Teri Mills, the great mind and big heart behind the National Nurse campaign, commissioned me to make healthy lunch baskets for the Dean Campaign when they came to Portland, Oregon.
The food baskets made the national press and news about them spread throughout the nascent blogosphere. You can still find mention of them on some of the Dean blogs that are still up.
All the food was local and had some tie to the Pacific Northwest economy and/or environment. I included a one page guide (quoted at the link above) on where all the food came from and why I thought it was important to us.
When, at the evening's event, my son met Dean in a receiving line for the first time, he said, "My mom made your lunch baskets, and I helped!" Dean leapt back in surprise (you could tell an experienced dad of small boys here!) and exclaimed, "You did?!" He leaned in close, "They were very very good. Thank you!"
My son was a fanatic Deaniac (maybe even more than me!) from then out. Worked coat check at events, and at 10 was the youngest actual working volunteer of the Oregon Dean campaign.
A friend of mine was so impressed with the baskets, he commissioned me to make two more, which he used to take a young woman on a picnic -- I believe it was a first or at least early date. Later that year they moved in together, and invited my son and I to come be housemates and "family." Needless to say, I managed the kitchen -- and blogged about it.
After that, I cooked for Dr. Dean and his folks most times they came through Portland. It was an honor, and big fun.
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Comments: 2
In fact, his arrival interrupted Alice Waters' speech, which takes plenty of gumption on its own.
He spoke in favor of many of the things Slow Food is about: sustainable agriculture and cuisine, removing junk food from schools, etc.
I.M.H.O., it's a shame we didn't elect him, course at this point I'd vote for a sock puppet over what we have now, so...
Interesting article. I would love to meet Howard Dean. I think he'd have made an honest president.