Bridgehampton - East Hampton's phenomenal American artisanal cheese shop Lucy's Whey partnered with Slow Food East End to present an incredible evening of epicurean discovery. The event was held on Monday, October 12 at the Children's Museum of the East End and featured the artisan cured meats of La Quercia in a superb pairing of cheeses from Lucy's Whey along with local wines and hard cider.

Over 50 attendees participated in the tasting at the Children's Museum of the East End.

The evening's special guests were the founders of La Quercia, Herb and Kathy Eckhouse, who were named "Food Artisans of the Year" by Bon Appetit magazine in 2007. La Quercia is located in Norwalk, Iowa and the Eckhouses were the first to introduce organic-certified and heirloom-bred prosciutto in America. Using century's old traditional methods of dry-curing and aging to create a selection of meats that rival any proscuitto that can be found in Italy, La Quercia is the choice of some of the world's most discerning chefs and epicureans. (www.laquerica.us)

Lucy Kazickas and Catherine Bodziner, the evening's hosts, are the proprietors of Lucy's Whey, one of only two cheese shops in America to exclusively carry American artisanal cheeses. Kazickas introduced the attendees to the special guests and gave a brief background description of La Quercia, Lucy's Whey and Slow Food East End. Each attendee was presented with a plate specially laid out in tasting order which contained a combination of meats, cheeses, caramelized nuts and a Macoun apple from the Milk Pail in Bridgehampton.

Herb Eckhouse then took the floor and introduced the 50 eager participants to the first two selections of meat. La Quercia means "the oak" in Italian and the first meat tasted was La Quercia Acorn Edition Fiocco, a product that is made from acorn fed organic Berkshire Cross pork, the meat is soaked in wine prior to slicing. The second meat chosen for tasting was Proscuitto Green Label Organic, the first and signature proscuitto of La Quercia.

The tasting plate at the Lucy's Whey sponsored tasting.

Bodziner of Lucy's Whey addressed the crowd and described the selection of cheeses, all available at and provided from her incredible cheese shop. The cheese included Hudson Valley Camembert, two cheddars, Prairie Breeze from Milton Creamery of Iowa and Vermont Clothbound Cheddar from Cabot Village of Vermont and a local Sigit from Mecox Bay Dairy of Bridgehampton. All were nothing short of exceptional. She also acknowledged the presence of two of the leaders of Slow Food East End (SFEE), Michael Denslow and Emily Herrick. They and Kate Plumb of SFEE, along with the hosts and staff from Lucy's Whey, also worked diligently preparing the event and serving the participants.

Eckhouse continued with his descriptions of the meats, one tasting at a time. The remaining selections included Speck Americano and Prosciutto Piccante. Like the previous meats these were extraordinary and pure organic, as are all the cured meats from La Quercia. Throughout the tasting Eckhouse described his and Kathy's commitment to local sustainable farming, organic range-raised livestock and the Iowa farmers that supply his pork. He also dispelled the myth that his products were high fat, making the point that the average granola bar had more saturated fat in it than the meats the participants ate at the evening's tasting.

La Quercia selections of organic, artisan American cured meats.

Along with Lucy's Whey spring water for palette cleansing, the attendees were treated to Wolffer Estate Big Apple Wine, a Tocai Friuliani from Channing Daughters Vineyard and Docs Hard Pear Cider of Warwick, NY.

I asked Eckhouse to comment on his first extended visit to the Hamptons, "I love it, great food out here." I asked if he was surprised by the amount of agriculture he saw, "Not at all, we knew that at one point it was a very agricultural area. It is very exciting to see somewhat of a return to that, I think there is great potential out here. You have great climate and a lot of people close by, there is great potential."

At the close of the event I asked Catherine Bodziner of Lucy's Whey if she was pleased with the event, "I am thrilled, this is a dream come true for me. Sitting four years ago at Murray's Cheese in Manhattan and not even owning my own store, to now being able to introduce Americans to great American artisanal cheeses and great American products like Herb and Kathy Eckhouse's proscuitto is really incredible. Cheese and proscuitto and some of these other real American made products are doing what wine did in the United States 20 years ago." I asked if she would continue forward with events like this tasting, "Absolutely! I already have some ideas; I am constantly cutting things out of magazines and calling the artisans I discover around the country. That is the thrill for me, finding these small producers, taking their product and bringing it to our customers."

The event was a complete success and along the way helped a good cause, as the proceeds from the evening's tasting were being donated to help support the Edible Schoolyard projects of the East End chapter of Slow Food. Bravo to Lucy's Whey, La Quercia and East End Slow Food for a fabulous evening of great American food and drink.

For more information go to www.lucyswhey.com.