The Community Dinner
On Saturday October 16th, at the Elks Lodge in Wakefield, Rhode Island, Eating with the Ecosystem held their 7th annual Community Seafood Dinner. After a year full of uncertainties, the event was able to finally happen and I was excited to attend!
As an a new intern with Eating with the Ecosystem, I had heard about the event a few weeks before, but had no idea what to expect. I had been asked to come and help out, potentially to take some photos or assist in any other areas that was needed, but no matter what I would be doing, I was excited to be able to attend an in person event; something of which I had not been able to do for over a year.
My nerves and excitement were noticeable in the days leading up to the event, because as a newcomer, I did not know what to expect. What would I be doing? What kind of event was this? Fancy? Casual? Serious? What kind of food will be served? Will I like all the new seafood varieties? All of these thoughts raced through my mind as the event approached, but nonetheless, I was ready to experience the famous event.
On October 16th, after about an hour and a half drive from Worcester, Massachusetts, I arrived at the Elks Lodge in Wakefield. As I went in, I was welcomed with such a great sense of community from the people I was introduced to right then, and in the hours to come. First I was greeted by the Program Director Kate Masury, who is my supervisor for my internship here at Eating with the Ecosystem. From there, I was handed a cool t-shirt to wear during the event (which was wicked comfy!).
For a majority of the event, I was asked to run the t-shirt and information table. Here, I was able to hand out information, answer any questions, and fulfill t-shirt and cookbook sales for community members at the event.
I really enjoyed doing this for the event, because I got to help out the organization, while meeting so many new faces and hearing all the wonderful things they had to say about the event.
Now on to the meat of the event (or should I say fish!)… the food! This by far had to be my favorite part! The structure of this event was sort of buffet style. The first elements to the first course was set up, and community members gathered in a line to obtain their portions.
The first course included monkfish chowder. Monkfish is a white meaty fish that reminded me a lot of the texture and taste of lobster. Prior to the dinner, I had never heard of monkfish, let alone tried it. I was pleasantly surprised and I really enjoyed this dish. During this course, we also had some mussels, which are always very tasty, as well as some smoked sea robin. Sea robin is a fish similar in taste to fluke or flounder, it’s sweet and mild in flavor but has a firm texture. This species is not prominent in the seafood market. I am happy to have been able to try it and I now know that I like it and can make it at home. Again, this was a fish I had never heard of, nor tried before. It was also a whole fish on the bone, which I was nervous about, as I had never had anything like that before. Again, I was pleasantly surprised! It was a bit daunting at first but definitely worth the try, and now I know how to eat it! Pro tip: you can use your fork to flake the meat away from the spine and then once you eat half, you can pull the full spine right out by the tail.
The second course was also very delicious. During this course, I was able to try species such as butterfish, scup, bluefish, and crab rice! My favorite was definitely the butterfish over the scup, but overall I enjoyed everything. Butterfish is a very buttery fish that is very quick and easy to eat, as there are minimal bones. Scup is a flakey white fish that has a more sweet flavor and this one was cooked in a foil packet on the grill with some delicious vegetables. The rice with the Jonah crab was the perfect side dish to accompany the other species on the plate. It was filling, but light and had a great flavor full of local crab! It was all so delicious and I was tempted to go up and get seconds!
We finished the meal off with some light desserts and an amazing raffle! There were some awesome prizes, including local art, gift cards to local restaurants, luxury kitchen knives, and more! With so many prizes, full bellies, and smiling faces, I think it is safe to say that everyone at the Community Dinner was a winner!
At the end of the event, while running the t-shirt and information table, we had finished the night with amazing t-shirt sales and happy community members! It was so great to see so many people incredibly passionate about Eating with the Ecosystem’s mission and happy to be back after a crazy year.
Overall, I think that this event stands out from any organization event I have ever been to. By attending this event, it is a great opportunity to support an amazing organization, while also being able to educate yourself on local species and sustainability, while also getting to try some amazing food. Eating with the Ecosystem is such a great organization with such an important mission, and I was so happy to be able to be a part of it this year!
If you missed the event this year, or would like to recreate the recipes you had, check out our website. Here we have those recipes, along with so many others to chose from!
Make sure to attend the Community Dinner next year!
To see more photos from the event and to learn more about Eating with the Ecosystem, check out our Instagram page!
@Eating_with_the_Ecosystem