A 'Taste Of The Berkshires' Comes To New York

On Tuesday night, some of the Berkshires' finest chefs, farmers, and food producers set up shop inside New York's Haven's Kitchen and showed the city what makes the western Massachusetts region's food culture so spectacular.

Chefs from three of the Berkshires' finest restaurants — The Red Lion Inn, Allium, and John Andrews: A Farmhouse Restaurant — served dishes including an elevated pork and beans and ricotta gnocchi with lamb meatballs. The Meat Market, a whole-animal butcher shop, served house-made pork rinds, lardo, lomo, and liverwurst while a mixologist representing Berkshire Mountain Distillers whipped up a milk punch and a smoked maple Bourbon sour. Locally-produced beers and ciders were also available, as well as locally-made products like honey, chocolates, coffee, and cheese.

"Most people who know the Berkshires know the landscape and the culture, but there's been a farm-to-table food culture that's been going on for years," Berkshire Farm & Table founder Angela Cardinali told us. "The restaurants and markets are actually located adjacent to the farms, so food is actually going directly from the farm to the table! There's something tangible and authentic about the community there that you really can't find anywhere else, and people don't necessarily know about that."

The goal of the event was to communicate how deeply-rooted and strong the food culture is there, and it certainly succeeded. If you haven't yet experienced the region for yourself, we'd highly recommend it.