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If hospitality has a smell, this is it: locally roasted coffee in steaming mugs, house-cured bacon frying in the skillet, waffles crisping in the iron and a warm wild mushroom sauce draped over wilted greens and Eggs Benedict—all melding together under one neighborhood roof.
Since February 2009, Jeff McCabe and Lisa Gottlieb have been opening the doors of their Ann Arborhome for Friday Mornings @SELMA, a community breakfast gathering inspired by the Soule-Eberwhite-Liberty-Madison Affiliation (SELMA). The weekly affair draws neighbors, friends and passionate foodies, including those in pursuit of locally sourced food. Beginning at the crack of dawn and ending when the food is gone people meander in, past the urban chicken coop, into a huge kitchen, where volunteer servers are waiting to take orders and bring guests coffee from Roos Roast or tea from nearby Arbor Teas.
“The energy is just wonderful,” says Gottlieb, who notes that guests are a great mix of loyal regulars and curious newcomers. Conversation is doled out as generously as the hearty portions, and people leave energized for the day ahead.
The all-volunteer operation, formally affiliated with Slow Food Huron Valley, is not only a creative outlet for McCabe and Gottlieb, but also a way to develop meaningful community in Ann Arbor centered around sustainable food and products from local farmers. SELMA’s support for local farmers goes much further than incorporating their crops into the weekly menus. Profits are used to make micro-loans to farmers who want to build hoop houses to extend the growing season so they can harvest food year-round. Since Friday Mornings @SELMA began, hoop houses have been erected at Brother Nature Produce, an urban farm in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood, and at SunSeed
Farm near Ann Arbor. A new food supply goes directly back into the community, and profits are used to repay the micro-loans so that the fund can continue with new farmers. It’s a smart, sustainable cycle that begins with a delicious breakfast. —Alex Harrison
repastspresentandfuture.org
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