7th Annual Minnesota Cooks™ Farm to Table Tour at the State Fair Educates, Entertains, and Entices

Minnesota Farmers Union and Food Alliance Midwest Present the Minnesota Cooks™ Local and Sustainable Food Event at the State Fair on September 1, 2009.

For the seventh year in a row, the Minnesota Cooks™ program at the State Fair will celebrate the relationships between premier Minnesota chefs and local Food Alliance Certified farmers with a full day of demonstrations, discussions, and sampling of sustainable cuisine. The program will begin at 9:00 am with a breakfast show and will continue throughout the day with a show at the top of each hour until 5:00 pm. All shows take place on the Minnesota Cooks™ Stage in Carousel Park, just west of the Grandstand Ramp.

Minnesota Cooks™ brings together the entire spectrum of those who have a stake in a sustainable food system: consumers and chefs, farmers and foodies. Onstage, chefs will create award-winning dishes using ingredients supplied by sustainable Minnesota farms. Emcees will engage chefs and farmers in rich discussions about their sustainable philosophies. At the end of each demonstration, fairgoers and a panel of Minnesota farmers and celebrity tasters will have a chance to sample the dishes created onstage.

"The Great Minnesota Get-Together is the perfect venue for the Minnesota Cooks™ program because it brings farmers, consumers, and chefs to showcase food we have to choose from right here in our state," said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President and creator of Minnesota Cooks™. "With the growing energy costs and concerns, Minnesota Cooks™ also highlights ways you can use local resources to reduce those costs while also contributing to our local communities."

Minnesota Cooks™ is presented by Minnesota Farmers Union and Food Alliance Midwest and receives major sponsorship from Agricultural Utilization Research Institute. For more information about Minnesota Cooks™, please contact Jill Grunewald of Food Alliance Midwest at 651-209-3382 or e-mail info@minnesotacooks.org.