On The Menus At The G20 Summit in Pittsburgh: It's All Local, Sustainable and Organic Food

Best-practice Pennsylvania Ag is in the spotlight for dinner at the Phipps & dinner at Rosemont Farm, & every meal at the Convention Center
First Lady Michelle Obama and President Obama head to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania tomorrow for the G20 Summit, which is officially called The Pittsburgh Summit 2009. Leaders from the twenty largest economies in the world will gather for two days of meetings, and Pittsburgh was chosen to host because it is now one of the greenest urban centers in the US. Pittsburgh is known as The City of Bridges, so look for lots of references to building bridges in the global economy and trade. And in keeping with the (fantastic) Obama focus on best-practice Ag as well as stimulating local economies, the two main venues for the G20 are completely local, sustainable, and primarily organic in their food sourcing, which is even more impressive given the fact that both host large-scale gatherings on a regular basis. At this point in the Obama food timeline, a transgressive move would be to serve internationally sourced junk food at a State Event, but that's simply not happening at the G20. And unlike the last G20, which was held in London and hosted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, there will be no celebrity chefs cooking in Pittsburgh. Celeb chef Jamie Oliver cooked for the Brown-hosted formal dinner, but for the Obama G20, the duties for all the meals are being performed by on-site caterers. (Above: The Obamas and Browns at the London G20 in April)

*The Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is the site of the opening G20 reception on Thursday, as well as the working dinner for summit leaders on Thursday evening (photo at top of post). As is standard practice for all events at Phipps, food and beverages will be local, organic, sustainably raised and humanely raised where applicable. Fair Trade organic coffee will be served, food waste will be composted, and paper, glass, plastic, cardboard and cans will be recycled. The Victorian-era botanical garden, known as "The Green Heart of Pittsburgh," has been restored, expanded, and updated, and is recognized as one of the greenest public sites in the world; go here to read the comprehensive series of initiatives Phipps has in place to ensure energy conservation and sustainability, including Silver LEED certification.

*The David E. Lawrence Convention Center is the site of all of the scheduled G20 meetings, and the huge venue is not only the first convention center in the US to be LEED certified, but it also has a rooftop food garden that will provide lettuce, eggplant, green peppers and tomatoes. Food service for the G20 working breakfast and lunch on Friday will be done by Levy Restaurants, which does institutional and sporting event food service nationwide, and which has local and sustainable practices across the country. The convention center's Executive Chef Dominique Metcalfe has partnered with Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, and in addition to the produce from the rooftop garden, foods from local farms in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Armstrong, Clarion, Indiana and Bedford counties will be used. According to Pascal Petter, Director of Operations for the convention center, in order to accommodate the expected 2,500 members of the media who will also be present at the G20, food service will be around-the clock, with everything from grab n' go meals to buffets; there will be a culinary staff of about 35 to 40 chefs, along with about 100 servers. Compostable dishes, cups and packaging will be used. Due to the intense security considerations and screening required by both White House and State Department protocols, no menus are being pre-released.

*Mrs. Obama will be acting as international hostess for the first time, as she leads the Spouse Program, and the spouses she'll be showing around Pittsburgh are now old pals, thanks to the G8 in L'Aquila, Italy, and the G20 in London. A new addition to the spouse pod: Japan's new and somewhat eccentric First Lady Miyuki Hatoyama, who has said she has "a lot in common" with Mrs. Obama. On Thursday, the first Spouse event is a dinnner at Teresa Heinz Kerry's Rosemont Farm, a working farm that grows crops as well as has chickens and cows. Heinz Kerry is the wife of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) and the widow of Sen. John Heinz (R-PA) of the ketchup family. On Friday, Mrs. Obama leads the spouses to a performance at Pittsburgh's arts center, and to the Andy Warhol Museum for a tour (a previously scheduled luncheon has been taken off the schedule). Part of Mrs. Obama's other duties will include lobbying for Chicago to be chosen for the 2016 Olympics. (Photo: Mrs. Obama in the center of the spouses at the London G20)

--Posted by Shawna & Gabe