The ninth annual Tomato Sandwich Taste Off will be held on July 27th from 9:00-11:30 at Trailblazer Park in Travelers Rest.
The Taste Off, which is a fundraiser for the Travelers Rest Farmers Market, pits eight local chefs against each other in a competition for the best tomato sandwich. The event’s attendees will sample all eight sandwiches and vote for the winner.
This year’s competitors include: Feed and Seed, Fireforge Brewery, Humble Roots Cheeses, Sunbelly Cafe, Sunflower Restaurant, Southern Growl Brewery, and the returning champion, Urban Wren. Each restaurant will submit a different take on the southern summer staple with only one rule: no meat allowed.
Entries in the past have ranged from the creative to classic. One legendary entry in years past was the “tomato ice cream sandwich” by Southern Pressed Juicery. Last year, Urban Wren’s chef Taylor Montgomery took the event’s Big Tomato trophy with a charcoal-infused bread and black heirloom tomato.
Duke’s Mayonnaise will be highlighting the competition for the third year as part of its “Hot Tomato Summer” campaign. Mayonnaise is often considered an essential ingredient of a tomato sandwich, and the Duke’s brand originated less than ten miles from the market in Eugenia Duke’s kitchen near Camp Sevier in the 1920s.
The competition takes place at the Travelers Rest Farmers Market, which will be hosting an additional 85 vendors, live music, children’s activities, and food trucks. The farmers market is held every Saturday from May-October from 8:30-12:00. The Tomato Sandwich Taste Off is the farmers market’s largest annual fundraiser.
Tickets cost $25 and can be purchased here: https://www.travelersrestfarmersmarket.com/shop/2023-tomato-sandwich-taste-off-ticket
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About Travelers Rest Farmers Market
Last year, Travelers Rest Farmers Market supported 33 farmers at market on Saturdays. Forty-eight percent of its farmers farm on 2 acres or less. The USDA’s definition of a local farm stipulates that food doesn’t travel further than 400 miles from where it’s grown. The Travelers Rest Farmers Market shortens that distance by requiring all of its vendors to be from within fifty miles of the market.
The Travelers Rest Farmers Market is a 501(c)3 nonprofit located in Travelers Rest, SC. As the largest independent farmers market in the state, it welcomes an average of 95 vendors on a typical Saturday in the summer. Last year, the TRFM celebrated its fifteenth anniversary. It began with just six vendors at Sunrift Adventures in 2008.
CONTACT
Jessica Mullen
Director of Development
jessica.trfm@gmail.com
(478) 955-7225
Travelers Rest Farmers Market meets on second Saturdays in February and March from 12:00-3:00. TRFM returns to weekly markets on Saturdays from 8:30-12:00 starting April 27th.
