TILTH PRODUCERS OF WASHINGTON

NASH’S ORGANIC PRODUCE WINS SEATTLE WEEKLY’S PELLEGRINI AWARD

On the evening of April 27, Nash Huber of Nash’s Organic Produce was awarded the Pellegrini Award for positive impact on the Seattle food scene. The event, called The Voracious Tasting, was held at the Paramount Theater in Seattle and was sponsored by the Seattle Weekly. It is named for Angelo Pellegrini, professor, philosopher, vintner, cook, avid gardener, author and aficionado of good food and real human relationships.

Huber was unable to attend, but his wife Patty McManus and several of the staff of Nash’s Organic Produce, Kia Armstrong, Sid Maroney, and Chris Tipton, accepted the award on his behalf.

Born in Italy, Angelo Pellegrini came to the U.S. in 1914, and his love of simple cooking using diverse, fresh ingredients made him a culinary guru in Seattle decades before it became fashionable. He believed in sharing his delicious garden-fresh meals with good friends, family, and colleagues from the University of Washington where he taught Shakespeare. At their request, he put his thoughts and some of his cooking methods into a culinary memoir called The Unprejudiced Palate. The book has influenced many famous people, such as M.F. K Fisher, Henry Miller, Alice Waters, Theodore Roethke and Robert Mondavi, who shipped grapes to Pellegrini every year to make wine. You can find The Unprejudiced Palate in the lending library at Nash’s Farm Store in Dungeness.

Jon Rowley, the Pellegrini Award winner in 2006, nominated Nash Huber and Nash’s Organic Produce for the award this year. “Nash approaches life the way Pellegrini did-put honest, good food in front of people and relate to them. It’s a tremendously important component to a good life. Nash’s produce has helped Seattle change the way it eats.”

The Pellegrini Award is given to individuals who live their lives and run their businesses close to Angelo Pellegrini’s philosophy, but also to those who affect the lives of those around them. For over 30 years, Nash Huber has striven to bring fresh, honest, organic produce to his community on the North Olympic Peninsula. He has also sold produce wholesale to the Puget Sound area, mostly through PCC Natural Markets, and for the past three years Nash’s Organic Produce has sold fresh, organic vegetables, fruit, grain and flour to two Seattle farmers markets-U-District and Ballard.

“I am really honored by this award,” says Nash. “It’s about more than how we run the business, it’s about how we live and share what we produce.”