Menu for Hope- Cassoulet Dreams

Behind the scenes of Camp Cassoulet
with Lucy Vanel, Kate Hill & David Lebovitz

When Food Bloggers get together what do they do besides the oh-so-obvious 'eat, cook & be merry' ? Let me take you behind the scenes and share this dirty little secret...

If you imagine all the hundreds & thousands of words spewing off of every food bloggers key board everyday then you can easily guess the answer.

What do Food bloggers do when they get together?
TALK.
NON-STOP TALK.
Overlapping, excitable, TALKING...with your mouth full!


Back in February when Pim and Lucy came for a long weekend of Pig Celebrations, we talked and talked and talked. Pim shared her hopes for the 2007 Menu for Hope with us. We talked over chinese dumplings; we talked over wine, we talked over truffles. Pim speaks quietly but one listens. She told me about her meetings with the World Food Program; of her desire to make the Menu for Hope donations substantial enough and focused enough. She spoke of the School Lunch programs in Africa. And as she spoke, of power coming from many, I became hopefully addicted to the idea that our food blogging words could make a difference within this virtual community.

Pim talking truffles & hope

So when I thought about what I could give to Menu for Hope to inspire YOU to give, I immediately thought of Camp Cassoulet and the great fun and good R&D (Research & Devour as fellow camper Tricia Robinson says) that we had and what makes food bloggers tick. The most photographed subject of the wonderful bean cooking weekend were the cassoles themselves. Not only did they become the star of the show, they inspired spin off posts on Epicurious.com and Saveur.com. Then Departures magazine interviewed me about a story on Cassoles. Then I decided to start exporting the heavy authentic soulful terracotta cassoulet pots to fill the demand that was writing me. Eh voila!

My Menu for Hope Raffle prize: one real authentic, well-loved cassoulet bowl from my French Kitchen and created by the Not Freres of Poterie Not.

photo of this beautiful cassole by David Lebovitz

This cassole symbolizes the power of our food blogging community coming together. This well-loved and experienced 'cacola' will be your French guardian angel perched on a kitchen shelf; a link to the French Kitchens of the past; a cradle for your culinary hopes of the future.
And just to make sure you have the spirit of Camp Cassoulet (see multiple posts in the archive here and at David L' site and Lucy Vanel's), I will include a copy of the new Camp Cassoulet Authentic Workbook & Recipe Primer.

I'll even throw in the beans! A kilo of Haricots Tarbais and the shipping by international post chez vous!

How much does this authenticity cost? This hand-thrown traditional clay cassoulet pot with which to make your Cassoulet Dreams come true? The same as it costs to help out Menu for Hope.

Just 10 bucks
6.81 euros
4.90 pounds

Not much for a chance to win this Cassoulet pot that had made hundreds of delicious cassoulets as well as help feed the dreams of dozens of school kids in Lesotho. How much does it cost to help feed some school kids? Keep them in school? Help support the local food producers that supply the school lunch food? Just a 10 dollar raffle ticket. Really want to win this bébé? Buy lots of tickets! I'll even hold your hand making your first cassoulet; you can call me on Skype and I'll walk you through the crusty bits.

So go to http://www.firstgiving.com/menuforhope4 and buy your tickets now for Code EU25.

And while you're at it, check in to see what other Euro-bloggers are offering at Fanny's site- http://www.foodbeam.com or Chez Pim of course. And look at these great pix on pim's site-


Look at these kids... Hey, I wore a school uniform just like that when I was their age! Imagine, if hundreds of food bloggers could raise $100,000 ten dollars at a time perhaps someone out there would match these donations with a nice big fat check... it's up to YOU. I know you are reading.