Photo by Shanee Frazier
Jordan Stettner of Dining Wild, a company co-owned by Dan Lipow of Maplewood and Ralph DiMeo, prepares a mushroom sample for customers at the South Orange Farmers Market. DiMeo and Lipow sell mushrooms that they forage from local wooded areas.
SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Local vendors offering freshly made veggie burgers, unique offerings of mushroom varieties, and homemade pastas are just a few of the reasons the South Orange Farmers Market was recognized by the state Wednesday, Aug. 5, in honor of National Farmers Market Week.
New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher, acting Health Commissioner Cathleen D. Bennett and U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Patricia Dombroski marked Farmers Market Week with a visit to the South Orange Farmers Market.
“With an abundance of Jersey Fresh fruits and vegetables available right now, farmers markets are some of the best places to find just-picked produce and meet the farmer who grew it,” Fisher said in a recent press release. “Farmers markets like the South Orange market also are important sources of income for our farmers and help sustain our state’s agriculture industry.”
Gov. Chris Christie had proclaimed Aug. 2 through 8 as Farmers Market Week in New Jersey; U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, likewise, proclaimed the same time span as National Farmers Market Week to remind consumers to visit these markets during the summer and fall.
The South Orange Farmers Market, now in its 24th season, is hosted by the South Orange Village Center Alliance, the not-for-profit management entity of the Special Improvement District. It is open weekly on Wednesdays, from 2 to 7:30 p.m., in the Sloan Street Parking Lot across from the NJ Transit station.
In an interview with the News-Record, SOVCA Executive Director Bob Zuckerman discussed what SOVCA does to draw residents of South Orange and the surrounding communities back each year.
“We kicked this season off with a promotion that provided a discount to the first 200 people that came to the market,” Zuckerman said. “People have been responding well to that, as well as our newest vendors.”
Three of the newest vendors this year include Dining Wild, Nicola’s Pasta Fresca and Jersey City Veggie Burgers.
“Nicola’s Pasta Fresca and Jersey City Veggie Burgers both use ingredients found in local markets to create their items, and local restaurants utilize the large variety of mushrooms available at Dining Wild,” Zuckerman said. “This market is really the heart of sustainability.”
Dining Wild, a vendor that specializes in assorted mushroom varieties, is one of the new kids on the block at the South Orange Farmers Market.
“I grew up picking berries and going clamming,” Dining Wild partner Dan Lipow said in a recent interview with the News-Record. “I always loved cooking and I was the Iron Chef in my group of friends, the one that they would bring unusual ingredients to and ask me to create something out of it.”
Lipow became interested in the idea of dining wild more than a decade ago, but it wasn’t until a fortuitous meeting with his current business partner, Ralph DiMeo, in the South Mountain Reservation that he truly began to pursue this approach to food. Additionally, each summer Lipow leads hikes at the reservation to teach locals which items growing in the woods can be safely eaten.
Lipow, a Maplewood resident, has been a Rutgers University Master Gardener for more than two years, believing that it would be a great way to learn more about plants and focus his foraging efforts.
In addition to participating in local farmers markets in South Orange, Millburn, Jersey City, Grove Street, and Morris County and Sparta in the winters, Dining Wild also supplies their bounty to local restaurants, including Ricalton’s, the popular South Orange pub.
“We decided that since we went legit in the market scene, we would go legit in the restaurant scene,” Lipow said.
A former professional photographer, Lipow said there are two parts to Dining Wild: the sale of items from their foraging expeditions, and educational walks and talks about eating and dining wild.
For more information about Dining Wild, visit its Facebook and Instagram pages.
In similar fashion, Nicholas DiGiorgio of Nicola’s Pasta Fresca has transformed childhood memories of making homemade pasta dishes with his family into an opportunity to share his knowledge with others.
In a recent phone interview with the News-Record, DiGiorgio talked about getting his start in the pasta business. A native of Kenilworth, DiGiorgio was working at Brownie Points Bakery in Summit when he saw an opportunity to market the homemade products he had been creating since he was a child.
“This is my third year making pastas as a business,” DiGiorgio said. “They were well received at the first market I did, and slowly and progressively we have started doing more markets.”
In addition to farmers markets in South Orange, Westfield and Roseland, Nicola’s Pasta Fresca can also be found year-round at the Meat House in Summit.
Like many of the other vendors who create homemade products for sale at the markets, DiGiorgio insists on using only local ingredients in his cooking.
“I’m slowly getting my name out there, and I believe that using local ingredients is important to sustain the farms and to really add value to the product being made,” he said.
For more information, visit www.nicolaspastafresca.com.
Although Jersey City Veggie Burger owner Liz Migliore did not grow up forming patties out of various fruits and vegetables, they are certainly the end result of her life experiences.
A former travel agent, Migliore said in a recent interview with the News-Record that her burger creations are greatly influenced by her far-reaching travels.
“I started developing recipes four years ago,” Migliore said. “Three years ago, I started doing farmers markets, and now they’re my bread and butter.”
Jersey City Veggie Burgers offers three kinds of burgers: sweet potato collard green, white bean broccoli rabe and Three Sisters, a southwestern blend. Each has a story behind the ingredients used and is born out of Migliore’s professional experiences traveling the world, as well as her childhood memories of favorite dishes.
Migliore uses local organic ingredients in her dishes, including peppers and collards from fellow South Orange Farmers Market vendor Alstede Farms.
In addition to selling sliders freshly cooked at the market, customers can also buy fresh patties to take with them to prepare at home.
JSVC can also be found at farmers markets in Lincoln Park, Maplewood, Princeton and Riverview, as well as the restaurants Left Bank Burger Bar in Jersey City and Mikie Squared Bar & Grill in Hoboken.
For more information, visit www.jerseycityveggieburgers.com.