AMNH and Design Trust for Public Space Present a Special 'Five Borough Tasting', Now thru 8/1

The American Museum of Natural History, in collaboration with The Design Trust for Public Space, invite the public to savor delicious seasonal specialties grown in each New York City borough and served up fresh in the kitchen of the Museum's Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture exhibition. The tastings will be held for five consecutive days beginning today, July 29, through Friday, August 1, from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm.

The Five Borough Tasting is inspired by Five Borough Farm, a Design Trust project, now in Phase II with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation that is designed to help urban farms on the ground and on rooftops all over the city understand and measure their yields, needs, and benefits to the city. The five-day tasting event will also consider urban farming within the larger context of food systems examined in the Museum's Our Global Kitchen exhibition, which offers a comprehensive look at the vital topic of food from the perspectives of the environment, food supply, and human cultures. Tastings will be held in the 735-square-foot working kitchen of the exhibition, the first-ever of its kind in an American Museum of Natural History exhibition.

Urban agriculture is booming in New York City, with more than 700 food-producing urban farms and gardens citywide. In all five boroughs, New Yorkers have turned vacant lots and rooftops, schoolyards and New York City Housing Authority gardens into places to grow food. But urban agriculture also encompasses a wide range of other activities: participants earn income at farmers markets, capture storm water, compost food waste, gain leadership and job skills, learn about nutrition and the environment, and create safe, attractive public spaces. These activities contribute to many citywide health, social, economic, and ecological benefits.

FIVE BOROUGH TASTING SCHEDULE:

Monday, July 29 Bronx-Food Under Your Feet (in partnership with SAVE Farms) will show visitors how to find edible foods in the wild.

Tastings: Garlic mustard pesto

Tuesday, July 30 Queens-At 2 acres, Brooklyn Grange's Brooklyn Navy Yard location is the largest rooftop farm in the world.

Tastings: Fresh Queens salad

Wednesday, July 31 Brooklyn-Gotham Greens is partnering with Whole Foods to create the

nation's first commercial scale greenhouse farm integrated in a retail grocery space for the new Whole Foods store in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

Tastings: Fresh Brooklyn salad

Thursday, August 1 Manhattan-Harlem Seeds teaches children that it is possible to grow fresh food in Harlem and the joys of healthy cooking.

Tastings: Fresh corn salad

Friday, August 2 Staten Island-Heritage Farm at Snug Harbor's Cultural Center increases awareness about the importance of eating locally.

Tastings: Roasted summer squash

Exclusive corporate sponsor for Our Global Kitchen is J. P. Morgan.

Additional support for Our Global Kitchen and its related educational and online resources has been provided by GRACE Communications Foundation.

The Kitchen Experience is presented by Whole Foods Market.

Major support for Five Borough Farm is provided by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Suggested admission to the American Museum of Natural History is $27 for adults, $22 for seniors and students, and $16 for children 2-12.

The Five Borough Farm: Seeding the Future of Urban Agriculture book is on sale in the Our Global Kitchen gift shop for $25 through August 11.

American Museum of Natural History (amnh.org):

The American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869, is one of the world's preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses 45 permanent exhibition halls, including the Rose Center for Earth and Space and the Hayden Planetarium, as well as galleries for temporary exhibitions. It is home to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, New York State's official memorial to its 33rd governor and the nation's 26th president, and a tribute to Roosevelt's enduring legacy of conservation. The Museum's five active research divisions and three cross-disciplinary centers support 200 scientists, whose work draws on a world-class Permanent Collection of more than 32 million specimens and artifacts as well as on specialized collections for frozen tissue and genomic and astrophysical data, and one of the largest natural history libraries in the world. Through its Richard Gilder Graduate School, it is the only American museum authorized to grant the Ph.D. degree. In 2012, the Museum began offering a pilot Master of Arts in Teaching program with a specialization in Earth science. Approximately 5 million visitors from around the world came to the Museum last year, and its exhibitions and Space Shows can be seen in venues on five continents. The Museum's website and collection of apps for mobile devices extend its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to millions more beyond its walls. Visit amnh.org for more information.

The Design Trust for Public Space

The Design Trust for Public Space is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing design innovation to New York City's public spaces to make a more dynamic, livable and sustainable city. We create collaborations between city agencies, community groups and private sector experts to work on emerging design and policy projects that result in effective urban strategies.