Chef Todd Gray and Dame Ellen Kassoff, our hosts with the compost, will share their sustainability journey and pass along valuable tips on how you can start composting and save money by rescuing valuable ingredients you’re probably tossing. Wasting food wastes all kinds of resources and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. By embracing seed-to-stem cooking and diverting food waste into compost, we can help reduce methane emissions and produce an invaluable resource — often referred to as “black gold” — for growing food and maintaining healthy soil.
The afternoon will begin with a tour of Equinox’s composting system, followed by a cooking demo with Chef Todd where you’ll get to taste some surprisingly scrappy snacks. We’ll toast to compost with cocktails and mocktails made with ingredients that often go to waste, and end with insights from a panel of sustainability experts:
Caroline Howe, Aspire Program Coordinator, Innovation & Equitable Development, DC Department of Small & Local Business Development
Jeffrey Neal, Founder & CEO, Loop Closing
Lela Singh, Retail and Social Media Manager, Teaism Tea Shop
During the event, you’ll have the opportunity to bid on sustainable lifestyle items at the silent auction and raffle. Proceeds of the auction and raffle will fund the Les Dames DC Chapter’s grants and scholarships program in support of the advancement of women in the food, beverage, and hospitality industries.
Metro accessible via Farragut West and Farragut North stations.
Cost: $35 for members and non-members and includes passed bites and one drink.  Tickets must be purchased in advance, click here to buy your tickets.  

There’s always something new in social media and the food blogging world. This is your chance to learn from three successful bloggers/influencers how to maximize your brand, business or blog in the ever-changing online business world. Our panel includes Dame Anina Belle Giannini of Le Chef’s Wife, Britney Brown-Chamberlain of “Britney Breaks Bread” and Shani Whisonant of “Begin with Butter.” The panel will be moderated by Dame Bonnie Benwick.

Cost is $25 for members, $35 for non-members, and includes appetizers, soft drinks and wine donated by RATIONAL USA, courtesy of Dame Cindy Selby. Dame Kim Bryden has donated use of her office space for the event.

Street parking is available. There is also 90 minutes free parking with purchase at the Whole Foods at 600 H St., NE.

Click here to register!
​
A portion of the proceeds will go to support Les Dames d'Escoffier DC Regional Chapter’s fundraising for grants, mentoring, scholarship and education programs to help support women to succeed in culinary-related industries.

​

​
WHEN: Sunday September 11th, 2022
TIME: Arrive by 9:15 am. Foragers will leave at 9:30 am and return by noon
WHERE: Carderock Recreation Area, Potomac, Maryland (off the Clara Barton Parkway)
PARKING: Meet at this parking lot: https://goo.gl/maps/2EGbXKJMopNoEMbh8 
WHAT TO WEAR/WHAT TO BRING: Long pants & long sleeves (optional but helps to avoid contact with poison ivy), hat, hiking boots or sturdy shoes, walking stick (there will likely be some tricky footing in spots), drinking water, a snack, collection bags & backpack to stash finds, and bug repellent
WHO: Dames members and friends. Dames may bring a friend to join them
COST: $36 members /$37 non-members
TICKETS:  Click here to buy your tickets!  Tickets must be purchased in advance. 

EVENT DETAILS:
Get ready to join your fellow Dames for a seasonal foraging walk with Matt Cohen, founder of Matt’s Habitats.  On our September hunt, Matt will introduce us to delicious American Paw Paws; we’ll learn where to find them, when to pick them and how to use them. Along the trails will be other wild edible plants; perhaps wild grapes, spicebush berries, garlic mustard, black walnuts, wild ginger, and possibly mushrooms. Matt will introduce them all, as well as discuss culinary ideas, preparation techniques and seasonal foraging. Meet-up directions and reminder will be emailed before the event.  

This foraging event is limited to 20 participants.  If you are bringing a guest, please be sure to purchase their ticket at the same time you purchase yours.  If the event is sold out, we will schedule a second foraging walk.  A waitlist has been set up for this purpose as part of on-line registration.  
Paw Paw -  Asimina triloba- Our largest local native fruit, paw paws are the only species in the Custard Apple family found in the United States. Several tropical fruits such as soursop and cherimoya are close relatives. In April, paw paw trees produce showy red flowers with a fetid odor attracting pollinating blowflies and other carrion-feeding insects. The large, strongly-scented leaves are the exclusive food source for the native zebra swallowtail caterpillar. The trees are found generally in the understory of forests, thriving in bottomland habitats such as along the Potomac River. Also known as the West Virginia Mango or Hillbilly Banana, the fruits taste like a custardy combination of the two. Eat them straight from the tree or scoop out the pulp to make puddings, ice cream, bread, pancakes, and more.

Matt Cohen started Matt's Habitats in 2003, specializing in sustainable gardening practices with an emphasis on native plants, wildlife habitats, and edible gardens. In 2009 he began to lead walks throughout the year on wild edibles and plant/mushroom identification, and he continually exercises his knowledge of the natural world through conferences, personal study, and lots of time outdoors. The headquarters of Matt's Habitats is a 120-year-old farmhouse in Silver Spring. Rooftop solar panels generate most of the electricity, and vegetable and fruit gardens generate a lot of produce. His 1/4 acre yard also serves as a test plot for many of the native plants that he uses in his clients' yards. Matt donates 10% of his net profit to environmental and humanitarian NGOs including Anacostia Watershed Society, Casa of Maryland, and the Capital Food Bank. He currently serves on the board of the Mycological Association of Washington, DC.

​A Dames (and friends) event

Tickets:  Click here to buy your tickets!

Do you know where your food comes from? Who produces, processes, and prepares it, and in what conditions? Why is fresh food available in some communities and not others? And who—if anyone—is responsible for ensuring that everyone has access?
 
With every bite of food we eat, we have an opportunity to help remake an unjust and unequal food system.
 
Food for the People explores these questions by looking at the greater Washington, D.C. area’s food system and the inequalities that shape it.
 
Join us at the Anacostia Community Museum as we take a deep dive into the food issues of the nation’s capital—past and present. This indoor and outdoor exhibition features artifacts, art installations, videos, and hands-on interactives. We will have a guide to take us on a special Les Dames Escoffier Washington DC Regional Chapter tour.
 
The details:
 
When: Saturday, September 10, 2022, at 2 pm
Where: Anacostia Community Museum 1901 Fort Place SE, Washington, DC 20020
Who: Registration is open to Dames and one guest 
Cost: $10 per person. FREE parking on-site.
Space is limited to the first 20 guests. Dames and guests only please. 

​The pandemic exposed food and nutrition insecurity across the country and in the Nation's Capital. Les Dames DC is hosting this Zoom program to highlight the work being done in the community by women who have taken on this public health challenge. This important panel will be moderated by Tambra Raye Stevenson, founder/CEO, WANDA; Women Advancing Nutrition, Dietetics and Agriculture. Panelists are Cheryl Bell, executive chef of Miriam’s Kitchen, the DC-based organization whose mission is ending chronic homelessness in the District, Mary Blackford, whose Market 7 gives underserved communities in Wards 7 and 8 a place to buy prepared food and fresh produce from Black-owned businesses, and Amanda Stephenson, whose Ward 8 Fresh Food Factory’s market sells affordably priced local products.

March 28, 7 p.m.

Register in advance for this meeting: 
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctduqrrTgiEtzCONMr2H1sMBiwTLNI_Zqu

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

THIS IS A FREE EVENT - PLEASE CONSIDER A DONATION
While this event is free of charge, we respectfully ask that you consider a donation. Your generosity supports our scholarship program, which underwrites the professional studies and advancement of women in the food, beverage and hospitality industries and our grants program, which funds tax-exempt charitable or educational organizations that are making a difference in the global food community. If you would like to donate to Les Dames, please click here.  Thank you!

                     
You don't want to miss this!  On Sunday, February 20 as New Orleans natives, Simone Rathle and Chef David Guas take you on a MARDI GRAS culinary (and cocktail!) journey. Chef Guas, the award-winning founder of Bayou Bakery, will create a favorite Mardi Gras dish – New Orleans Style Shrimp & Grits. Those who sign up will get the recipe in advance so that you may cook along with Chef Guas (and have that delicious recipe for dinner that night.) To whet your Louisiana whistle, Simone will craft a cocktail so that you may toast the Mardi Gras celebration as though you were right there on Bourbon Street. And… there will likely be King Cake involved. Sunday, February 20 at 6 pm.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN ADVANCE TO OBTAIN ZOOM LINK.  
Click here to register.

Please sign up by Saturday, Feb 19 so that we may forward the recipes to you.

We’ve made it through the hard part. There’s definitely light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve pivoted, we’ve adapted, we’ve changed and we’ve learned. The state of restaurants today doesn’t look the same as it did a year ago, and certainly not two years ago. We are a resilient industry and the road ahead, while it still holds challenges, looks promising.
​
Join Les Dames Escoffier DC on Thursday, September 30 as three industry leaders talk about what the future can hold, what lessons were learned and the situation as they see it. 

Moderated by Charissa Benjamin, founding partner of Savor PR, a DC-based full-service, woman-owned public relations agency representing hospitality and lifestyle brands, the panel will include:

Kathy Hollinger, president and CEO of The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington and the preeminent voice for the industry in DC.

Micheline Mendelsohn, deputy chief executive officer of Sunnyside Restaurant Group, which operates and franchises six successful restaurant concepts nationally and internationally including We The Pizza.

Jeanine Prime,  co-owner Cane and St. James Restaurants