Friday, June 21 was a beautiful evening for Taproot Kitchen to help celebrate Summer Solstice at the Penn State Student Garden. Mikaela Axman, TK intern and co-organizer of the event, helped coordinate the festivities which included live music, face painting, flower planting and great food made from locally grown produce, including seasonal crops from the PSU Student Farm!
The free, festive event, open to the public and held on the longest day of the year, kicked off at 6pm at the one-acre farm located near the intersection of Big Hollow and Fox Hollow roads. Taproot’s eclectic menu selections included TK signature items such as flatbreads with brie, fig and onion jam and arugula topped with balsamic glaze and pistachio. Another favorite of the evening was flatbread with herbed labrueh and beet pesto with cucumber wedges. Freshly made juice drinks and homemade dessert rounded out the menu and left customers satisfied with a wonderful, delectable taste of Taproot food in their mouths.
Leslie Pillen, Associate Director, Farm and Food Systems at Penn State, “We were thrilled to have Taproot Kitchen at the Summer Solstice Celebration. The menu was delicious and creative, and it was a unique experience to get to eat a dinner featuring veggies that were right there in front of us. I had the beet dip, which was wonderful, and the bed of beets was right there in front of Taproot’s booth. It doesn’t get any fresher than that!”
Volunteers who made the Taproot Kitchen food concession a success included many friends of TK – boy scout volunteers, regular TK prep cooks, and supporters such as Katy Colby, Keith and Karen Jervis and others. Behind the scenes, and not mentioned by name, was the Taproot Community that pulled together to make this event a wonderful way to welcome the 2019 summer season. If you were at the event, thanks for coming! We hope to see many of you at catering events planned for the rest of the summer season!
Help Us Grow
Taproot Kitchen depends on the support of our local community. From donations of extra food to funds that directly impact our ability to streamline our catering business, your extra help goes toward helping adults with intellectual disabilities engage in meaningful work and enter into the wider community of State College.
Taproot Kitchen is a 501(c)(3) organization, and all donations are tax-deductible.
