FAR con M-TO c food erned -TAB w mov to loc ith pr LE (o al c o r e m e and nt i onsu ducing farmorga restau s prom mers. L food l to-fork r o ) com nic far ant com ted by inked ocally refers to t and mun min to a s m o m h u g d e e n itysupp initiat ities. I in the local eliverin movem ent agr food orte ives, t ma g t d ag sust y al icult mov hat ricu aina so be ure, emen food ltur ble t, th a s s o agr e. c icul iated service e ture w , , an ith d
FRESH Many farm-to-table advocates cite the works of Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, Michael Pollan, John Jeavons, Alice Waters, Joel Salatin and others in their preference for the freshest ingredients and in their attempts to educate their customers about the link between farmers, farm communities, ancient food-production practices, and the food we eat. Increasingly, the public backlash against genetically-modified organisms in our food supply has added a note of political activism to what had been, until recently, a largely aesthetic movement. Farm-to-table restaurants may buy their produce directly from farmers, usually local. In a few cases, the restaurants and farms may be owned and operated by the same people. Restaurants who choose to buy from local food producers regularly yield healthier, better quality meals for their customers. The farmto-table movement has arisen more or less concurrently with recent changes in attitude about food safety, food freshness, food seasonality, and small-farm economics. Advocates and practitioners of the farm-to-table model
FOOD frequently cite as their motivations the scarcity of fresh, local ingredients; the poor flavor of ingredients shipped from afar; the poor nutritional integrity of shipped ingredients; the encroachment of genetically modified foods into the food economy; the disappearance of small family farms; the disappearance of heirloom and open-pollinated fruits and vegetables; and the dangers of a highly-centralized food-growing and -distribution system. Among the first vocal and influential farm-to-table businesses were: Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California; Jerry Traunfeld’s Herbfarm in Washington; Blake Spalding and Jen Castle’s Hell’s Backbone Grill in Boulder, Utah; and Stone Barns restaurant outside New York City. In the last few years the number of farm-to-
FAST table operations has grown rapidly. Recently, some food and agriculture writers have begun to describe a philosophical divide among chefs: the “food-as-art”, or, in some cases, “molecular gastronomy” camp, including Ferran Adrià and Grant Achatz have increasingly focused on “food made strange”, in which the ingredients are so transformed as to be surprising and even unrecognizable in the final food product. The farm-to-table chefs, on the
Restoring the link between the farm and the table is an ambition shared by a growing number of restaurants.
other hand, have increasingly come to rely upon extremely fresh ingredients that have been barely modified, sometimes presented raw just a few feet from where they grew. Generally, the farm-to-table chefs rely on traditional farmhouse cooking, and may refer to their preparations as “vernacular food” or “peasant food”, with its emphasis on freshness, seasonality, local availability, and simple preparations.
BUY LOCAL
“
A farmers’ market (also farmers market) is a physical retail market featuring foods sold directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers’ markets typically consist of booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, where farmers sell fruits, vegetables, meats, and sometimes prepared foods and beverages. Farmers markets add value to communities. Farmers markets exist worldwide and reflect their local culture and economy. Their size ranges from a few stalls to several city blocks. In some cultures, live animals, imported delicacies unavailable locally, and personal goods and crafts are sold. The current concept of a farmers’ market is similar to past concepts, but different in relation to other forms – as aspects of consumer retailing, overall, continue to shift over time. Similar forms existed before the Industrial age but, were often part of broader markets, where suppliers of food and other goods gathered to retail their wares. Trading posts began a shift toward retailers who sold others’ products more than their own. General stores and grocery stores continued that specialization trend in retailing, optimizing the consumer experience, while abstracting it further from production and production’s growing complexities.
-
ago. Until then, where was all the food? Dear folks, the food was in
tables, near bedsides. It was in the - Joel Salatin
ORGANIC OPTIONS Carrots, blackberries, and fresh veggies at a local farmer’s market in Keene, NH
Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control. Organic farming uses fertilizers and pesticides but excludes or strictly limits the use of manufactured (synthetic) fertilizers, pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides), plant growth regulators such as hormones, livestock antibiotics, food additives, genetically modified organisms. A vegetable garden (also known as a vegetable patch or vegetable plot) is a garden that exists to grow vegetables and other plants useful for human consumption, in contrast to a flower garden that exists for aesthetic purposes. It is a small-scale form of vegetable growing. A vegetable garden typically includes a compost heap, and several plots or divided areas of land, intended to grow one or two types of plant in each plot. Plots may also be divided into rows with an assortment of vegetables grown in the different rows. It is usually located to the rear of a property in the back garden or back yard. Many families have home kitchen and vegetable gardens that they use to produce food. In World War II, many people had a garden called a “victory garden” which provided food and thus freed resources for the war effort. With worsening economic conditions and increased interest in organic and sustainable living, many people are turning to vegetable gardening as a supplement to their family’s diet. Food grown in the back yard consumes little if any fuel for shipping or maintenance, and the grower can be sure of what exactly was used to grow it. Organic horticulture, or organic gardening, has become increasingly popular for the modern home gardener.