Out & About: 'Diet for a Small Planet' author visits The Westmoreland

The Westmoreland Museum of American Art will have a part in an upcoming segment of the PBS news magazine series “Retro Report.”

“Retro Report” is doing a piece on Frances Moore Lappé, author of “Diet for a Small Planet,” a pioneering 1971 book on the global impact of meat production and the argument for environmental vegetarianism. Moore Lappé visited the Greensburg museum for its Sept. 21 Dinner for a Small Planet, with “Retro Report” producer Sandra McDaniel in tow.

Air date for the segment is not yet available.

The evening included pre-dinner conversation with the author and a vegan/vegetarian meal inspired by the book, prepared by chef Taylor Kalasky, owner of Yumzio Bistro in downtown Greensburg. Moore Lappé also was available for a book-signing.

On the menu were carrot soup, stuffed peppers and tomatoes, zucchini lasagna and spice cake with vanilla bean ice cream. Kalasky said the fare was representative of ingredients she uses at the bistro and she was grateful for the “good exposure” the event provided for her work and for the vegan/vegetarian community as a whole.

The “Small Planet” dinner tied in with the museum’s current exhibition, “Era of Cool,” featuring iconic work from the 1960s and ’70s by artist John Van Hamersveld, who will visit the museum for an Oct. 2 evening of conversation and the Oct. 5 Big Art Party.

On the dinner list: Richard M. Scaife Director/CEO Anne Kraybill with her mother, Peggy Bentley, visiting from Chapel Hill, N.C., and Chief Curator Barbara Jones, along with Keith and Shirleah Kelly, Richard and Eileen Stoner, Barbara Ferrier, Debbie Woods, Larry and Pat Smitley, James Duesing, Ed Motznik, John Wilson and Annie Cohen-Wilson, Carol Zera, Thomas Paquette, Patricia Sprague, Marilyn McSparrin, Phyllis Riddle and Thomas Moore.