Science vs local vs chain......

[shroomgirl]

DF,
as you probably know the term "organic" is owned by the US govt now. To use it without certifing is illegal. I founded and have run a growers' market for 7 years prior to that (and certainly during that time) I worked with alot of farmers and chefs in the area in educating the public on what was grown locally and in many cases how it was grown. Interesting shtuff came out through the years. Grocery stores wanted the organic certificate. The state of Mo had a cutting edge state organic certifing program that cost farmers $100 (of course all the paperwork and junk that goes along with that). But the certifier made it easier for small farmers with 300+ varities on their farms to certify. Nationally the system was set up for organic monocrops.....huge industrial farms that followed the rules they helped legislate.

In the mean time, there were farmers left and right jumping on the organic bandwagon and stating their produce/meats were just as good as the small farms that certified. I've been to a whole lotta farms and you can tell who is walking the walk the majority of the time. "sustainable" "biodynamic" "ecofriendly" all are bandied about with no set definitions. Knowing your farmer, visiting his/her farm and listening are key components to actually knowing about your food source. It's developing a relationship.

Farming is like a restaurant in many many ways. I'll elaborate later, gotta go sell some umbrellas I've had stored.
Good conversation. Vermont is doing some great things< I need to come visit.

[Txacoli]

Luis Andoni Aduriz at Mugaritz......Ferran Adriá. You/we need to get with the program and know these names. Juan Mari Arzak and Xaby Gutierrez, Comerc24 and Carles Abellan, Wylie Dufresne and Nathan Goldfarb. This train left the station years ago.....these young guys are decades ahead of the French and Germans. Super creative, super technical, super detailed and focussed. All my guys have worked in Spain, or trained with guys who worked in Spain.....and we are considered old school.

You mean you buy from somewhere other than farmers' markets? How does that work? Where else would you get purple basil and rocky sweet melons? Butter potatoes and limequats and little gem lettuce?

[Mikeb]

Originally Posted by Txacoli

This train left the station years ago.....these young guys are decades ahead of the French and Germans.

Not a chance. The French were cooking sous-vide before most people even knew what the word meant... The term "Molecular Gastronomy" was originally coined by Hervé This (a Frenchman) and Nicholas Kurti (Hungarian). Pierre Gagnaire is as creative and technical as any chef in the world, and still pushing the boundaries of cuisine everyday... France still has more top-level restaurants than anywhere else in the world. To say that the French are behind the times is ignorant.

Certainly Spain has it's share of talented, creative chefs, as does the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere. I would recommend young chefs go to any of these countries to learn.

[shroomgirl]

Tonight was the 5th farmer-chef class in a series of six I'm coordinating as a benefit for Clayton Farmer's Market. Gerard Craft owner-chef of Niche made
searred scallop on almond broth with caramelized apple and apple air (really light foam from apple cider)

Braised pork belly with fresh corn, polenta and bacon foam (yum)

Matthew Rice, the pastry chef at Niche who owns Varucca's made caramelized apple crisp. He's so creative. I love talking to this guy so much.

They are buying alot of local, making relationships with farmers and twisting some of it to make it fun....still clear clean flavors of the great products coming through but it has play to it. Some of my favorite meals in STL have been in their small 45 seat restaurant.

Spain is where people are looking, I still enjoy Larry Forgiones food every chance I get.... twisting turning adulterating ingredients, turning them inside out and changing the textures is ok occasionally but day in day out I want "real food". Just my two cents.

[tcapper]

If its new and exiting food then the guy you want to watch is Heston Blumenthal from the Fat Duck in the Uk.

Heston is kind of a mad scientist. He analyses food components and if you get 5 or more matching compuonds then its a taste match.
(im not a scientist so dont ask)

eg snail porridge
caviar and chocolate

He also does things like bacon and egg ice cream

check out his website, pretty cool

[shroomgirl]

he's been working with food scientists for several years, they were holding a symbosium in Europe several years ago and I picked up on the article in the NYTimes. Interesting shtuff.

[Stephanie Brim]

Originally Posted by shroomgirl

Y'all know I'm pathological about the local food arena, but I am concerned about the idea of "what if we succeed?" What if we actually get lots and lots of restaurants, schools, hospitals and other institutions to buy local? What then? Can my marvelous farmers actually provide the food needed for the university of Iowa foodservice? Not today, and not tomorrow. So while all us real food people are busy winning the war, somebody ought to start thinking about winning the peace.

So how do all these small producers meet the demand they (and we) are creating?


Kirk, there are many size farmers.....right now Whole Foods is on a local buying campaign, there are loads of locally grown foods in the store at this time. Many of the "small" farmers are now selling at multiple farmer's markets, selling to co-ops or CSA shares, they are wholesaling to restaurants including the food service at St. Louis University's Fresh Gathering Cafeteria.
I've been on the board of a sustainable community group based at the University of Mo in Columbia. They have a work in progress to get local food in the system.
From 1998 when I started working with farmers, chefs and schools there have been more opportunities for farmers.....it's been a slow growth process.
But now more restaurants/cc are buying local, there are 5 new growers markets other than the one I started.
I'm sure you've read about the small farms that grew in CA and Chicago area.
AS with us all there's a certain comfort level we all have with growth. You have multiple restaurants, I guess you grew organically when it felt right.
I too started a mid-week market when the time was right and a winter pantry when it was time to provide a space for the farmers to sell in the winter.

U of I can start selling local at one cafeteria, or source local proteins year round. They can have classes, special dinners, start the ball and the demand rolling. There are more than farmers growing on 15 acres or less. Some of the farmers at my market have hundreds of acres.

I'd love to start the ball rolling on buying locally. My boyfriend and I tend to be patrons of Slim's Market near Story City and also Wheatsfield Grocery in Ames. Local produce (and some non-local stuff that you can't really get anywhere else) at Slim's and local artisan cheese (including raw milk cheeses), milk, eggs, and meats at Wheatsfield. My love for cooking has become even greater since I tried some of these local things. I've never tasted cream or milk as good as the stuff coming out of Woodward. Slim's is the only place in Iowa to get a really good Missouri peach and other produce from Iowa and other parts of the midwest. In the winter, when Slim's is closed, I turn to Wheatsfield for seasonal organic produce.

I think the main reason why people turn away from this is that they think it's an ungodly expensive way to purchase food. It is a bit more expensive, usually, but if your food is better and, because of that, you feel better, who really loses?

It's kind of a sore subject for me. Too many people don't think it's worth it. The boom in the popularity of eating healthy has helped, but people still really aren't informed of the benefits of buying locally.

I actually think that this is why I want to become a chef so badly. Showing people that local ingredients and simple preparation can make incredible food is something I feel is important.