““Seated around the table, give me real people who are ready to have real conversations and set aside all the pomp and circumstance of what is false, hollow, hateful, worldly, or avaricious. At the table, talk with me about your regrets, your peculiarities, your memories of your ancestors even if painful, the magic you have encountered, your great love, your fear, your shame, or your hope for the world.””
Photo by Elle Jackson Photography
Our first Simmer since 2019 was a special one, honoring our late founder, Tallu Schuyler Quinn and celebrating the release of her beautiful memoir, What We Wish Were True: Reflections on Nurturing Life and Facing Death. Surrounded by the tall, stained-glass windows at Riverside Revival, we crowded around tables to share memories, swap anecdotes and tell our origin stories of the person who made The Nashville Food Project what it is today. We were grateful to host over 125 guests for this special night — our largest Simmer ever — and proud to tell you that funds raised from this night go directly back to our work.
To design the menu, we recruited the brilliant minds of our friends Ann Fundis and Anne Sale, as well as Chef Tandy Wilson of City House Nashville and Chef Margot McCormack of Margot Cafe & Bar. They worked with our very own Chef Bianca Morton to piece together morsels of Tallu’s life and create courses that honored her, a deeply meaningful process. As Chef Margot said, “the dinner gave me some closure on Tallu’s death: saying goodbye, but also feeling my heart open to so much.”
The careful process of choosing each ingredient began by emphasizing the foods that Tallu loved: homemade bread, pickled vegetables, butternut squash, Mexican flan. Then, the chefs worked together to bring their ideas, experience and expertise to the table. “Once the menu was narrowed down, we began collaborating on each other’s strengths and carving out who led what part of the menu,” explains Chef Bianca.
“ “Each of us offered our own interpretations that would elevate the dishes and honor our love of Tallu.””
In true Tallu form, the night began with bread, generously donated from Dozen Bakery. In her book, she talks about the Latin and French origins of the word “accompany:” to come with bread, or to be a bread-friend. As we welcomed one another from near and far, some meeting for the first time and others embracing for the thousandth, we shared charred French baguettes topped with savory smoked fish mousse and sweet ricotta, figs and honey. We were grateful for the chance to forge so many bread-friendships!
As dinner was served, the stories spilled over. Mixed greens in little silver mixing bowls recalled the big salads Tallu would prepare from farm-fresh ingredients and eat at work for lunch. Roasted chicken in a butternut squash red sauce paid tribute to an organic farmer who donated hundreds of pounds of squash that he couldn’t sell because his cows had taken little nibbles of the ends of them — Tallu recruited a small team to peel, cube and roast the squash and then puree it into a creamy, rich sauce to bake into lasagna and pour over pasta. And dessert, a beautiful panna cotta with caramel flan sauce, lemon curd, crumble and blood orange, conjured memories of her sweet voice singing a song with her father as guests at the Nourish Patrons’ Party enjoyed the very same dish several years back.
Over dinner, beloved friends shared the stage to read passages from What We Wish Were True. Each reading was a story of its own but prompted countless others, all describing poignant moments of laughter, hardship and hope.
We listened to Margo Cloniger revisit The Nashville Food Project’s humble beginnings under its old moniker, laughing as she recalled a bulk Mobile Loaves and Fishes t-shirt order that came in right before the organization officially changed its name. We were reminded of Tallu’s core belief that human value transcends what they do for work when Nate Paulk shared how she counseled him through a really difficult phase in his professional life. And we heard from Sally Rausch about the vulnerable process of helping Tallu write the book when her body began failing her, which could not have happened without the bonds of deep trust that Tallu shared with so many. With each story, the corners of the room folded in a little more to pull us closer together.
As the night wrapped up, C.J. Sentell, CEO of The Nashville Food Project, shared a final thought from the book:
“For years I was wrestling with God and with myself about my purpose and place and role, and here it was before me all the while—the mission we keep folding ourselves into, which I’ve come to understand as the perfect recipe: to grow, to cook, and most important, to share.”
An ever-growing community has been galvanized by Tallu’s radical vision of food security. The tables we continue to gather around invite us into this mission again and again. And the more meals we grow, cook and share, the nearer we draw to one another and to the world around us. We are so grateful to have you with us on this journey!
““The Nashville Food Project is not a church, but it is a community that saves people. It saved me.””
Thank You
A special thanks to all of our sponsors and donors for making this Simmer event possible:
City House and Chef Rebekah Turshen
This life-giving work can exist because of your generosity, in all its many forms. To learn more about ways to get involved and support, visit thenashvillefoodproject.org.
If you haven’t yet, purchase your copy of What We Wish Were True. A portion of the proceeds from each book sold at the link above supports our work.
Blood Orange Vinaigrette
Crafted by Josh Rickerman
Serves: 6
⅔ c olive oil
⅓ c fresh-squeezed blood orange juice
Zest of 2 blood oranges
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp herb oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp honey (sub. sugar or agave nectar)
Salt and pepper to taste