Farmhand Foods, the small wholesale distributor of local, pasture-raised meats, has changed its name to Firsthand Foods.

When the Durham company filed its trademark application in 2011, it received a “cease and desist” letter from S.F. Investments, Inc, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods. Farmhand Foods’s co-founder Jennifer Curtis said Smithfield claimed that her company’s trademark was too similar to Smithfield’s brand, Farmland Foods.

While Smithfield-brand pork products can be found in Triangle grocery stores, its Farmland line of pork products are not typically sold within 200 miles of Raleigh. (I have seen them in Missouri and Iowa.) Federal officials had given initial approval for Farmhand Foods to use its name and trademark but Curtis said Smithfield Foods still planned to sue over it. Curtis said her small company couldn’t afford the $60,000 to $100,000 in legal fees it would have cost to fight it.

Curtis’ co-founder, Tina Prevatte, said in a press release: “After a year of trying to protect the rights to use our name, we decided to embrace Firsthand Foods as our new name and focus on growing our markets, supporting the farmers in our network, and continuing to help build a robust local food system here in North Carolina.”

So what does Smithfield have to say about the dispute? Keira Lombardo, Smithfield’s vice president of investor relations and corporate communications wrote in an email: “There was a trademark dispute between Farmhand Foods and SF Investments, which was amicably resolved under a confidential settlement agreement and which involved Farmhand transitioning to a new name.”

As of May 1, Farmhand Foods is now Firsthand Foods. Their products are available at Weaver Street Markets, Chatham Marketplace, LoMo mobile market, The Raleigh Wine Shop and the MAE Farm Meats stand at the State Farmers’ Market in Raleigh. You may be more familiar from their products via their food truck, the Sausage Wagon.

To celebrate its fourth anniversary, Taste Carolina food tour company is branching out from offering tours of the Triangle's foodie hot spots.

Owner Leslie Stracks-Mullem has organized a series of events highlighting how food artisans and chefs partner with local farmers.

The company hopes people will buy tickets to all multiple events. To attend all six, it costs $249. Five events cost $215. Four costs $180 and three costs $138. Remaining tickets for each event will go on sale one week prior to the event. Tickets can be purchased online at tastecarolina.com.

Here is the schedule:

• 6 p.m. April 18, a tour of Chapel Hill Creamery's farm followed by a cheese dinner at Acme Food & Beverage Co. in Carrboro.
• 6:15 p.m. April 23, a cooking demonstration and dinner featuring The Farmer's Daughter and Farmhand Foods with Piedmont Wine Imports at Eastern Carolina Organics.

Each fall, Durham Central Park offers a series of fundraising dinners called Meals from the Market. The schedule of those events and tickets are now available HERE.

One of those events is a small food truck rodeo called "Trucks from the Market" next Sunday, Oct. 14 from 6-8 p.m. Instead of long lines and trucks running out of food, this will be a ticketed event to make sure everyone gets a taste off every truck. So for $50, you get a taste of food from all 13 trucks, 2 Carolina Brewery beers and hopefully a lovely Sunday evening in downtown Durham.

The participating trucks include Only Burger, Pie Pushers, Triangle Raw Foods, Chick-N-Que, Mama Duke's, Sympathy for the Deli, Porchetta, KoKyu BBQ, American Meltdown, Farmhand Foods, Monuts Donuts, The Parlour and Daisy Cakes.

Here's where it gets good for one lucky Mouthful reader: the organizers have offered a pair of tickets for free as a giveaway.

So you know the drill, leave a comment below this post before noon, Thursday, Oct. 11. I will pick a winner at random and arrange for the winner to pick up tickets at the event. Good luck!

Now that I'm back at work after my maternity leave, I'm trying to catch up on the Triangle dining scene. In between interviews this week in Durham, I got to check out two spots that have opened in recent months: DaisyCakes, (photos above by Staff photographer Juli Leonard) that longtime member of the food truck scene now has a brick-and-mortar location; and Loaf, an artisan bread bakery that got its start at the Durham Farmers' Market.

Click on READ MORE to see my entire post.

REMINDER: Durham's Bull City Burger and Brewery is reviving the old New York beefsteak tradition with its Beefsteak Octoberfest.

Owner Seth Gross calls the event "a meat eater's and beer lover's gastronomic festival."

It will be from 4 p.m.-midnight Saturday, Sept. 17. There will be two seatings; one at 4 p.m. and another at 6:30 p.m. The restaurant will not serve burgers on this night and there will be no vegetarian options.

The menu includes an assortment of beef, lamb, pork, offal and sausage provided by Farmhand Foods, which specializes in local-raised meat. The $45 ticket also gets you two beers and unlimited fries, bread, celery and radishes.

Tickets cost $45 for adults and $20 for a chld. Tickets are limited and only available online at www.bullcityburgerandbrewery.com. The event will benefit Habitat for Humanity of Durham.

To read New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell's classic story about New York beefsteaks, go to http://bit.ly/1PCYsh
 

If  you are looking for something to do Saturday, there will be a food truck round-up starting at noon outside The Casbah on West Main Street in Durham as part of Bull City Rumble.

The Durham Cookery has rounded up several of its food truck clients for the event: Chirba Chirba Dumplings, Deez Hot Diggity Dogs, Farmhand Foods, Grilled Cheese Bus, and Pie Pushers. Plus Only Burger and Ice Queen, an ice cream food truck from Greensboro, also will be there. Go HERE to see more details about the trucks.

Have fun! If you head to a round-up, remember the lines will be long and you might want to bring a lawn chair.
 

Durham's Bull City Burger and Brewery is reviving the old New York beefsteak tradition with its Beefsteak Octoberfest.

Owner Seth Gross calls the event "a meat eater's and beer lover's gastronomic festival."

It will be from 4 p.m.-midnight Sept. 17. There will be two seatings; one at 4 p.m. and another at 6:30 p.m. The restaurant will not serve burgers on this night and there will be no vegetarian options.

The menu includes an assortment of beef, lamb, pork, offal and sausage provided by Farmhand Foods, which specializes in local-raised meat. The $45 ticket also gets you two beers and unlimited fries, bread, celery and radishes.

Tickets cost $45 for adults and $20 for a chld. Tickets are limited and only available online at www.bullcityburgerandbrewery.com. The event will benefit Habitat for Humanity of Durham.

To read New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell's classic story about New York beefsteaks, go to http://bit.ly/1PCYsh
 

Brian Bottger, who manages the Only Burger truck, called this morning to tell me about the biggest food truck gathering to date in the Triangle. It will be from 5:30-8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 14 at Durham Central Park, where the Durham Farmers' Market meets on Foster St. 

Bring your lawn chairs and maybe umbrellas to stay out of the sun.

Here is a list so far of those trucks who will be in attendance: Only Burger, Pie Pushers, The Parlour, KoKyu BBQ, The Grilled Cheese Bus, Parlez-Vous Crepe, Farmhand Foods, Slippin' Sliders, Klausie's Pizza, Don's Classic Ices, Sweet n Savory, Kona Ice and Locopops.

A few more trucks may RSVP before Sunday so check back for an updated list.

In conjunction with Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, they are offering a free showing Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, April 16 at Durham Central Park.

The film will be preceded by a Food Truck Round Up starting at 6:30 p.m. under the park pavilion. Food trucks in attendance include: Farmhand Foods Sausage Wagon, Daisy Cakes, Joey D’ NY Dogs, Only Burger, Parlez-Vous Crepe, Klausie’s Pizza, Slippin’ Sliders, and The Grilled Cheese Bus.

Remember, if you are on Twitter, follow me @andreaweigl and then follow my list, Triangle Food Trucks, to keep track of their locations. Go HERE to see the list.

You could eat your way through the Triangle food truck scene in one day with these events.

There will be a food truck event from 4-8 p.m. Saturday, March 19 at Al's Garage in Carrboro. The trucks that will be there include: Captain Ponchos Tacos, Parlez Vous Crepe, Only Burger, Will and Pops, and Blue Sky Dining.

If you can't get to Carrboro, many food trucks will be gathering in Durham for the Marry Durham event starting at 4 p.m. Saturday at Motorco. The trucks include: Bulkogi Korean BBQ, Daisy Cakes, Farmhand Foods, Klausie’s Pizza, KoKyu, Lloyd’s Outside Grill, Locopops, Pie Pushers and Slippin’ Sliders.