CoCo Member Bill Petrich, CEO of Suntava, (recently featured in the Star Tribune) will talk about his company’s breakthrough product: a natural substitute for Red Dye No. 40, made from Peruvian purple corn.

Bill will talk about the challenges he faces in trying to grow the business and ask for ideas from attendees.

We’ll even serve up some purple corn in the form of homemade “chicha” (a traditional Peruvian soft drink) and purple corn chips. Come learn about an innovative business model and offer your ideas!

This is a members-only event.

Register at Eventbite

• On-site host/concierge services
• Morning pastries from Aster Cafe
• Espresso drinks
• Daily lunch menu (including vegetarian options) from Republic
• On-site tech support for Apple and PC products
• Bike and hourly car rental facilities
• Storage facilities
• Access to Minneapolis Grain Exchange health club
• A weekly videocast by Chuck Olsen of the The UpTake
• Live podcasts by the Minnov8 gang
• A full lineup of social and educational events and activities (see below)

We’ll communicate more about these items as the details are finalized! Meanwhile, do you have any suggestions?

Photo credit: tonx

July 17
9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Real Food Minnesota is a free event with a practical focus. For those with a new interest in learning about the food you buy and eat, we hope to unveil the mysteries of selecting and preparing healthy, delicious, and ethically-produced “real” food. Already comfortable in co-ops and your kitchen? Come hear about new ways to learn about food via the web, emerging sources of local ingredients year-round, and some of the great food communities being built throughout the Twin Cities. There will be:

• Guided tours of the St. Paul Farmers Market with tips on how to buy fresh ingredients
• Food prep demos with experienced chefs
• Discussions led by folks doing cool things in the local food scene (topics include urban farming, the ethics of eating, and more)
• Opportunity to chat with other curious and enthusiastic eaters, and to learn about ways to get more involved with our local food system

Join us for the day, or come and go for the session(s) you are interested in. No experience necessary…just come hungry to learn!

Learn more and register at the Real Food Minnesota site!

Don spent a good two hours this morning manning the waffle iron in the CoCo kitchen, keeping a continuous flow of waffles coming for the early morning faithful.

Lacking all of the flair (runny fruit, whipped cream, etc.) that covers up the taste of poorly-cooked waffles at IHOP, Don’s waffles stood on the merits of their highly-delectable flavor and golden personality.  These were the type of waffles that would have made Betty Crocker proud!

Thanks, Don!

Below is a summary of the meeting, kindly put together by Kristi Hamilton. We agreed to post this summary and ask for comments and suggestions from the food community, which in our mind means producers, distributors, journalists, bloggers, restauranteurs, cafeteria managers – and of course, eaters! So, if you’re in any of these categories, feel free to leave a comment!

Meeting summary – Feb 1., 2010

Despite the weather we had a good turn-out for the first  Alt.Food Unconference planning meeting!  Following is a recap of our conversation for all.  We want your feedback whether you were able to join us or not.

What are we trying to accomplish?  Following the format of the tech + biz + community UnSummit held last October we want to bring together Producers/Distributors/Retailers/Restaurants/Non-profits/Journalists in a fresh environment.   The format will be different than the traditional conference model – less formal presentation and more peer to peer discussion in style.  The ultimate goal is to get people from each of these segments of the food industry sharing stories of success and discussing solutions to untamed challenges.

Event date
Saturday March 13, 2010 was temporarily identified.  Needs to be before end of March to get farmers/producers there and all felt Saturday was better than a week day for attendance.

Location
Don Ball has offered CoCoMSP located in lowertown St. Paul as the meeting site at no charge.

Conference name
“Real Food MN” was discussed.  Some concern was expressed that this could alienate some people. Also, it might require an arrangement with the owner of the Realfood.MN domain. We want your thoughts on this name or share other ideas.

How do we promote it?
We would each promote to our individual contacts via Twitter, Facebook Blogs, etc.   With our varied group we have contacts in each of our target attendee groups Producers/Distributors/Retailers/Restaurants/Non-profits/Journalists.

Marketing
Don Ball offered resources to create a WordPress Site.  We have several people that can create content for the site and any other needed materials.  The idea of using the Rutabaga Rhubarb as the event  “mascot” was discussed.

Content/Sessions
We will curate a few up front to get the process started and crowd source the remainder.  Session hosts will be encouraged to kick-off their sessions with a few provocative comments/slides and move quickly to a peer-to-peer conversation format.

Ideas for topics/success story examples we would like to showcase:

• Success stories of institutions (schools, hospitals, nursing homes) finding ways to incorporate local and/or organic food into their menus despite challenges with distribution, insurance, contracts, etc.
• Urban Farming/Rooftop farming projects
• Shepherd’s Way Farms/Birchwood Restaurant partnership CSA cheese program – example of producer applying a model used primarily with produce to other products.
• Success stories of producers working directly with restaurants/retailers – Thousand Hills Cattle Company, Kadejan chicken, Riverbend Farms, etc.
• Common Roots Café – developed  community garden program providing a portion of their produce.
• Traceability trend – Ames Farm Beeyard Database, Peace Coffee’s Map Your Beans, Just Bare Family Farm Stories
• Know of success stories in the above categories?  Have other ideas?  Be sure to post your comments.