So, what has been your favorite Pandemic food?

Eating at home, for us, over the past 6 months has allowed us to try out some new menu items but has also created a certain ritual of the tried and true regulars that we have to enjoy every week.   For us, it has been Broccolini, with its own little tale of resilience.

We first had Broccolini about 15 years ago at a little Italian restaurant in midtown Manhattan. I was immediately taken with the totally edible stalks especially as they were prepared for us, simply sauteed with some garlic.   It joined our regular menu for several years but then kind of fell off our food radar….until the Pandemic.

Perhaps it was when I looked into the history of this new vegetable that got me hooked again. Broccolini was invented in a Japanese research facility, owned by Sakata Seed company using traditional genetic breeding to cross broccoli and Chinese kale. It took over 5 years to develop in the lab before the next step in sharing the seeds with commercial growers in California to find the right formula of soil, sun, fertilizer and water to scale production. After a review by a group of chefs from the Culinary Institute of America determined that the vegetable was a “more elegant than broccoli,” did it proceed to the dinner tables of finer restaurants and into our local grocery stores.

So, it was off to the races for this little stemmed veggie with the tiny buds on top. No doubt the story had a lot more twists and turns that took place over 10 years, but the grit and persistence of it advocates left us with our go to Pandemic veggie this year.

By the way, just like the first time we had it, we like our Broccolini sauteed with some olive oil and fresh garlic.

So, what is your favorite Pandemic food?

Happenings

Presentations:

• I’ll be Content Weaving at the Second Annual Corporate Start Up Lab Forum at Carnegie Mellon University this week.
• Today, I’ll be presenting to the Allegheny Conference’s “Strengthening Communities Partnership Program on Resilience

The Leadership Café We released 2 amazing interviews last week:

• Matt Dietrich is the CEO of Alco Manufacturing Corporation, LLC, a private equity owned company engaged in the manufacture of engineered products widely used in the hydraulics industry. Matt has led profitable growth and execution of strategic plans through multiple M&A deals and integrations while engaged in middle market public businesses, privately owned foreign businesses, and more recently, private equity owned businesses. In this episode, Matt discusses managing a private equity owned business in the year 2020, and what Alco has done to protect their employees. 
• Cynthia “Cindi” Roth has been leading the private philanthropic efforts of WVU and WVU Medicine as the President and CEO of the WVU Foundation since 2014. Cindi’s motto is, “we raise it, we invest it, we give it back.” Listen to how Cindi and her team keep the momentum going while working remotely during the pandemic and how they can assist students at West Virginia University who are in need. 

© Richard Citrin 2020