Lois Greenburg each Christmas gives away an herb and spice mix that’s been a family tradition for at least 55 years. Originally created to dress salads, her friends use it in soups, eggs, fish, meats, herb breads, dips and dressings. Now the spice is for sale at the
People’s Food Co-op and they are donating all the proceeds to the Campus Beet.
The Campus Beet is a student-led initiative dedicated to the establishment of a Western Michigan University student-run cafe that would support Southwest Michigan's local food movement, cater to students with limited diets and provide a space students can call their own.
Greenburg says she’s come to call her family blend "'The Asked For Spice' because friends and family ask me for more when they run out."
Greenburg and her daughter, Kate, are purchasing ingredients and making the mix in Fair Food Matters' Can-Do Kitchen, a licensed kitchen for new and existing food businesses.
She hopes the popularity of the spice mix will spread. She says she plans to leave the spice recipe to the People’s Food Co-op, which could make the spice blend available year round. "Maybe other Co-ops might also become interested in it," Greenburg says. "I would be leaving this family tradition as a legacy."
Campus Beet member Carlyn Young says, "We are so excited to get our own space for the cafe, and the funds from the spice mix sale will go toward making that possible."
Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave Media
Source: Chris Dilley, People's Food Co-op
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