Rock Island, IL: The Rock Island Public Library Foundation will celebrate the Great American novel with a foodie twist with their Food for Thought "American Classics" fundraiser at the Rock Island Main Library next week. To do that, the Rock Island Library's Main location will close to the public at noon on Thursday, Nov. 12.

Food for Thought guests will get the Main Library to themselves on Thursday from  5:00 pm to 7:30 pm, to enjoy a night of socializing and dining at stations from 10 chefs, beverage providers, and restaurants:

  • Eudell Watts, III, of Eudell's Specialty Foods

  • Martha Cleveland of Blue Cat Brew Pub

  • Annette Zapolis, of Cool Beanz Coffee House

  • Kitchen Express program of Thurgood Marshall Learning Center

  • Chefs d'cuisine culinary arts program of Scott Community College

  • Jose Zepeda of QC Coffee & Pancake House

  • Main Street Catering of the Rock Island Holiday Inn

  • Mark Mueller of Moe's Burgers and Brews

  • Brewmaster Dan Cleaveland of Brew Cat Brew Pub

  • Vintner Jennifer Mital of Creekside Vineyards

In addition to dining around the library, wine and beer tastings, and complimentary soft drinks, guests can enjoy musical entertainment by RiverCity6, bid on a wide variety of silent auction items, try their luck in a mystery wine pull of vintages selected by wine distributor Thad Miller, and picture themselves on a Great American Novel, thanks to a donation of a photo booth for the night.

Silent auction offers include the chance to win a Little Free Library for your own front yard, built and donated instructor Jamie Brown of Thurgood Marshall Learning Center. Other packages include free window cleaning, a laser-cut steel Christmas tree from Crawford Company, Theo's Java Club brew basket, overnight stays to Jumer's Casino Rock Island and Holiday Inn Rock Island, tickets to Ballet Quad Cities, Circa 21, the Quad-City Symphony, drive-in theater, Joy Murphy stockings, paintings by Mark Schwiebert and Elaine Rexdale, Vino Van Gogh painting parties, and a variety of signed books.

Admission of $40 per person includes all food and beverages, and is payable at the door by cash, check or credit. To RSVP, please call 309-732-7326 or email riplfoundation@gmail.com. Walk-in admission is also allowed.

The Rock Island Public Library Foundation hosts the annual event to raise funds for books and literacy, as well as awareness of the Foundation's role in enabling special projects that fall outside of the library's tax-supported budget. Additional support for the event was provided by participating chefs, Northwest Restoration, Friendship Manor and Sedona.

While the Main Library will be closed after noon on Nov. 12, the Rock Island 30/31 and Southwest Branches will be open for patrons, as will the library's online branch services at www.rockislandlibrary.org. For more information, visit the library website or call 309-732-READ.

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Olive Garden Restaurants Nationwide Partner with the NFHS Network to Host High School Spirit Night

 

WHO: On Tuesday, November 3, each Olive Garden restaurant nationwide will host a Spirit Night and donate a portion of in-restaurant sales to a local high school. Guests are encouraged to wear the school colors and join in the celebration. This initiative is in partnership with the NFHS Network, the nation's leading high school sports media company, and is part of Olive Garden's ongoing commitment to support its local communities.

Each Olive Garden location has selected a benefiting local high school. Starting at 4 p.m., a portion of all in-restaurant sales will be donated to that school, up to $1,000 per restaurant.

WHEN:           Tuesday, November 3 from  4 - 10 p.m.

WHERE:         All 800+ Olive Garden locations nationwide are participating. To find your nearest location, visit OliveGarden.com.

 

FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES:

Please contact Vanessa Tostes at (407) 739-4532 or vanessatostes@costacg.com for more information about this program and the benfiting high schools.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

In September, Olive Garden and the NFHS Network announced an initiative to celebrate Team Moms and high school athletes. This partnership includes the launch of GoTeamMoms.com, which serves as a resource and destination to recognize Team Moms. The NFHS Network is the destination for fans to watch live high school sports whenever and wherever they want. To learn more, visit NFHSNetwork.com.

 

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Chef Aman Razdan is excited to announce the opening of his culinary vision come to life, Hemispheres Bistro.  Chef Aman will open the doors at 2504 53rd Avenue in Bettendorf with a grand opening Thursday October 22nd at 5p.m.   
A modern, globally, ethnic menu right here in the Quad Cities.  Chef Aman Razdan and wife Martina Razdan are owners of Hemispheres Bistro and have been working on this business plan since 2012.  Chef Aman's menu allows you as the guest to be interactive with your dining choices, it is about him and his culinary team creating individual menu items and allowing you to virtually create your dish yourself, taking a trip across hemispheres, with ingredients influenced by India, Asia, Italy, and France.    
Chef Aman has worked to combine a gorgeous interior, intricate food, selected wines from specific regions, local beers, and a cocktail list that compliments hemispheres as well.  
Chef Aman values family first; he treats his entire team as family, and wants each guest to feel the same.  He wants his restaurant to feel that you are eating in his home, that each dish is something he is proud to present to every patron, and is sure to be nothing that the Quad Cities as seen.  
Hemispheres Bistro is open Monday thru Saturday 11am-10pm.  It has availability for private parties, events, off site catering and is now accepting reservations.

Today, 795 million people around the world do not have access to a sufficient supply of safe and nutritious food. The United Nations estimates that worldwide demand for food will increase 70 percent by 2050. To meet this need, production in developing countries will need to almost double.

Establishing global food security is important not only to hundreds of millions of hungry people, but also to the sustainable economic growth of developing nations and the long-term economic prosperity of the United States. As we help countries become more food secure and raise incomes, we also expand markets for American producers. For example, between fiscal years 2010 and 2014, U.S. agricultural exports to developing countries grew 44.3 percent for developing countries, significantly outpacing the 33.4 percent for developed countries. Exports to Southeast Asia grew 56.5 percent.

In 2009, G8 nations committed to act with the scale and urgency needed to achieve sustainable global food security and to be accountable and coordinate with country development plans. In the subsequent years, the United States has invested over $3.75 billion to address global food security, exceeding the President's commitment, and launched his Feed the Future Initiative. USDA is a key member of the whole of government effort on Feed the Future and supports global food security through in-country capacity building, basic and applied research, and support for improved market information, statistics and analysis. Around the world, USDA has helped to train small farmers and foreign officials on plant and animal health systems, risk analysis, and avoiding post-harvest loss; completed assessments on climate change; and helped to increase agricultural productivity.

Building Local Capacity, Increasing Productivity, and Improving Markets and Trade

USDA staff members are strategically placed to monitor agricultural matters globally in more than 160 countries and assist in USDA's efforts to build local capacity. Since 2010, USDA has aligned its program with the Feed the Future Initiative to support agriculture development in select focus countries and regions?Ghana, Kenya, East Africa, Bangladesh, Haiti, Guatemala and Central America?and worked in all 19 of the Initiative's priority countries.

  • Over the past six years, USDA's international food aid programs benefited approximately 48.3 million individuals globally, with assistance valued at nearly $2.2 billion.
  • Over the past six years, USDA's McGovern- Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program supported the education, child development, and food security of some 26 million of the world's poorest children in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
  • With the support of the McGovern Dole program, the United Nations World Food Program provides a daily breakfast of rice, canned fish, vitamin A-fortified vegetable oil, and yellow split peas to feed pre- and primary school students in Siem Reap and two other provinces in Cambodia. The project also provides food scholarships, in the form of take home rations, to poor students as an income-based incentive to encourage poor food-insecure households to send their children to school regularly to increase student attendance and retention rates.
  • The McGovern Dole Food for Education program provided training to over 132,000 people on child health and nutrition. Projects have trained health professionals, primary health care workers, community health workers, volunteers, and non-health personnel such as teachers, school administrators and parents.
  • In Mali, for example, as part of USDA's partnership with Catholic Relief Services over 2,000 people have been trained in basic health and nutrition practices such as child growth and development, malnutrition, and how to prepare nutritious foods using locally available foods such as millet, peanuts and beans.
  • In order support the sustainability of McGovern Dole efforts, projects aim to create long-lasting public-private partnerships with businesses and producers. While USDA has just started to track these efforts, in the past year, 258 public-private partnerships have been formed. Many of the public-private partnerships formed under the McGovern Dole program are partnerships between producer groups who commit to providing food to local schools, supplementing food provided by USDA.
  • In Malawi, for example, the USDA McGovern Dole project implemented by WFP has developed 90 partnerships with farmer group associations that provide a diverse selection of local produce, such as maize, beans and vegetables to their local primary schools as part of the Government of Malawi-supported pilot Home Grown School Feeding model.

USDA's Food for Progress program helps developing countries and emerging democracies modernize and strengthen their agricultural sectors. The two principle objectives of Food for Progress are increasing agricultural productivity and expanding trade of agricultural products. In fiscal year 2014, nearly 223, 337 individuals in the Feed the Future countries and regions received USDA's agricultural productivity or food security training.

  • Food for Progress projects have trained farmers in animal and plant health and improved techniques and technologies on and off farm. In 2014, over 220,000 producers received training on agricultural sector productivity or food security training as a result of USDA assistance.
  • In Honduras, the Food for Progress program implemented by USDA's partner TechnoServe, Inc., and focused on the coffee and bean sector, trained 13,406 men and 3,357 women in improved agricultural techniques and technologies. In the coffee sector, training was provided in areas such as Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), post-harvest handling, and helping farmers better understand the causes of common coffee bean defects and expectations of international buyers making purchasing decisions.
  • As a result of USDA training in improved techniques and technologies, over 80,000 producers in fiscal year 2014 have adopted one or more improved techniques or management practices. Through USDA's partner, National Cooperative Business Association, more than 19,000 Ugandans have adopted conservation farming practices to their maize, pulse and soybean cultivation. Adopting these practices has led to an average increase in yields of about 47%.
  • Farmers adopting improved techniques or technologies in their farming practices have resulted in almost 64,000 hectares of land cultivated under USDA-promoted improved techniques or management practices in nine countries in fiscal year 2014 in Africa and Latin America.
  • Counterpart International, in coordination with the Guatemalan Ministry of Agriculture's formal extension agents, has held over 83 trainings for agricultural producers in Huehuetenango and San Marcos on topics such as soil conservation, water management, integrated pest management, and post-harvest management. While still early in the project, these trainings have resulted in over 2,426 hectares of land cultivated under USDA-promoted improved techniques and technologies.
  • USDA programs often support increased access to and utilization of financial services in order to expand agricultural productivity and markets and trade. Making more financial loans shows that there is improved access to business development for producers, cooperatives, MSMEs and business enterprises including producers, service providers and manufacturers. In fiscal year 2014, USDA supported $12.6 million in agricultural and rural loans in Bangladesh, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mali and Tanzania.
  • Last year, USDA's Food for Progress program efforts resulted in close to 10,000 jobs. In Honduras, for example, this has meant that 1,670 new on-farm full-time jobs and 215 new post-production jobs in the coffee and bean sector were attributed to USDA's work through its partnership with TechnoServe, Inc.

Two of USDA's premier trade and scientific exchange programs play an important role in USDA's food security initiatives:

  • The Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship Program (Borlaug Fellowship Program or BFP) promotes food security and economic growth by providing training and collaborative research opportunities to fellows from developing and middle-income countries. Borlaug fellows are scientists, researchers, or policymakers who are in the early or middle stages of their careers.
  • Over the past six years, USDA's Borlaug Fellowship Program provided training and collaborative research opportunities to 440 scientists and policymakers from developing and middle-income countries, focusing on a wide range of agriculture-related topics including agronomy, veterinary science, nutrition, food safety, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, natural resource management, and biotechnology.
  • The Cochran Fellowship Program strengthens and enhances trade linkages between eligible middle-income and emerging market countries and agricultural interest in the U.S. The Cochran program also assists eligible countries to develop agricultural systems necessary to meet the food and fiber needs of their domestic populations by providing training opportunities for senior and mid-level specialists and administrators working in agricultural trade and policy, agribusiness development, management, animal, plant, and food sciences, extension services, agricultural marketing, and many other areas.
  • Over the past six years, USDA's Cochran Fellowship Program trained 3,148 agricultural professionals worldwide in areas related to agricultural trade, agribusiness development, management, policy, and marketing.

Driving Innovation through Research and Technologies

Since 2009, USDA has expanded analysis and reporting to increase core data, statistics, and analysis of global agricultural systems. In 2011, USDA expanded its annual Food Security Assessment to include 77 countries; completed assessments of agricultural statistics and market information in ten Feed the Future countries and identified key areas where improvement is needed; and conducted in-depth assessments of the capacity of the statistical systems of Ghana, Haiti, Malawi, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Bangladesh.

  • In 2014, USDA conducted in-depth country assessments of agricultural statistics and market information systems in Benin, Malawi, and Senegal. An on-going agricultural statistics project in Haiti resulted in the first country wide agricultural production survey data release. Tanzania conducted a cognitive pre-test of point sample area frame methodology for an Annual Agricultural Sample Survey.

Important research on solving food production issues continues:

  • USDA researchers sequenced the genome of wheat and the wheat stem rust pathogen, which threatens to destroy wheat crops worldwide, and distributed new wheat germplasm globally to reduce the risk of unproductive harvests.
  • USDA continues research to combat aflatoxin (mycotoxins can be lethally toxic in high dosages or cause dilatory health effects over the long-term in smaller dosages) through genetic resistance in maize and using RNAi approaches in peanut.
  • In partnership with USAID, USDA is part of an international consortium to develop a safe and economically sustainable vaccine for the pathogen that causes East Coast Fever (ECF), a devastating disease of cattle of eastern Africa.
  • USDA is cooperating with over a dozen institutions in the United States and developing countries to provide resource poor farmers with dry bean cultivars with improved productivity and quality. Researchers have identified broad spectrum resistance to rust in large seeded landrace cultivars that originate from Tanzania. These landraces, with confirmed resistance in field trials in Africa and the United States, provide breeders with a valuable source of rust resistance for improving large-seeded African cultivars used by small-holder farmers.
  • In 2013, the United States, along with the United Kingdom, launched the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition initiative, which seeks to support global efforts to make agricultural and nutritionally relevant data available, accessible, and usable for unrestricted use worldwide. The initiative encourages collaboration and cooperation among existing agriculture and open data activities. Open access to research, and open publication of data, are vital resources for food security and nutrition, driven by farmers, farmer organizations, researchers, extension experts, policy makers, governments, and other private sector and civil society stakeholders participating in "innovation systems" and along value chains.

Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad Cities (MCC QC) is hosting a cooking class on Monday, October 12 at 7:00pm. Kevin Detra will teach participants how to bake the perfect cheesecake.

DAVENPORT, Iowa, October 7, 2015 - Like cheese cake? Think purchasing store bought or preparing from a box is your only option? Join Kevin Detra on Monday, October 12 @ 7:00pm to learn the baking secrets of making the perfect cheesecake to share with family and friends. The cost of the class is only $5.00 and includes all ingredients/supplies. Plus...you will leave with a generous piece of cake to take home (if you can wait that long!!!).

The class will take place in the social hall/kitchen of MCCQC located at 2930 W. Locust Street in Davenport across the street from the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds. This is the first in a series of cooking classes that will be offered at MCCQC. For additional information, please contact Rev. Rich Hendricks at 563-324-8281 or by email at richdhendricks@msn.com.

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Ross' Restaurant will be opening its doors at the new Bettendorf location on Monday, October 5th at 6 a.m.  (2297 Falcon Avenue in Bettendorf).  
The announcement was made today by Melissa Freidhof-Rodgers, manager and granddaughter of founder Harold Ross. "We are so excited about our new restaurant and can't wait to share it with our community.  We have completed an extensive remodel in partnership with Russell Construction and created a wonderful space for the community to enjoy.  There is even a wonderful meeting space and we already have many reservations.  We have repurposed many items from the downtown location and it already feels like home."  "The new design is a great representation of who we are as a fourth generation family restaurant in Iowa.  The use of barn wood and other elements represents our commitment to local products and our deep Iowa roots."  "My grandfather's story truly is an example of the "American Dream," and I am thrilled that we are able to continue his legacy and do what we love and what we do best, which is serve our community."

For more information on the history of Ross' Restaurant, please check out our new website at www.rossrestaurant.com.

America's favorite fast-casual Italian chain to provide FREE kids' meals with purchase of an adult entrée at participating locations

LEXINGTON, Ky. - (October 1, 2015) - Noodles have been a food staple around the world for thousands of years, coming in an assortment of colors, shapes and sizes. Fazoli's, America's favorite fast-casual Italian restaurant chain, is celebrating National Noodle Day on Tuesday, October 6, with a special Kid's Night Spaghetti Smarts activity and social media contest.

There are approximately 350 different kinds of noodles; penne, fettucine, and rigatoni?just to name a few! On National Noodle Day, Fazoli's will celebrate them all. This year, Fazoli's will ask kids: "Do You Know Your Noodle?" with an exciting and educational Kids Night worksheet. All activity sheets will include a FREE Kids Meal with the purchase of an adult entrée to use at a future visit to Fazoli's.

"Here at Fazoli's, we live, breathe and eat everything noodle," said Jon Quinn, vice president of marketing at Fazoli's. "We're excited to provide families with a place to dine on National Noodle Day, where kids can have fun and parents can relax without having to worry about paying a fortune for dinner."

During the celebration on Oct. 6, parents will be encouraged to share a photo of their child through social media wearing their "I Know My Noodle" sticker, using the hashtag #NationalNoodleDay and tagging Fazoli's on Twitter (@Fazolis) or Instagram (@FazolisItalian) for the chance to win a $25 Fazoli's gift card.

Fazoli's is proud to offer a wide variety quality noodles to consumers across the country. To learn more about the savory dishes available Monday-Sunday at Fazoli's, visit www.fazolis.com.

About Fazoli's

With approximately 220 restaurants, Fazoli's is America's largest Italian fast-casual chain, serving freshly prepared entrees, Submarinos® sandwiches, salads and pizza. One of the New York Post's five breakout fast-casual restaurants and a FastCasual.com Brand of the Year, Fazoli's franchisees are experiencing record sales growth. Visit www.ownafazolis.com for details on development opportunities, including new operator incentives.

The Figge Art Museum and Heart of America Group are pleased to announce the opening of the Figge Café located in the Figge Art Museum at 225 West Second Street, Davenport, IA 52801.  Lunch will be served Tuesday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m..

"We are pleased to partner with Heart of America to open the Figge Café, a beautiful and casual lunch atmosphere, that is great for both businesses and families," said Tim Schiffer, Executive Director, Figge Art Museum.

HOA's Executive Chef Steve Hall will create a new menu each week with a selection of soups, salads, sandwiches and desserts featuring both fresh and local food options, as well as, cappuccino and espresso available for dining in or carry out.

There is no museum admission fee to eat at the restaurant. Call 563.726.2087 to make your lunch reservation.  Walk-ins are welcome.

About the Figge Art Museum

The Figge Art Museum is located on the riverfront in downtown Davenport at 225 West Second Street. Museum hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and Sundays noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays the museum is open until 9 p.m. Cost of admission to the museum and tour is $7. Admission is always free to Figge and institutional members, and free to all on Thursday evenings from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. To contact the museum, please call 563.326.7804, or visit www.figgeartmuseum.org.

Heart of America Group is pleased to announce the opening of the Figge Café, a casual lunch café which is located within the Figge Art Museum at 225 W 2nd St, Davenport, IA 52801. Lunch will be served every weekday the museum is open, Tuesday through Friday from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM. 

If the museum is closed during the week for a holiday, the Café will also be closed.

Chef Steve Hall will provide a new menu each week as he sources both fresh and local food options to feature, when possible. The menu will include a selection of soups, salads, sandwiches and desserts as well as Cappuccino and Espresso.  

Heart of America has been a catering partner for the Figge since 2010. The Café will add an additional attraction to the museum and as well as provide additional lunch options to the entire downtown area.

The Quad Cities based Heart of America Group owns and operates 20 restaurants in six states including The Machine Shed, Thunder Bay Grille and The J Bar in Davenport, Johnny's Italian Steakhouse in Moline and Gramma's Kitchen/Checkered Flag near Walcott.

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(Des Moines, IA) September 22, 2015 - In recognition of Governor Robert D. Ray's global humanitarian leadership, this Thursday, in honor of his 87th birthday the World Food Prize Foundation will announce and introduce the recipient of the annual Robert Dr. Ray Iowa SHARES Humanitarian Award on Thursday, September 24th.

The World Food Prize Hall of Laureates, 100 Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa, in the Iowa Gallery, Second Floor. (The Iowa Gallery features artwork by Iowa artists, all depicting Iowa's greatest humanitarian and agricultural moments in history. One beautiful painting by Rose Frantzen commemorates Gov. Ray's work with refugees. The Iowa Gallery is also the location which houses the "White Dove of Peace" mural referenced in Daniel Finney's story in the September 22 Des Moines Register about Pope Francis. This may offer an opportunity for a second visual.)

The World Food Prize Foundation established the Robert D. Ray Iowa Shares Humanitarian Award in 2013 in recognition of the exceptional leadership that former Governor Ray demonstrated in dealing with multiple situations affecting refugees in Indochina, and to honor him on his 85th birthday (September 26). In doing so, the award was named after the Iowa SHARES campaign, which the Governor created in 1979 in order to send desperately needed food and medicine to suffering and dying refugees from Cambodia. Iowa SHARES stands for Iowa Sends Help to Aid Refugees and End Starvation.

The award is given annually to honor an Iowan who has provided significant leadership in confronting hunger and alleviating human suffering, both at home and abroad. The award will be formally presented to the recipient at the Iowa Hunger Summit Luncheon on October 13 in Des Moines.

The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. The Prize was founded in 1986 by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, the World Food Prize has honored 41 outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions throughout the world. The World Food Prize annually hosts the Borlaug Dialogue international symposium and a variety of youth education programs to help further the discussion on cutting-edge global food security issues and inspire the next generation to end hunger. Press credentials for covering the October World Food Prize Week of events can be requested at www.worldfoodprize.org/press.

 

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