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About Chickens

Domesticated chickens have been around a long long time. They are thought to have come from China originally around 5300 BC from the wild Red Jungle Fowl. This has been confirmed by DNA analysis. A millennia of domestication has altered the species. Domesticated chickens appear in Pakistan about 2500 BC. Domesticated chickens appeared in Chile in the Americas around 1350 AD - which was long before the Spanish were there. It is believed they came from the Polynesian Islands about 3300 years ago. Many archaeologists believe that chickens were first domesticated not for eating but for cock fighting. Cockfighting was legal in Louisiana (the last state to ban it ) until 2008. Chickens were and still are a sacred animal in some cultures. Chickens accompanied Roman soldiers into battle and watched - a good apatite of the chicken insured a victorious battle was at hand. If the chickens did not eat then the Romans were sure to lose the battle. Chickens now of course are bred to be sold to us in the supermarket. Today chickens have increased body weight and increased large egg production. They are also about 25% fat. These are "broilers" - breeds that are plump and meaty. Today there has been arsenic found in chicken feed and a lot of today's domesticated chickens have a high degree of bacterial contamination according to Men's Health magazine. People today eat these chickens. Another problem is the cooking of the chicken itself. Many food establishments simply do not cook the chicken well enough. A pink color of the cooked chicken is bad - except, if it is smoked chicken and then that is okay. Yes, you can get food poisoning from under cooked or raw chicken from a bacteria called "Salmonella, Campylobacter or Staphylococcus aureus" - this can be fatalSalmonella typhi bacteria, can be passed from human handler to human handler and causes typhoid fever. Campylobacter can cause temporary paralysis. I have wanted to provide a little history here of the domesticated chicken. Eating red meat has more perils - but eating chicken has perils also. What we eat is each of our own individual decisions and what has been passed down to us. Many believe that eating chicken is not necessary and bad is for you, and unhealthy. The statement " if it had a mama and a papa " you should not be eating it has meaning to many. Chicken and turkey is served at a lot of the county and state fairs and [...]

By |2016-10-23T11:34:35+00:00March 4th, 2013|Chicken, Concessions, Food|0 Comments
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Food Vending, Pima County Arizona Part two

Well, as some of you may know I had a peanut brittle booth at the 4th Avenue Street Fair this year. I want to report to the food vendors about food vending at this event in Tucson, Arizona. As you know the 4th Avenue Street Fair is huge. It occurs twice a year one in December and then in the spring, usually in March. Competition to get into this event is very very high and there is a intense jury process that starts at Zapp For years I have hesitated in trying to get into this event as I believed the process to be too difficult - after all peanut brittle is a food product. My product is however pre-packaged and currently I have a wholesale food license from the state of Colorado. This license gives me a right to sell anywhere in the USA, including the 4th Avenue Street Fair in Tucson. Now, the 4th Avenue Merchants Association takes good care of its potential food vendors - and acts as a buffer between the Pima Health Department and the 4th Avenue event. My experience with the Pima Health Department in this regard was nothing short of dismal. Don't call them if you want into this street fair. Please just fill out the Zapp Application and once accepted into the show follow the instructions of the Merchants Association. Calling the Pima Health Department is a waste of time. They sincerely appear to not know what they are doing. I tried a few times. It appears that some of the people answering the phone there do not even know about this street fair. This is dismal. This fair is huge and very near the downtown area. Then there is a question of what regulations to follow at the street fair regarding screening in your booth. The Pima County Health Department told me one thing and the street fair another. Since the street fair is successful and its their venue - do what they tell you. So if you are a new food vendor hesitating because of the regulations concerning food vending in Arizona, and you want to do this event, just contact the Merchants Association and leave the Pima Health Department out of the loop. This is a great event for a new food vendor to do especially if you have a great new product that has not been at the street fair before.

By |2019-05-16T20:47:11+00:00January 4th, 2013|Fair, Arizona, Christmas, Colorado Wholesale License, Concessions, Food, Green Valley, Peanut Brittle, Tucson, Vendors|0 Comments
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AZ, 4th Avenue Street Fair Tucson, Christmas 2012

Well, I survived. I always wanted to do the 4th Avenue Street Fair in Tucson with my peanut brittle. I have been making and selling homemade peanut brittle for about forever. It is made in the shape of Christmas Wreaths, mostly, decorated and put into white sturdy pizza boxes. The Street Fair was to say the least an experience. Did I make money? Well, yes, but not as much as I had thought I would. It had been awhile since I had attended or looked at the street fair. The crowds are enormous. People go from Speedway to the bridge down 4th Avenue in droves and come back the other way in droves. I am convinced the crowds come a lot because the weather is usually great in Tucson this time of year. A lot of people attending the street fair are winter residents getting away from the cold northern climates. I must say I was rather disappointed in a lot of the booths quality. If I was running the fair I would be much harder in the jurying of the booths. A lot of the booths were great and had a good appearance and good quality stuff. Unfortunately, many had the atmosphere and presentation of a flea market quality. This street fair has been around a long long time and in my opinion it ought to present a more professional higher quality vendor. There was no help in getting me out of there after the fair was over either. The police seemed annoyed and bothered by the vendors trying to disassemble after the event. I ended up taking out my stuff by myself a block and a half in a hand cart. It was pretty impossible to drive down the street and pick up my stuff. Will I do it again? I don't know. It was physically and mentally exhausting. Besides, I rediscovered the fact that vendors for the most part are second class citizens for some reason. Its a shame because some of the vendors are really great artists and great art is important.

By |2019-05-16T21:00:31+00:00December 30th, 2012|Fair, Arizona, Christmas, Tucson, Vendors|0 Comments
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Mystery of the Colorado Wholesale Food License

Mystery of the Colorado Wholesale Food License I sell Peanut Brittle Candy as a side business. Seems like a simple enough idea. Right? My peanut brittle is wonderful and the product cooks at 300 degrees. Now, to sell a product like this to stores in Colorado you need a Wholesale Food License and a Sales Tax License and a Business License. Having a wholesale food license gives you the right to sell to businesses across the country. It will also give you the right to do events in different states with just the wholesale license. We have made it difficult to get all this. The process is quite hard. First, in Colorado your product has to be made in a registered wholesale food manufacturing and/or storage facility. and it has to be approved by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. So how does the average person, with no experience find such a facility? The first thing is to find a local business that has a registered kitchen with the Colorado Department of Public Health. Then talk to the owner and explain to them what you want to do and make some kind of deal to give them a cut of your income. This actually is the easiest part of the whole thing. The easiest way to get started with this process is just to call the Division of Environmental Health and Sustainability at 303-692-3620. They are very helpful and will tell you what to do. They cannot help you with sales tax however. More steps on Colorado Wholesale Food License: apply for wholesale sales tax license Doing Events as a vendor in the State of Colorado Colorado Wholesale Food License I hate to say this, it depends on the county. Some counties will take your wholesale license and need nothing else. Other counties have a mound of paperwork for you to jump through. Call the public health department of the county in which you want to do the event. Sometimes getting to the right department can be tricky, you need to be persistent and tell them exactly what you want to do. To Get a Single Special Event License (Colorado) -- For a temporary location other than your regular business location and valid for one event only where there are three or more vendors. This is a two-year license which is free to all standard sales tax license holders. To apply for this use the Special Event Application (DR 0589) form or use [...]

By |2024-02-29T08:40:59+00:00September 19th, 2012|Colorado Wholesale License, Concessions, Peanut, Peanut Brittle, Vendors|2 Comments
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Chili is great all year long

Chili is generally an easy meal to make and, fun for some reason.  Maybe the reason is that there are so many types and varieties. Chili  Chicken recipe One of my best remembrances is of running chili cook-offs in Arizona about 15 years ago. Chili is a big thing in Arizona. I would run a chili cook-off with a craft show. Then, of course, I would get to taste all the chili.  Arizonians like their chili hot and spicy and many is the night I would wake up with a stomach.  However, the remembrance of the taste of the chili - was terrific - it was all worth the effort and the nighttime pain. Generally, chili is made with ground beef - and the variations are endless, depending on the spice mixture you use. Here is, a Chili  Chicken recipe with  White Beans. 1 lb. chicken tenders or boneless skinless breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces (pre-cooked) 1 cup of chopped onion 1 can Great Northern Beans (use organic) 1 can of black beans (use organic) 1 can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes, with juice 2 tbsp chili powder - You can of course experiment with any spice combinations you want to try, just like the professional chili cooks would do. Cook this in a crock pot for at least 4 hours, longer is better as the spices settle in.   There are other ways to make chili - like a gazillion ways. Talking healthy, chili - you might use turkey instead of beef. I found a recipe that uses 1/2 can of organic puree pumpkin. Pumpkin is loaded in antioxidants and vitamins A, C, and E and goes well with tomato sauce. You probably could add it to just about any chili recipe. Time passes and as we age we find we cannot eat what we did when we were younger. Hence, sadly (in some ways) I have become a vegetarian. Not to worry... there are a ton of tasty spicy vegetarian chili recipes also. One of my favorites and one I use all the time is this recipe. Vegetarian Black Bean Chili 1 can of tomato bits 16oz - (give or take) 1 can of tomato sauce 2 cans of black beans drained (organic) 1 tablespoon of oregano 1 tablespoon cilantro 1 tablespoon of chili powder 1 1/2 cups organic vegetable broth 1 onion 1 green pepper 1 can of organic 16 oz corn (drained) fresh cilantro some chives - first sautee the green pepper, garlic cloves, and [...]

By |2024-02-29T08:51:27+00:00August 2nd, 2012|Chili, Concessions, Food, Vendors|0 Comments
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Food Vending at an Event, Pima County – AZ

Okay, Here I go again. Some of you know that I make a wonderful food product. I make Peanut Brittle and Agava Peanut Brittle. Last year I had a state of Colorado wholesale food license to sell it in the state of Colorado. With this license, I could sell in stores and do most of the craft events in the state. Some of the events had specific county rules, however. Now I want to do the 4th Avenue Street Fair in Tucson this December and the Green Valley Farmers Market, in Green Valley, Arizona. Now for those of you in the know, you know that this is a big undertaking. You have to have the booth, make sure it is weather secure, the tables, the signage, the product, and all the supplies. But, what is the worst of this whole experience is getting the licensing!!!!! There is an audio interview from the 4th Avenue Merchants Association from last year about selling food at the Fourth Avenue Street Fairs. The interview kinda makes it seem as if the process is fairly easy for food vending. Somehow I "think" not. I kinda get the feeling that Pima County and Tucson don't want any more food vendors and that will do anything they can do to prevent me from selling my Peanut Brittle. So here we go again, this is "exactly" why I have done this before. I have a wonderful product. So first they tell me online I need a Temporary Food Establishment License BUT first I need a Business License before I can get the Temporary Food Establishment license. Of course, they are not telling me - or even suggesting WHERE I get the Business License from. WATCH for my next post - and if you know something about this stuff - leave a comment. I am thinking that if I can get through the maze - maybe we will tackle another city and state next. That is if it doesn't kill me. More: Food vending

By |2024-02-26T06:14:50+00:00July 27th, 2012|Arizona, Concessions, Festivals, Food, Green Valley, Peanut, Peanut Brittle, Tucson, Vendors|1 Comment
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Is Popcorn good for you?

Well, it can be, if it is not microwavable with butter flavoring. Microwave buttered popcorn contains Diacetyl and acetone, two compounds that give butter its characteristic taste. They are also added to margarine along with beta carotene which gives the yellow color. The University of California showed that diacetyl may be linked to infertility and inhalation can cause respiratory problems. The Environmental Working Group has expressed concerns. Don't give up popcorn. Give it up in the microwavable. bag. You can also use antioxidant-rich grape-seed oil, high oleic sunflower oil, and olive oils for popcorn. Non-organic popcorn is on the FDA's list of top ten foods most contaminated with toxic pesticides and chemicals. Studies have shown that popcorn companies may be adding a toxic chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, to prevent any sticking, according to Shine from Yahoo! it may be a carcinogen according to the FDA! So buy organic popcorn, but not in the bag. You need a good popcorn popper. Try this one - The Sweet and Easy Popcorn Popper by Wabash Valley Farms. I have also looked on Amazon and there are several popcorn poppers available. Now if you are a food vendor at a fair or festival, you could offer real popped organic popcorn and charge a little more for it. I for one would be happy to pay extra for this wonderful organic snack. Let's know more: Is Popcorn good for you?

By |2024-02-26T06:32:15+00:00July 16th, 2012|Concessions, Food, Organic Food, Popcorn|0 Comments
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Want to Sell More Food and Beverages

I am always on the look out for stuff for our food concessionaires. So here are a few tips to help you sell more food and beverages. 1) Give your patrons food and beverage items they cannot find elsewhere 2) Hot-Cooked items will make more then pre-packaged items 3) Want to make more cash? make sure you are located near where a line for something is at the event 4) Create attractive displays of food for people to look at. 5) Cooking food in the open where guests can see and smell it - will work wonders for you. 6) Keep your food and beverage within the theme of your attraction. Like, a rodeo could have say - cowboy juice 7) You should of course have cotton candy and beverages because the mark up on these items is great. 8) Use a simple themed menu - too many choices is too confusing. 9) You could offer a discount for the staff who are running your event, or for that matter what about fellow vendors? 10) Make a deal with the event for those purchasing vip tickets. That will help the event and you!. If you can add to this list, please do and leave a comment below.

By |2017-08-03T20:46:51+00:00June 2nd, 2012|Concessions, Vendors|0 Comments
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