Omnivore Atlanta

CULINARY COMPETITION: Top chefs from Atlanta will compete next month at the Killer Tomato Festival.

Dine out for a cause or hit a local festival for some food-themed fun this summer in Atlanta. Some notable upcoming foodie events are:

Inman Park Dine Out, July 29th. Participating restaurants in Inman Park will donate a portion of the day’s sales to fund the Inman Park Security Patrol. The list of supporters also includes the Float Spa and Dad’s Garage. Price varies. All day. Inman Park. www.inmanparkdineout.com.

Graveyard Tavern Unibroue Beer Dinner & Swing Night, July 29th. The monthly affair includes passed hours d’oeuvres and three seated courses paired with Belgian-style beers for a fixed price. The food features local and sustainable ingredients. Swing dancing to follow. Reservations are required by email to info@graveyardtavern.com. $35. 7 p.m. 1245 Glenwood Ave. 404-622-8686. www.graveyardtavern.com.

Corks & Forks: A Fine Food & Wine Event, Aug. 29th and 30th. Taste dishes from Atlanta’s top chefs and sample wines and craft beers and ales. There will also be sit-down workshops on tasting and selection. Corks & Forks is held as part of the free Summer Shade Festival in historic Grant Park. $35 in advance, $45 at the gate (the festival is free). Both days 1 p.m.-5 p.m. 499 Broyles Street. 404-521-0938. www.summershade.org.

Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival, Aug. 9th. Prominent Atlanta chefs will be paired with a local farmer to face off in an “Iron Chef”-style competition using tomatoes. Benefits will go to Georgia Organics. Judges will be Bon Appetit Restaurant Editor Andrew Knowlton, Food + Wine freelance writer Danny Bonvissuto, and Southern Living senior food writer Donna Florio. The 18+ event will be held at JCT Kitchen and will feature live music and beer from 5 Seasons Brewing. $50, $45 for Georgia Organics Members, or $90 for VIP pass that includes an open bar. 1 p.m.-6 p.m. 1198 Howell Mill Rd. 678-702-0400. www.georgiaorganics.org.

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People living on food stamps have been given an incentive to shop at farmers’ markets.

Thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Wholesome Wave Foundation, Atlanta-based nonprofit Georgia Organics has kicked off a Double Value Coupon Program which matches food stamp dollars spent at participating farmers’ markets.

“For a limited time, all food stamp dollars will have double the buying power at three Atlanta farmers markets,” Georgia Organics Executive Director Alice Rolls says. “Food stamp recipients still can choose to spend their food stamp dollars any where that accepts them, but at farmers markets, where local, fresh, and healthy food is sold, one dollar is equal to two dollars.”

Georgia Organics communications director — and former CL staff writer — Michael Wall says the effort is modeled after similar programs in San Diego, Baltimore and the Northeast United States. The program ends when the money runs out, he says, but fundraising could keep it operational.

More information about the program, including the participating farmers’ markets, after the jump.

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New York Times op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof writes that President-Elect Barack Obama should consider appointing a “secretary of food” to replace the antiquated position of secretary of agriculture:

A Department of Agriculture made sense 100 years ago when 35 percent of Americans engaged in farming. But today, fewer than 2 percent are farmers. In contrast, 100 percent of Americans eat.

Renaming the department would signal that Mr. Obama seeks to move away from a bankrupt structure of factory farming that squanders energy, exacerbates climate change and makes Americans unhealthy — all while costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

“We’re subsidizing the least healthy calories in the supermarket — high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated soy oil, and we’re doing very little for farmers trying to grow real food,” notes Michael Pollan, author of such books as “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food.”

Pollan, incidentally, will be the keynote speaker at the Georgia Organics 12th Annual Conference and Trade Show in March. Pollan is without doubt the nation’s most influential writer about food, politics and culture. You can find details about his appearance on Georgia Organics’ website.

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Georgia Organics and the Atlanta Local Food Initiative are throwing CHEWS LOCAL!, an organic soirée in East Atlanta Village, Thurs., Sept. 25. The event, which celebrates the launch of Georgia Organics’ new local food guide, takes place at the Glenwood. A reception will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m, where chefs from the Glenwood, Dynamic Dish, Slush, Kasan Red and the Graveyard Tavern will join forces to whip up some seriously nutritious and delicious apps. Cost for the reception is $15. Immediately following the reception is dinner for $65, beginning at 8 p.m. Reservations for both the reception and/or the dinner are required via www.georgiaorganics.org/events. Don’t miss out!

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We live in Grant Park. For several years, we were awakened every morning by the crowing of a rooster. I never figured out if he was someone’s pet or a fugitive from the zoo or the victim of a rural kidnapping — kicked out of the backseat of a limo like a Mafia abductee.

Understand, I’m not talking a hidden-away rooster. This huge bird strutted up and down the cobblestone alley behind our house. On several occasions I opened the front door and found myself staring directly at him, perched on the railing of our wrap-around porch. The sight always took both of us by surprise, causing us to scream simultaneously. He’s been gone for a few years.

I thought this was an anomaly. Who knew there are chicken coops all over the city?

This Saturday, 1-4 p.m., you can tour nine urban chicken coops. The tour is sponsored by Georgia Organics and Oakhurst Community Garden, which is also hosting a class, “Chicks in the City,” that morning.

I particularly like this description of the coop d’tour in my ‘hood:

Grant Park: Last summer, four hens came home to roost in this walk-in hoophouse coop complete with disco mirror ball. Their shelter, easily constructed from scrap lumber and fencing panels, can be moved throughout the yard that the birds — a Buff Orpington, Jersey Black Giant, Auracana, and Rhode Island Red — share with two beehives. Plans available for this farm-tested, low-cost coop. Suzanne & Tom Welander.

For details on the tour (prices vary), click here, or call 678-702-0400.

(Image of Edith “The Egg Lady” Massey, from John Waters’ film Pink Flamingos. Image of disco chicken from ringtones-direct.)

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