Ep. 44: Operation Frontline and Coal House Cafe

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In the excellent new "Food Issue" of the New York Times Magazine, the cover story on British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver follows his recent efforts to improve the eating and cooking habits of everyday Americans. It's an article worth reading, but it overlooks an important fact: there's already a nationwide organization doing that same thing, and they've been doing it for over 15 years.

For this episode, we're going behind the scenes with Operation Frontline, a part of Share Our Strength, whose mission is to end childhood hunger. Operation Frontline outreach programs aim to reconnect families with food and healthy eating through free cooking and nutrition classes. To see what they're doing in the Ithaca community, we'll talk with Julia Hastings-Black, program director for Operation Frontline with Cornell Cooperative Extension, and Edie Spaulding, who shares a personal story of how Operation Frontline classes changed the way her family cooks at home. Plus we have details on how to get your tickets to the Chef's Night Out Dinners, 3 dinners on 3 nights, each featuring 5 courses by 5 different chefs, all raising funds to support Operation Frontline. It's a special dining series not to be missed.

We're still eating our way through every Ithaca restaurant from A-Z, and looking back through the alphabet for new entries brings us to the Coal House Cafe, which is already improving on what its predecessor - Queen of Tarts - started. Hear our review plus the latest local food news and events in this episode.

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Get more information on topics from this episode:

• Share Our Strength: Operation Frontline
• Ithaca Taste of the Nation Chef’s Night Out
  Oct. 13 & 27 and Nov. 12
• Sacred Seed Farm at IFM
• Just Desserts at IFM
• Ithaca Farmers Market
• Follow Coal House Cafe on Twitter
• Healthy Food For All 2009 Harvest Dinners
• Local Meats Tasting & Education Fair
  Sun. 10/25, 2:30-5:30. $5 admission; RSVP (607) 272-229
• Edible Finger Lakes Magazine
• Gourmet Magazine