PRINCETON, NJ – September, 2001 – New Jersey’s own agricultural “comeback kid,” the Delaware Bay Oyster, will be featured at Har-Fest 2001, New Jersey’s premier celebration of the food, beverages and agriculture of the Garden State.
Nominated by Har-Fest 2001 sponsor Slow Food of Central Jersey, the Delaware Bay Oyster has become the first member of the United States “Ark of Taste,” a project of the International Slow Food Movement. Inspired by Noah’s Ark and the protection and preservation of animal species during the deluge, the Slow Food Movement’s “Ark of Taste” seeks to preserve and promote rare foods.
Once the most popular and cultivated oysters in the country, the Delaware Bay Oyster industry was hit hard in the middle of the 20th century by a combination of challenges. Today, the industry is making a comeback, and supporters hope that the Delaware Bay Oyster’s prominence at Har-Fest 2001 will help get the word out that the oysters’ quality is as good as ever, while supply is on the rise.
Co-sponsored by Slow Food of Central Jersey and the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, Har-Fest 2001 begins at 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 21 at The Museum of Agriculture at Cook College on College Farm Road in New Brunswick. Har-Fest will feature food sampling, wine tasting, cooking demonstrations, signings by local cook book authors, a Delaware Bay Oyster shucking demonstration, and presentations by representatives of many of the state’s food-related organizations. There will also be a farmers’ market, activities for children and tours of the museum itself, which houses the largest collection of antique farming equipment in the country.
The festival will also be a fund-raiser for the museum.
Admission at the gate on festival day is $35 for adults, $10 for children younger than 18, and free for children under 4. Tickets may be purchased in advance for $25. For more information, call (609) 452-1515.
Several of the still-active oystermen will be at Har-Fest, shucking fresh samples of their oysters, they include: Bivalve Packing Company, Atlantic Cape Fisheries and Peterson Packing Company, New Jersey’s only surviving shucking house. Also participating in Har-Fest 2001 are: Tre Piani, Ferry House, Mediterra and Garden Café, all in Princeton; Stage Left and Nova Terra in New Brunswick; Hilton East Brunswick and Surf & Turf in East Brunswick; Tim Shafer’s Cuisine in Morristown; the New Jersey Mycological Association, Coles Roberts Old Fashion Ice Cream, Grant Styles Honey, Asian Food Market, Meile, Alba Winery, Cream Ridge Winery, Unionville Vineyards, Bellview Winery, Sylvan Winery, Poor Richards Winery, River Horse Brewery, La Sierra Coffee Roasters, Jersey Blues; and cookbook authors Fran McManus, Kim Rizk, Angela Change and Laurel Keser.
For more information on Har-Fest 2001 or the Slow Food Movement, please call James Weaver, leader of the Central New Jersey Slow Food Convivium at (609) 452-1515 or visit the website at www.slowfood.com.
Slow Food is an international non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the heritage of local food traditions and flavors as well as “safeguarding the right to the pleasures of the table.” Founded in 1999, Slow Food Central New Jersey is headquartered at Tre Piani Restaurant, 120 Rockingham Row, (in Forrestal Village) and Princeton, NJ 08540.
For Immediate Release.
For additional information, please call:
James Weaver, Har-Fest 2001, (609) 452-1515
Veronica Dale, McShane Associates Inc. (908) 236-6677