Natural Gourmet Institute (NGI) has been celebrating fresh, local, and sustainable food for 40 years, and we are continuously educating students on creating delicious dishes with seasonal produce from our local communities.
In honor of our 40th anniversary, we hosted a special Instagram sweepstakes contest in partnership with JetBlue, Hotel Henri, and Hotel Hayden. Two lucky winners, received round-trip tickets for two to New York City, a 2-night hotel stay, and complimentary tickets to NGI's North Fork Tour. Read on for details about the exciting North Fork excursion.
Long Island’s Suffolk County is the largest agricultural producer in New York State, and a major part of this is due to the bountiful North Fork peninsula: surrounded by water on three sides and enjoying, a temperate micro-climate, the area is rich in agriculture and seafood and is home to Long Island’s wine country. On NGI’s annual North Fork excursion, attendees spend an unforgettable day touring and tasting the bounty of this remarkable region with Chef Richard LaMarita.
This past October, the tour included visits to Garden of Eve Organic Farm, Macari Vineyards, Catapano Goat Farm, Greenport Harbor Brewery, and Widow’s Hole Oyster Farm. 
The first stop at Garden of Eve Organic Farm provided guests on the North Fork excursion to learn about and observe the farm’s 70 varieties of vegetables, 20 varieties of herbs, and 30 varieties of flowers. 
Stop two at Macari Vineyards included a wine tasting and history about the vineyard, which was founded in 1995. The biodiversity of the Macari family farm provides an extraordinary grape growing environment that yields some of the finest fruit on the East Coast. 
At Catapano Goat Farm, guests received a tour of the farm while learning about the goat milking and cheese making process. There was even an opportunity for the guests to milk the goats themselves! 
The visit to Greenport Harbor Brewery included a tour of their facility- where guests learned about the history of the brewery and were educated on the brewing process. Afterwards, guests were able to taste the different varieties of beer. 
The last stop was at Widow’s Hole Oyster Farm, which provided guests with the opportunity to see the five acres of bottom (or ocean floor) in Greenport Harbor where one of New York City’s favorite type of oyster are grown. To end the excursion with a bang, oysters were fire-grilled and given to guests to sample.
Check out more photos from this year's tour!
This post was originally published by the Natural Gourmet Institute. Learn more about today's Natural Gourmet Center.