One thousand food pros descend on Stumptown this week for the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) annual conference. Conference chair Ken Rubin and IACP President Scott Givot fill us in on this "Who's Who" of gourmet events.

Then two stellar IACP attendees join us in-studio. First, peace-making Lebanese chef and farmers' market founder Kamal Mouzawak describes his efforts at culinary diplomacy. Mouzawak is an IACP presenter and a judge at the Willamette Week's "Eat Mobile" food cart festival.

Finally, award-winning New York Times food writer Kim Severson chats up her new memoir, Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life. At IACP, she'll interview keynote speaker Ruth Reichl, the former editor of Gourmet Magazine and subject of a chapter in Severson's book. Get your copy signed by Severson at a public Culinary Book Fair at the Oregon Convention Center Friday.

• Only 76 of Oregon's 38,553 farms are operated by African-Americans, according to the most recent Census of Agriculture. Why is that? Miriam interviews PSU black studies professor Darryl Millner for some answers. He talks about Oregon's exclusion laws, which barred blacks (including farmers) from settling in the state until well into the 20th century.

• Finally, we chat with John Boyd Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association, about a decades-old, still unsettled discrimination suit against the USDA. The USDA, which could settle the billion-dollar suit soon, is also being sued by Hispanic and female farmers for discriminatory practices. 
• And don't forget to listen to our very varied call in comments from listners across the political spectrum. Keep the conversation going!

(Photo of John Boyd Jr. at a recent rally in Montgomery, Ala./courtesy of NBFARally).

OUR DECEMBER SHOW FEATURES:

• EcoTrust's Deborah Kane joins us to discuss the non-profit's new FoodHub (food-hub.org), which connects institutional food buyers directly to local farmers. She stayed on to briefly discuss Ecotrust's new study that shows, in the case of fish, frozen is often better than fresh.
  

• Then we chat with Newport attorney Michele Longo Eder about her book, Salt in Our Blood: The Memoir of a Fisherman's Wife. It’s a tribute to her late son, who died in 2001 when his boat overturned during the start on Dugeness crab season in Yaquina Bay. Laura Anderson, co-owner of Local Ocean Seafoods, joins in to update on us on prospects for this year's crab season and answers questions about the sustainability of this catch.
  

(Barrel O' Dungeness Crab/By bbum/Flickr Creative Commons)

• On a lighter note, we  talk with folk musician Gwen Thomas about how to handle those difficult, sometimes unwanted guests at your holiday table. And you'll hear Gwen and Terri Grayum's CD "Road Trip" during our music transitions.
  

(Quinces growing at Tremaine Arkley's orchard in Independence)

Our October show featured:

• Barbara Ghazarian, author of the cookbook Simply Quince, on how to cook with this beguiling, old-fashioned fruit.
  
• Cookbook author Linda Ziedrich, on preparing quince paste (membrillo)
• Joseph Postman, who cultivates 100-some quince clones at the USDA's National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, home of North America's most diverse quince grove.
• Sally Hilles, of Hazelnut Hill Farm near Monroe, on this year's abundant filbert harvest.
  --

For a local source of fresh quinces, contact Tremaine Arkley at 503-838-4886 or email OregonQuinces@gmail.com.