North Coast Nosh 2020: The Recap

Earlier this autumn, Jill Colella from Food Building pinged James Norton from Heavy Table and said something to the effect of, “Hey, it’s been a tough year for everybody, what if we did a socially distanced version of the North Coast Nosh?”

We were game for it, and collectively we pulled together a heavy-hitting list of 18 of Minnesota’s most talented food and beverage artisans to share product and stories with 300 ticket-holders who attended the event by driving up and loading boxes groaning with delicious products into their cars. Most of our attendees then joined us early in the evening for a 90-minute sip-and-sample-and-chat session via Zoom webinar hosted by the bubbly-yet-distinguished culinary personality Stephanie Hansen.

THE FOOD

More or less by accident, we came up with a mix of products that ranged from the immediately perishable (the delicious charcuterie plates from Food Building purveyors like Red Table Meats and Alemar Cheese) to the “probably should eat it soon-ish” stuff like the Bagel Taïm herbed bagel and the Rustica cookies to the “this can hang out for quite some time” stuff like the Ceylon Cinnamon syrup from Earl Giles and the Garden Variety Bloody Mary mix.

Whether you’re shopping for holiday gifts or just looking for a way to eat well while supporting the local food economy, you could do far worse than consulting the list of purveyors who helped make the event possible.

THE WEBINAR

Considering what a total cluster … er… clusterfudge? sure, clusterfudge the video portion of the evening could have turned into, it really came together rather brilliantly. The technology worked, Stephanie Hansen’s hosting was delightful and on point, and our presenters told funny / informative / delightful stories about the food that they spend so much time and passion creating. (Pictured above, clockwise from top left: Stephanie Hansen, Kieran Folliard and Jill Colella from Food Building, Anne Andrus from Honey + Rye, Ryan Brown from Peace Coffee, Keith Adams from Alemar Cheese, and Nick Kosevich from Drinks Apothecary.)

The final video file for the online Nosh is available on Vimeo, and is embedded above.

SOME RELEVANT LINKS

Although the video and audio portion of the webinar was reserved for our 10 our so panelists (Peace Coffee, Alemar, Redhead Creamery, Earl Giles, Drinks Apothecary, Honey + Rye, Union Hmong Kitchen) and host Stephanie Hansen, our 170+ attendees were able to ask questions and chat it up by text. In the process a number of links popped up or were requested, so here’s an attempt at rounding them up and sharing them in a disorganized fashion.

The Nosh participants and the contents of the box
That “Ham Sanitizer” spray Nick Kosevich kept talking about
What it means to wash a cheese with beer
Stephanie Hansen’s various broadcasting enterprises
The recipe for the Johnny Weir drink that Ryan from Peace Coffee demo’d
Cheese selections from Alemar and Redhead Creamery
Details on the distanced Lawless Miracle event
Best fruitcake in the known universe
Minnevangelist list of MN-made food and drink gift products
Union Hmong Kitchen holiday kits

THE LEGACY

We’ve been peppered all weekend with truly enthusiastic texts, tweets, and emails about the event and the few complaints drifting in have been sparse and tempered.

Would we do another one? Perhaps as soon as February or March? Please stay tuned – if we can get the stars to align once again, I think we’re up for it, as the vibes on this event were fantastic, the food delicious, and the conversations delightful.

To everyone who made it possible – Food Building, our wonderful purveyors, our fantastic subscribers, and our terrific ticket-holders – thank you!