Perennial Plate to stop at Ozark Natural Foods on May 13

Popular online series The Perennial Plate will make a stop in our neck of the woods for a cooking demo at Ozark Natural Foods on Friday, May 13.

The series, starring chef Daniel Klein, began as an exploration of “socially responsible and adventurous eating,” with a focus on local, sustainable food.

After filming 52 episodes in his native Minnesota, Klein recently announced that he’d be taking his documentary series on the road. The tour departed on Monday, May 9, and after stops in Iowa and Missouri (for some Kansas City ribs), they’ll be in Arkansas today (May 12) filming local shiitake mushroom growers at Sweden Creek Farms.

Daniel Klein, photo by Stephanie Colgan

“We’ve only been on the road for three days, and it’s already been crazy,” Klein told us. “We’ve been working non-stop. I’m editing footage right now that we shot in Iowa earlier this week while Mirra is driving, and we’re shooting new footage while we edit.”

On Friday, May 13, Klein will conduct a cooking demo at Ozark Natural Foods, featuring the local mushrooms from Sweden Creek, and live music by local ragtime/jazz/jug band The Old 78’s. As it happens, Curly Miller and Carole Anne Rose from the band are the same folks that own and operate Sweden Creek Farms.

Klein said that the episode featuring footage from Sweden Creek should be available online May 23. He also said they’ll be shooting during the cooking demo at ONF for a possible episode later this season on stops at 10 local co-ops around the country.

“We try to post one episode a week,” he said. “This Monday (May 16) will be footage from our stop in Iowa, and the Arkansas episode will be up the following Monday.”

After their stop at the co-op on Friday, Klein said he’ll be heading to Jonesboro for more filming.

“I have a friend there, and we’re going to do an episode about cooking frog legs,” he said.

The music will start at 3:30 p.m., and the cooking demo will begin at 5 p.m. The event is free to attend, and open to the public.

The Perennial Plate Episode 52: Real Food Road Trip from Daniel Klein on Vimeo.