2018
Inside the Competition for the Best Latke
Today | December, 2018
In a series called Destination Holiday, NBC’s Stephanie Gosk attends the 10th annual Latke Festival, during which cooks compete to serve up the best dish. Watch here.
Chefs Slice and Dice for Best Latke at the Brooklyn Museum
News12| December, 2018
More than 20 chefs from all over New York compete to make the best traditional potato pancakes, with their own unique twists. The festival is a fundraiser for the Sylvia Center, which provides nutrition education and youth development. Watch here.
Sylvia Center Students Create Signature Latke
Blyner| November, 2018
The Sylvia Center students will present an innovative potato pancake for the 10th Annual Latke Festival. A traditional latke is melded with an alcapurria, a Puerto Rican fritter made with plantain or yucca and stuffed with a savory meat filling. Read more.
Recipe: Double Chocolate Teff Brownies
Rural Intelligence| November, 2018
The Sylvia Center often focuses on whole grains in our recipes, yet we never forget about flavor. These rich chocolate brownies, made from nutritious, high-protein teff, are perfect for any occasion. Read more.
Art of Cooking Benefit Gala Featuring Dinner by Anita Lo at Sylvia Center, Nov.1
Apple Eats | October, 2018
The benefit will honor seven of The Sylvia Center’s founding board members, with dinner specially curated by Michelin star Chef Anita Lo at Hudson Mercantile. Read more.
Sylvia Center Promotes Healthy Eating and Food Justice
Chronogram | August, 2018
The Sylvia Center is a nonprofit nutrition education and youth development organization inspiring young people to make healthier eating choices and becoming advocates for nutritious food…Read more.
It’s Field to Table at The Sylvia Center’s 11th Annual Dinner
Rural Intelligence | July, 2018
Is it a passion for doing good? The urge to teach children important life skills? Is it the amazing food? The verdant rural locale? Yes. It’s all of these reasons and more that keep supporters returning each year to The Sylvia Center’s farm-to-table feast at Katchkie Farm… Read more.
iEat Green Shares Interview with Raquel Jacquez Sharp from The Sylvia Center and Katchkie Farm
ieatgreen | July, 2018
The Sylvia Center is a unique non-profit organization working with youth, teaching them about nutrition education and cooking skills. What makes their program so special, is that they actually train the teenagers who go through their training program, to become the new teams of teachers to work with the younger students, empowering them, and giving them ownership of the program…. Read more.
Why Food? From Heritage Radio Network: Healthy Food Education From A Teacher and Her Students
Why Food? on Heritage Radio Network | June, 2018
Raquel Jacquez Sharp is an educator and activist around healthy food and the Communications and Partnerships Manager at The Sylvia Center. Join Raquel and two of her students, Isatou and Halima (both 17) for a discussion on changing food habits among teenagers, and building food careers from a young age. Listen here.
Planting the Seeds for the Next Generation of Eaters: Cooking with Teens in Columbia County
Edible Hudson Valley | June, 2018
What can become of a small table of fresh ingredients in an hour-long after-school class? What are the differences between blanching and boiling? Better yet, how can sharing knowledge about pickling, canning, roasting, broth making and dumpling folding provide meaningful experiences to the next generation? Read more.
Vegetable Pad Thai and Asian Coleslaw
Rural Intelligence | June, 2018
When kids participate in any Sylvia Center program, our staff makes sure that every participant walks away having tried something new. Some days this goal is harder to reach than others, but the day we made Vegetable Pad Thai with seventh grade students from Knickerbacker Middle School, this was no challenge….Read more.
Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade from The Sylvia Center
Rural Intelligence | June, 2018
With an abundance of rhubarb growing in our Learning Garden this spring, we’ve started to get creative and use it in a variety of new recipes. We could never get tired of strawberry and rhubarb (a timeless combination that shines in a pie, crisp, cake or as compote over yogurt, toast or oatmeal), but it’s refreshing to mix it up…Read more.
2017
8 Hanukkah Destinations Where You Can Celebrate the Festival of Lights
Reader’s Digest | December, 2017
Head to the Brooklyn Museum and take part in the ninth annual Latke Festival–they don’t call it a potato pancake party for nothing. Book a night at the Park Slope Bed & Breakfast, which is within walking distance to the Hanukkah festivities…Read more.
The Best Hanukkah Events in NYC
TimeOut NY | December, 2017
Crisp-fried potato pancakes steal the spotlight at this eighth-annual festival benefitting the Sylvia Center, which promotes healthy eating for children…Read more.
13 Excellent Thing to Eat, Drink and Do in New York City This December
GrubStreet | December, 2017
OEvery month in New York, there’s a bewildering number of new dishes to eat, drinks to imbibe, and food-themed events to attend. Often, the hardest part is just figuring out what’s really worth your limited time…Read more.
10th Annual Latke Festival Returns to Brooklyn Museum in December
amNY | November, 2017
We’re not knocking the crunchy, greasy goodness of a traditional latke, but there are about a million and one ways to spice up the fried potato pancakes associated with Hannukah, and you can try several of those at the ninth annual Latke Festival at the Brooklyn Museum next month…Read more.
10th Anniversary Art of Cooking Gala Raises Funds for The Sylvia Center
xoJohn | November, 2017
On Thursday, Oct. 26, the 10th Anniversary Art of Cooking Gala at Hudson Mercantile celebrated the first decade of The Sylvia Center’s work teach healthy cooking skills to residents of underserved New York City communities by raising $775,000 for the nonprofit – new record for The Sylvia Center’s (TSC) annual fall gala…Read more.
Reflections on 10 Years of The Sylvia Center
HuffPost by Liz Neumark, CEO of Great Performances and Founder of The Sylvia Center | October, 2017
We are celebrating the 10th year anniversary for The Sylvia Center, a non-profit I dreamt of at a difficult and dark moment in my life. For the most part, I am never interested in looking back to reflect on a successful journey or achievement. I am all about looking forward and concentrating on the job ahead…Read more.
Ten Years of Doing
Originally Published on LinkedIN by Howard Pulchin, Sylvia Center Board Member | October, 2017
During this past year, we’ve marched, protested, posted, contributed, complained, consoled and dreamed. A common question that many of my friends have asked is “what can they do.” I have posed this question many times myself, as a sort of hopelessness took over. How do I make a difference?…Read more.
Don’t Yuck My Yum! A Day at Katchkie Farm
Hudson Valley Eats, October, 2017
As I traipsed behind a bunch of 7-year-olds in a sheep pasture, one little girl looked disgustedly at my flimsy sandals and cried, “You should have worn your poop-proof boots,” as she proudly modeled her hot pink, knee-high rubber boots….Read more.
Pizza Party Raises $50k for NYC Hunger Relief
The Daily Meal, October, 2017
We are incredibly proud to announce that our nonprofit Slice Out Hunger raised $50k for NYC hunger relief organizations…Read more.
Slice Out Hunger’s $1 Slice Party Will Feed You and Hungry Locals
amNewYork, September, 2017
Eat as many $1 slices from the city’s best pizzerias as you can manage and help New Yorkers in need while you’re doing it…Read more.
Slice Out Hunger is a Pizza Party Worth Your Time and Money
Gothamist, September, 2017
The fundraising pizza party brings some of the city’s best pie slingers under one roof to sell $1 slices, proceeds from which will be split 50/50 between City Harvest and The Sylvia Center, a non-profit focused on healthy eating…Read more.
The Non-Profit That’s Getting Kids in the Kitchen (Plus a Recipe You Can Make with Littles)
goop, March, 2017
It’s a fact that teaching people to cook makes them far less likely to become obese; teaching kids and teenagers from NYC’s housing projects and low-income communities to cook pays off…Read more.
Sylvia Center Cooks Up A Family Class at Valley Variety
Rural Intelligence, February 23, 2017
The Center’s latest series of cooking classes brings kids and parents from Hudson, New York’s at-risk community, where food insecurity and lack of access to healthy options are serious and under-addressed issues, into the kitchen…Read more.
2016
The 8th Annual Latke Festival
Socially Superlative, December 28, 2016
Read more.
How Should a Latke Be?
Tablet Magazine, December 20, 2016
What purpose does a latke serve? Is it meant to be messed with, infused and topped with quirky or exotic ingredients? Read more.
All the fun you can have with potatoes at the Latke Festival
Metro, December 20, 2016
It’s a few nights until Hannukah, but the Brooklyn Museum helped get Crown Heights in the mood with the eighth annual Latke Festival last night. Read more.
Latke Festival Celebrates A Good Cause
Epoch Times, December 17, 2016
The Latke Festival started as just an idea, when founder Liz Neumark wanted a different way to celebrate the holiday season.“Everything about Christmas is so saturated in our culture,” Neumark said. So she thought of celebrating the lowly potato, in the Hanukkah tradition of making potato latkes, or fried potato pancakes. Read more.
Eat for a Good Cause at the 8th Annual Latke Festival
Edible Brooklyn, December 12, 2016
Enjoy a little pre-holiday celebration of light and life at the Eighth Annual Latke Festival on December 19th at the Brooklyn Museum. This year’s fête will inspire chefs from restaurants to break the mold of the traditional potato pancake. Read more.
NYC Food Based Community Organization Spotlight: The Sylvia Center
NYC Food Policy Center at Hunter College, September 13, 2016
Read more.
The End of The Summer Job
WNYC, August 12, 2016
This summer, who’s been scooping your ice cream? Who’s blown the whistle when you’ve swum too far from shore? Sasha Obama may be serving seafood on Martha’s Vineyard, but the percentage of American teens working summer jobs is down — a lot. Read more.
Scenes from #THV2016
Teaching the Hudson Valley, August 2, 2016
Get lesson plans, handouts, Power Points, and other goodies from this year’s institute, Find Your Park, Historic Site, Museum: Gain a Classroom. Read more.
Top Chefs in Small Toques
Huffington Post, July 30, 2016
Bring a child into the kitchen and imagine what happens? There is excitement and engagement around the various tasks of food preparation. Children are motivated to experiment and explore, and that is only the beginning of food magic. Read more.
At Katchkie Farm, All Eat Well To Support The Sylvia Center
Rural Intelligence, July 24, 2016
The party in the fields of Katchkie Farm on Saturday, July 23 began with guests encountering The Sylvia Center’s mission of inspiring children to eat well. Read more.
Berkshire Taconic community Foundation
Fresh and Healthy Food For All, August 2016
Good health is out of reach for anyone without ready access to fresh and healthy foods. To tackle this challenge in bountiful Columbia County, Berkshire Taconic has engaged a wide-ranging group of partners in all aspects of the food economy to help create a more equitable food system. Read more.
Life Happens Around Food
Teaching the Hudson Valley, July 5, 2016
Out of curiosity, I asked Julie Cerny, farm education director and garden manager at the Sylvia Center, what exactly she meant when she said she “discovered real food” She laughed and said, “Well actually, that’s a long story.” Read more.
A Gift of Rose
Edible Long Island, June 1, 2016
Let’s be real: In the summer, rosé makes everything a little bit better. But what if a bottle of rosé could actually improve the lives of disadvantaged children and their families, too? Read more.
Pierre’s Restaurant Gives Back to the Sylvia Center
Dan’s Papers, May 10, 2016
“Cheers for Charity!” Pierre’s Restaurant in Bridgehampton has declared. The restaurant, owned by Chef Pierre Weber, will donate $10 for each $80 bottle sold, up to $10,000, of Pierre’s 2014 Private Label Blue Bottle Rosé to the Sylvia Center. Read more.
Feedback, Together With A Coalition Of Partners, Brings Popular Food Waste Awareness Festival To America To Take Food Waste #OffTheMenu
PRNewswire, April 18, 2016
Recent research has revealed that the United States spends $218 billion a year growing, processing, and transporting food that is never eaten. Read more.
Manhattan Expressed
Robb Report, January 1, 2016
Michael White, New York’s maestro of Italian cuisine, appreciates the freewheeling creativity of John Becker. Read more.
2015
Specialty Food Association
Giving Back: Healing and Helping with Food, September 23, 2015
Liz Neumark of Great Performances and Katchkie Farm has changed the face of New York City Catering and touched the lives of thousands of underprivileged children. Read more.
Never-never farm
Dirt, August 20, 2015
I pulled into my driveway, threw my seat back and passed out. That was what I’d promised myself — make it home and you can nap in the car, before closing the chickens in for the night. Read more.
Sylvia Center to Ring The Nasdaq Stock Market Closing
Nasdaq – Globenewswire, August 10, 2015
Read more.
Food Revolution Day: how to help bring food education to children worldwide
The Christian Science Monitor, May 15, 2015
Food Revolution Day, on May 15, is a global day of action for people to bring food education to schools and communities. Such actions are more important than ever as the world grapples with both childhood obesity and malnutrition. Read more.
NYer of the Week: Chef Natasha Decena Grows Students Knowledge About Greener Options
Time Warner Cable News NY1, February 13, 2015
Chef Natasha Decena could be cooking for a high-end establishment. Instead, she’s bringing fine dining to kids in a New York City Housing Authority community center. Read more.
2014
Scene Last Night: Red Hook Farmers, Edelson, Gottesman, Neumark
Bloomberg, October, 16, 2014
Some people know what to do with leafy vegetables. Others learn the hard way. Ariel Morales is one of the ones who knows. Read more.
A Tale of Two Meals
The Huffington Post, September 3, 2014
Wednesday was a typical day at Katchkie Farm; CSA harvesting & packing and a small group of Sylvia Center students were engaged in garden work, harvesting and cooking their meal. The weather was crazy beautiful and I was looking forward to my visit. Read more.
Kids Meet Food at Sylvia Center
Register Star, July 25, 2014
There are stories that are painted of idyllic summer days on a farm framed with corn fields; kids swinging on a tire suspended from a big, old oak tree while chickens and ducks peck and cluck nearby; of pitchers of lemonade, and peach pies resting on a windowsill; of colanders filled with peas waiting to be shelled and strawberries to be hulled; and catching fireflies in a Mason jar when the sky turns navy blue. Read more.
A Farm-to-Table Dinner Seeds The Sylvia Center
Rural Intelligence, July 20, 2014
It’s pure brilliance for The Sylvia Center to hold its annual farm-to-table benefit dinner right at Katchkie Farm. On Saturday, July 19, approximately 330 supporters got a taste of the center’s mission: to inspire children to eat well through hands-on learning experiences on the farm. Read more.
A Chef, a Farmer and a Child Transform a Field at Katchkie Farm and the Sylvia Center
NOFA-NY, July 7, 2014
Inspiring was the first word that entered my mind as I drove into Katchkie Farm in Kinderhook, NY. What had been a tangled mess of scrub brush, weeds, and rocks just 7 years ago had been transformed to a vibrant, year round organic farm certified by NOFA-NY Certified Organic LLC. Read more.
2013
Our Money and Our Movie Stars
The Huffington Post, December 2, 2013
“CHINA and India will, separately and together, unleash an explosion of demand,” said Indian financier Muckesh Abami. Read more.
Benefits for Betterment
New York Social Diary, October 28, 2013
The Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center, an NCI-designated cancer center, raised over $1.6 million at its annual gala held Thursday, October 18. Read more.
Scene Last Night: Rachel Ray, Ira Rennert, James Tisch
Bloomberg, October 16, 2013
Rachael Ray talked about birthday cake last night with four children serving green-tomato gazpacho to guests at the Sylvia Center benefit. Read more.
Farm-to-Table Tikkum Olam
The Jewish Week, September 3, 2013
Liz Neumark realizes that she may not be able to change the world. But she’d like to change the next meal for people who don’t yet understand the links between farm and table, between a carrot that’s just been pulled out of the ground and an unforgettably flavorful dinner. Read more.
Garden-Fresh Recipes To Pick And Make with Kids, From Sylvia’s Table
Epicurious, August 23, 2013
Getting kids into the kitchen to learn about food and cooking is one of the best ways to teach young people that little tiny essential life skill, being able to feed yourself well. Read more.
Food Hero: The Sylvia Center: Childhood Education from Farm to Fork
Food Tank, August 10, 2013
Childhood obesity has more than doubled over the past 30 years, and in 2010, more than one third of children were overweight or obese. One approach to combat this health epidemic is to encourage healthy eating habits in children by engaging them in the many methods of sustainable food production, from farm to fork. Read more.
Banging the Gavel at the Sylvia Center Auction
The Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2013
If you could choose any job for a day, what would it be? My first choice, perhaps not surprisingly, would be president of the U.S. It wouldn’t be for the responsibilities of office, but the perks: I’d like to fly around on Air Force One and never have to wait two hours on a sweltering tarmac to take off, pay for soggy sandwiches or go through customs. Read more.
2012
Getting a taste of what’s on the farm
Register-Star, September 27, 2012
A group of John L. Edwards Primary School children got an up-close-and-personal look at where food comes from Wednesday as they toured Kinderhook’s Katchkie Farm. Read more.
The First Lady and Me
The Huffington Post, August 27, 2012
It was a brunch on July 15 held at Stone Barns, hosted by Chef Dan Barber and company, in Westchester. It was also my birthday, and I decided that meeting Michelle Obama would be a fun gift to myself — and I suppose to the campaign, as it was a fundraising event. Read more.
Littlest Voices
The Huffington Post, June 4, 2012
Suddenly, after weeks of seeding and planting, variable weather conditions and endless planning, the season is underway at Katchkie Farm. This past week has been the season’s opener with the first group of young NYC visitors to The Sylvia Center garden coupled with the arrival of our new piggies (Ossabaw Island Hogs) and the annual Spring Planting Sunday. Read more.
2011
Still Talking After Seven Years
The Huffington Post, August 19, 2011
Is it forever, a flash, a still life or a moving picture? Is she a teenager or is still on the eve of turning seven? Read more.
The Art of Farming: Sotheby’s to Auction Local Farm Heirloom Vegetables
Inhabitat New York City, August 18, 2011
Next month on September 27, Sotheby’s will be auctioning off some heirlooms that are quite different from the ones they usually showcase: tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and other edibles from local New York City area farms! Called The Art of Farming, the event will be the auction house’s second annual event to promote and support local sustainable farming and delicious food. Read more.
As the Year’s Pass
The Huffington Post, August, 9, 2011
As the years pass, we confront the acceleration of time. Weeks become moments and months fly by as the seasons blur and pass far too quickly. We plan ahead almost relentlessly – forecasting budgets or anticipating the next business cycle. Read more.
Harlem Youths Cook Up Kitchen Skills
DNAinfo, May 24, 2011
Joshua James wants his diabetic mother to eat healthier food, but just a few months ago he didn’t know anything about cooking. Read more.
2010
Life Happens Around Food
The Huffington Post, October 21, 2010
The journey to this table, beautifully set in an East Village apartment, was on the surface, a typical gathering of New Yorkers passionate about food, yet once the conversation began and motivations for being there were shared, it was clearly, not typical in any way. Read more.
NYC Students Get Healthy Eating Tips at Upstate Farm
CBS New York, October 8, 2010
With obesity in children at a crisis level, parents are doing all they can to get their kids to eat healthier food, especially in the inner city. Read more.
Fertile Seeds: The Sylvia Center is Inspiring Children to Eat Well
Edible Manhattan, September 2, 2010
The community room of the Rutgers Housing project on the Lower East Side is an unlikely setting for planting seeds; the greenest things in sight are the cinderblock walls, painted a fluorescent lime. Read more.
Katchkie Farm continues tradition of farming, education
Register Star, July 20, 2010
Saturday’s rain let up long enough for a large number of dedicated supporters of agriculture to enjoy a wholesome and flavorful dinner of locally grown foods at Katchkie Farm’s second annual Farm-to-Table Dinner. Read more.
Cultural Cooking for Fun and Health
Just Food, May 1, 2010
High atop the Bloomberg building in midtown Manhattan, 40 high-school students from the South Asian Youth Action (SAYA) Organization gathered together to take part in a multi-cultural cooking workshop with the Sylvia Center. Read more.
Mayor Bloomberg And Tv Personality Rachael Ray Announce New Programs To Promote Healthy Eating
The Official Website of the City of New York, May 13, 2010
Gardening, Cooking and Nutrition Instruction to Show City Youth How Food is Grown and How to Bring that Food from Garden to Table. Read more.
2009
A Moveable Feast
Forbes, April 30, 2009
LizBeth Neumark is sitting at a makeshift table in a temporary staging kitchen at the landmark New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue. Read more.
