Kimberly and Keith Hartke, in front of the fragrant Fontainebleau Christmas tree

It was a Tender Grassfed Christmas in Beautiful Miami Beach!

I have a new public relations strategy. It involves networking with fine dining chefs, and sharing with them the marvels of cooking with Sally Fallon! While in Miami for a little Christmas R&R, I took several autographed copies of Nourishing Traditions, and presented them to prominent chefs in the area.

I can’t tell you how many times someone has told me that they buy Nourishing Traditions by the case, and give them as gifts! This is how the idea came to me. I thought, who better to share this cookbook with, than restaurant chefs, who can help the public cultivate an interest in sustainable foods?

A Fun Lunch with Holly Hickman

Last month, I did a post about Holly Hickman’s new ebook on sustainable dining out for travelers, Healthy Eats Here! Since she lives in Miami, we got together for lunch, while I was in town for the holidays.

She treated me to lunch at the hottest restaurant in the Miami Design District, Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink. Imagine my delight to find a grassfed burger on this sustainable eatery’s menu. Naturally, that is what I ordered! Rarely have I had a hamburger out at a restaurant in the last few years, because of my preference for grassfed beef.

Meeting Chef Michael Schwartz

Holly introduced me to Michael Schwartz the chef/owner. When I presented him with his autographed copy of Sally’s book, he exclaimed, “My wife will love you for this. We have this book and it is so dirty and dog eared! We love this cookbook and have it at home.”

Michael is a big guy in the Miami Beach scene. He was auditioned for Iron Chef (but, unfortunately, didn’t make it on this time). He does a lot of sustainable and local sourcing, and would like to be more involved in helping to advance the WAPF mission. He feels that chef’s can be very influential (as do I).

Kimberly Hartke and Sean O'Connell in front of the Vida demonstration kitchen

Next, Keith and I presented the cookbook to another “giant” in the Miami food and beverage biz, the Executive Chef of the billion dollar Fontainebleau Resort, Sean O’Connell. Sean personally designed all the kitchens and  the menus for the fabulous new restaurants, Scarpetta, Gotham Steak, Vida, Hakkasan, La Cote, and Blade. He previously served as Executive Chef at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong.

Kimberly Hartke presents Tender Grassfed Meat to Fontainebleau Resort

The Gotham Steak menu already features grassfed meats, and the resort is making “green,” environmentally sound ideas a priority.

Then, I also presented to him a copy of the wonderful Tender Grassfed Meat cookbook by my friend, Stanley Fishman. It is the least I can do to encourage this lavish international travel destination in their efforts toward sustainable dining!

See today’s related post, Running with the Raven in South Beach.