money Space Coast Gator Club celebrates culinary history of Brevard with scholarship gala
Before there was space in Brevard, there was agriculture.
Pineapple plantations sprouted across Eau Gallie and Merritt Island in the 1800s. Citrus crops took root. The area was known for beef and seafood, too, with an abundance of oysters and rock shrimp.
The Space Coast Gator Club, in conjunction with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences/Brevard Extension Service, will celebrate that heritage June 3 with Foods of the Space Coast, the organization's spring gala and scholarship awards program. The event will be from 5-9 p.m. on the rooftop of Pineapples EGAD, 1434 Pineapple Ave., Melbourne.
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Gator Club president Dennis Kelleher modeled the event after an FIFAS fundraiser called Taste of Florida that showcases all the food produced in our state.
"Having grown up in Brevard County in the '50s and '60s, everything was agriculture and fishing," he said.
Much of the developed land in West Melbourne was once cattle ranches, he said. Where Kennedy Space Center is now was orange groves.
"Some of the early settlers of Eau Gallie were Japanese American farmers who grew pineapples," he said, and the man who developed a way to make rock shrimp accessible was from Titusville.
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Kelleher envisioned the local Gator Club hosting an event that playing off that history. He worked with Janet Fannin, guest relations and private event specialist for the Pineapples, and Brevard County extension agent Angelika Keene to come up with a small plates menu and historical information to go with each dish.
Fannin said has enjoyed collaborating on the recipes and playing with the flavors of the past while giving them a modern twist.
Seven dishes with local significance will be served at educational tasting stations.
"Each will have information about where the food came from, where it is now and where it is going," Fannin said.
The menu starts with a Hearts of Palm Ambrosia Salad made from a recipe that came from Becky Kempfer, a member of the multi-generation cattle farming family. Native cabbage palms would have been used in the original recipe.
Next up are dirty oysters. While oysters farmed in Brevard weren't available, Fannin was able to get the bivalves from nearby Sebastian.
"Dirty Oysters is an old recipe," she said.
The oysters are shucked and topped with crème fraîche and caviar. In honor of the Gators, Fannin is using orange and blue caviar. And to give the old recipe a modern touch, a drizzle of blackberry puree has been added.
"It hits every flavor profile in your mouth," Fannin said. And she's right. The single cool, slurp of a bite bursts with sweet, salty, briny, creamy goodness.
Beef will be showcased at a live cooking station, featuring Pineapple's chef Ron Clemente and event sponsor Shay Rowe of Mercedes Benz of Melbourne. Locally sourced bistro filets will be rubbed with coffee and cocoa nibs, with pickled vegetables and a green goddess sauce.
A traditional cobia ceviche will take its flavor from citrus and pineapple. People think ceviche is raw, Fannin said, but it cooks in the acidity of lemon and lime juice.
Rock shrimp will be removed from the shell, lightly dusted and flash fried, then served with siracha aioli, lime and chives.
"They're very sweet," Fannin said. "They almost taste like baby lobster."
Next up is a pineapple, orange citrus salad with arugula, goat cheese and almonds.
The final featured dish will be fried gator bites with a key lime cream sauce. The gator was caught locally by Fannin's daughter, Kimberly Stark, and Stark's fiancé, Mac Herrell.
Kelleher said the Foods of the Space Coast is something new and different for the club. He hopes it's something guest will enjoy and something they can do again.
"We try to do things we hope will be a financial success," he said, raising money for scholarships for local students. "But we also want a connection to University of Florida. And we want it to be fun."
Foods of the Space Coast
When: 5-9 p.m. June 3
Where: Pineapples EGAD, 1434 Pineapple Ave., Melbourne
Tickets: $75, available on Eventbrite (bit.ly/3UrNj1J)
Also: 2023 scholarship recipients will be honored at the event. Receiving Space Coast Gator Club scholarships this year are Adit Sanjay Agarwal, Melbourne; Alison Niemeyer, Edgewood; Ayush Jain, Edgewood; Brielle Perini, Rockledge; Christian Gomez, Melbourne Central Catholic; Genevieve Lujan, Melbourne Central Catholic; Hailey Kon, Astronaut; Jeremiah Feizi, Satellite; Lance Avery Stern, West Shore; Lance James Cook, Edgewood; Lyla Schluraff, Cocoa Beach; Matison Herdon, Bayside; Megan Nguyen, Edgewood; Olivia McCarthy, Merritt Island; Salvatore Carlson, Holy Trinity; Thalia Schrumpf, Holy Trinity; Allie Kellner, graduate school; Courtney Lynn Antaloci, undergraduate; Kevin Donnelly, undergraduate; and Shannon Lee, undergraduate.
Suzy Fleming Leonard is a features journalist with more than three decades of experience. Reach her at sleonard@floridatoday.com. Find her on Facebook: @SuzyFlemingLeonard or on Instagram: @SuzyLeonard.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Tickets available for Gator Club's Foods of the Space Coast gala
