2025 Food Festival: January – Buckwheat Flour
This year, Chef Andrew Smith, Culinary Director, curated our Food Festivals and prepared some delicious recipes to help celebrate the ingredient! We’re kicking off with
By Chef David Heredia
Squash blossoms bring back memories from twenty to twenty-five years ago, when I was sent to live with my paternal great grandfather in Xochihuehuetlan, Guerrero (south-western Mexico).
He had a huge field of corn—at least, that’s how it seemed to me back then. It was my first pizca, or corn harvesting, with a bunch of cousins, uncles and family members I never knew I had.
After such a long day, my great grandmother began to wash these yellow-orange squash flowers she had picked in the fields, preparing them for dinner along with huitlacoche (corn smut fungus). The aunts were busy making hand-made tortillas, surrounded the clay stove, talking and laughing as they prepared quesadillas with string cheese and either the bright, delicate squash flowers or the pungent, earthy huitlachoche. I didn’t get to see the whole process because this was the domain of the women of the house—or as I remember, the gossip circle.
With the tables set up, I finally got a chance to try these delicacies. I’m not sure if it was the lingering smell of the burning wood or the muskiness from the huitlacoche, or perhaps the tiredness of being outside under the scorching hot sun or that I was just starving, but the squash blossom quesadillas were just heavenly. It’s perhaps the best thing I have ever tasted and a fitting reward for a long day of work
My great grandparents are gone and although I never had the chance to get the recipe from them, I’ve attempted to recreate the dish as I can remember.
Squash blossoms remind me of the family working together and the indelible memory of all the women gathered around the stove cooking for everyone and the house full of chatter and laughter.
With a busy life in New York City, this priceless memory transports me to earlier days and is a reminder of a distant and simple, yet fulfilling, past.
Try Chef David’s delicious Quesadilla de Flor de Calabazas recipe here.
By Sarah Prawl
Saturday, July 13 at 8:00 pm
Award-winning Congolese singer-songwriter Fally Ipupa electrifies the audience with his sonorous voice and unique dance steps. Learn more here.
Thursday, July 25 from 7:00 – 11:00 pm
Part of the 42nd Asian American International Film Festival, Yellow Rose is the story of an undocumented Filipino girl who dreams of one day leaving her small Texas town to pursue her country music dreams. Learn more here.
Wednesday, July 10 at 7:00 pm
High-end streetwear icon, Dapper Dan, graces the BAM stage to celebrate the launch of his stunning new memoir, Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem. Learn more here.
Saturday, July 13 from 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Shop one-of-a-kind, handmade items from local artisans and vendors. Learn more here.
Sunday, July 21 from 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Stop by the Beaux-Arts Court for the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra’s new pop-up performance series, featuring a family-friendly range of classical music from across the globe. Learn more here.
July 20, 2019 – January 5, 2020
Pierre Cardin: Future Fashion is the first New York retrospective in forty years to focus on the legendary couturier. Drawn primarily from Pierre Cardin’s archive, the exhibition traverses the designer’s decades-long career at the forefront of fashion invention. Learn more.
Complete your experience with a meal at “Maxim’s at The Norm”, a homage to Pierre Cardin’s restaurant, Maxim’s de Paris, and featuring classic dishes from the Maxim’s de Paris cookbook and Maxim’s inspired seasonal dishes.
Saturday, July 13 at 8:30 pm; Sunday, July 14 at 4:30 pm
Convene with the birds through the universal language of music. Built around Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s performance of Messiaen’s complete Catalogue d’Oiseaux over three concerts, the weekend will also include bird walks, a panel discussion and family activities celebrating our feathered friends. Learn more here.
Saturday, July 20 All Day
Celebrating its 5th year in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center, Caramoor’s Jazz Festival is a highly anticipated highlight of the summer with jazz performed by phenomenal talent amid lush gardens and distinctive venues on 90 acres of grounds. Learn more here.
Sunday, July 28 at 4:00 pm
Caramoor’s summer season comes to a close with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, led by their Principal Conductor Bernard Labadie and violinist Christian Tetzlaff. Learn more here.
Wednesday, July 10 at 7:30 pm
Multinational quintet, Emocion, celebrates the universal power of music and the sounds and rhythms of Tango Nuevo. Learn more here.
Wednesday, July 31 at 7:30 pm
In collaboration with Brasil Summerfest, Jazz at Lincoln Center presents the New York City debut of the Amaro Freitas Trio, who are on the cutting edge of fusing Afro-Brazilian rhythmic traditions with genre-defying modern jazz. Learn more here.
July 11 – July 25
Come to the Signature Café + Bar to network and mingle while enjoying Happy Hour specials. RSVP today.
July 13
Join an in-depth discussion with the design team of Octet, showcasing the creative collaboration involved in bringing this acclaimed chamber choir a cappella musical to life. RSVP now.
Thursday, July 11 from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Learn the time-honored techniques of “mokuhanga”, or relief printing, with 2019 Winter Workspace Artist Nandini Chirimar. Print using traditional Japanese woodblock techniques for two full days while exploring the basics of image preparation, transfer, registration, carving and multi-color printing. Learn more here.
Saturday, July 27 at 2:00 pm
Tour the exhibition Figuring the Floral with an exhibiting artist and a Wave Hill horticultural interpreter, then venture out into the gardens to see how some of the flowers are used symbolically by the artists to express representations of identity. Learn more here.