Hall, the historic brick auditorium next to Panther Hollow Bridge. The debate will be followed by a seafood dinner at 6 p.m. served in Phipps Outdoor Garden under a tent. PLEASE NOTE: Location to be confirmed. Panel may be moved to the Outdoor Garden.

The debate will mesh viewpoints of panel participants. Douglass Dick, owner and executive chef of Bona Terra restaurant in Sharpsburg will address the balancing act by chefs to make responsible seafood choices and satisfy a public that often unknowingly demands endangered fish. Seth Morrison, Seafood Team, Whole Foods Pittsburgh will discuss the pros, cons and fitness of farmed and wild-caught fish considered when buying for an eco-aware customer base. Sara Pozonsky, co-owner of her family-owned fishery will tell her insider’s story of wild salmon fishing in Kenai, Alaska. David Mintz, Senior Education Specialist, Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium will put global overfishing and threats to farmed and wild fish in perspective and explain the role of the consumer.

The Zoo and Aquarium is an Associate Partner in Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program, featuring regional Seafood Watch Guides that help consumers understand what fish to buy and why. Copies of the guide will be available at the program and Mintz's presentation will focus on helping consumers use the guide as an aid in wise shopping. Participants will also receive a wallet card guide detailing eco-best and eco-worst fish choices at the markets.

The buffet-style dinner menu of fresh, sustainably produced seafood will be prepared by Café Phipps and big Burrito chefs. It features a clam and oyster raw bar, cheeses, crudite, steamed mussels, grilled Wild Alaskan Company Copper River salmon, tilapia on banana leaf, cabbage slaw, herbed roasted potatoes, locally grown greens, and autumn apple crisp. Guests will sit together at long tables, Slow Food style.

"Sustainable practices are a core feature at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. This partnership with Slow Food furthers our desire to make Phipps a green institution both in our practices and public programs," said Phipps executive director Richard V. Piacentini.

Other events in the series will include the Italian December holiday Celebration of the Seven Fishes which will feature sustainable seafood, and a star-chef demonstration fish cooking class at the beginning of Lent. There will be an Earth Day celebration on April 2006.