Williamsburg Walks Picnic Block & Basket Challenge

Saturday Jun 26 – the Southside CSA will be rocking a block of picnic fun at this years Williamsburg Walks. In addition to hosting the giant picnic area, we will be joining NAG in running a picnic basket contest.

Check out the rules and get ready to rumble:

Throughout the ages, Williamsburg has been home to many peoples. Come celebrate our diverse community through a picnic lunch contest…

WILLIAMSBURG PICNIC CHALLENGE

The competition will be held in conjunction w/ the Southside CSA Picnic Block @ Williamsburg Walks. Each competitor will create a picnic lunch consisting of a soup, salad, sandwich, & dessert that reflect the great history & culinary fusion of our neighborhood. The fun begins @ 2pm on Sat. Jun 26. (Rain or shine!) Contestants register @ NAG community table btwn 2-4pm. Picnic spreads will be scored by a panel of community judges. Points will be awarded for creativity, taste, & historical culinary fusion.

The idea is to have a “complete” picnic lunch which is made up of recipes riffed off the various ethnic groups that have built this neighborhood.

• Entrance fee of $10. ($5 goes towards the cash prize, $5 goes to the Greenpoint Soup Kitchen)
• Each lunch must contain 4 items; a soup, a salad, a “sandwich” and a dessert.
• Loose interpretations are allowed within reason. For example, fried chicken, tacos, or pizza could count as a “sandwich”.
• Salads could be something like a green salad, fruit salad or a type of potato salad. Basically, if it’s called a salad, it qualifies.
• Each item must have 4 “tastes” for our 4 judges. The scores from each judge will be added up to create the total points. The most points wins the cash prize.
• Each item must represent one of the 12 different ethnic groups from the neighborhood. (Listed below in the brief history section)
• Your meal cannot be all from one ethnicity. Each item must come from a different population.
• The “American” ethnicity is a bit of a catch-all category. This is where any “newcomer” can bring their own cooking style to the plate.
• Each item has wiggle room to be creative. We want you to have fun with your meals, following the culinary forces from the neighborhood which inspires you. The food doesn’t have to actually reflect the exact foods that were eaten by the ethnic groups during their time in the hood (i.e., you don’t have to make Irish stone soup to rock out the Irish category, etc)

A Brief History of the Peoples of Williamsburg

The Keshaechqueren Indians fished in the inlets of Williamsburg for centuries before the Dutch/French Huguenots arrived and started farming on the land. They were soon followed by the English, who married into these farming families. Eventually, one industrious son-in-law decided to parcel up the land and start building factories. The Germans built scores of factories & breweries that attracted, first, the Irish & Polish workers, followed at the turn of the century (thanks to the Williamsburg Bridge & the Spanish-American War) the Eastern European Jews & Puerto Ricans. Soon after arrived the Italians. In modern times, the neighborhood has become home to Hasids & Dominicans, and is most recently exploding with a new influx of “Americans”.

For more info email ryan@nag-brooklyn.org or southsidecsa@gmail.com