NEW YORK—Vendors offering an intriguing array of edible wares engaged an enthusiastic crowd of foodies at The Brooklyn Local on Saturday, Sept. 17, at the Tobacco Warehouse in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
The event was meant to raise funds for City Harvest, a nonprofit organization dedicated to feeding New York’s hungry by collecting excess food from all segments of the food industry.
“It tastes just like a liquid fruit roll-up,” said a young woman about Grape Phosphate, one of the soda syrups handcrafted by Anton Nocito. “It’s particularly fruity.”
“It’s really clean,” noted her male companion, probably due to the fact that Nocito’s P & H Soda Company refrains from using additives like corn syrup often found in sodas.
Anton “just started doing this as an experiment,” said his wife Erica, a graphic designer who is responsible for the labels on P & H Soda bottles. Flavors include hibiscus and sarsaparilla, as well as seasonal sodas like grapefruit.
Nocito aspires to open his own soda fountain restaurant, but for now sells his beverages through markets and stores, like Whole Foods, and bulk syrup to restaurants like Union Square Cafe.
Nonna Catolina had been cooking so much that she decided to make a business out of it. After spending the summer getting a food license and handing out samples, her sweet and spicy tomato-based sauces debuted for sale on Saturday. Her table also offered Nonna’s meatballs, featuring beef, pork, eggs, pecorino Romano, garlic, and fresh basil and parsley, as well as crispy eggplant balls.
We do things “as clean as possible,” said Michael Marino, Nonna’s son and helper. “The old-fashioned way.”
They use neither dried ingredients, nor preservatives or additives.
Next to Nonna’s was Market Share , a shared-use commercial kitchen soon to come to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Besides pickles from Brooklyn’s own Eagle Street Rooftop Farm , they also featured West African style peanut brittle, with sea salt and cane sugar.
As with many vendors at the event, Market Share strives to source locally and organically as much as possible.
Brooklyn Butcher Blocks showcased a selection of handsome and useful cutting boards created by Nils Wessell, who graduated from Bard College with an art degree. Wessell gets his lumber, mostly cherry and walnut, from western Pennsylvania, and mills each board himself. He assembles the boards in a brick pattern for strengthening, then, after hours of sanding, the boards are submerged in mineral oil. After drying, Wessell buffs them with a combination of beeswax and mineral oil.
“I’ve been working with my hands for a while,” said Wessell, after patiently explaining the process. He is proud that “every part of the board is from the States.”
After all the food one consumes at such an event—“I haven’t stopped eating since I got here,” said one man—a cleanse might be in order. Long Island City based BluePrintCleanse produces a line of cleansing juices started by founder Zoe Sakoutis, who cured a cold with a cleanse, but wanted to make the process easier than she found it (they deliver) and allow cleansing to be customized to individual dietary habits.
“It basically has every leafy green in it,” said Joel, a healthy looking fellow wearing a BluePrintCleanse polo shirt. “It’s like flooding your body with nutrients.”
He pointed to a drink labeled number three, “Green Juice,” and a list of ingredients, romaine, celery, cucumber, apple, spinach, kale, parsley, and lemon. Other choices included Gold, with pineapple, apple, and mint; and Red, with carrot, ginger, apple, beet, and lemon. All the color-coded beverages proved to be quite tasty.
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