We have a lot of phrases in the restaurant business, some of these phrases are meant to tell you something about the food you are offered: sustainable, organic, local, etc. I'm guessing that the person describing and the person listening are not always talking the same language. So let's you and I get on the same page with the term "farm to table."
Really this idea is the "premise" for many of the chef driven restaurants in Chicago and other cities, too. The basic idea of a chef serving the most delicious and freshest food possible to guests is a common denominator of the best places to eat. Chefs have discovered -- or rediscovered, because it's really "old" knowledge -- the food that tastes the best is what is grown in your own back yard and picked that morning. If you have ever gone out to your garden and picked an ear of corn off the stalk and eaten it right away, there is nothing more delicious. So, I wonder, how do I recreate that moment for my guests?
Connecting with farmers that take pride and care in growing their food is a huge step. Having the food come from a farm that is close enough so the food can be picked that morning and delivered to your table the same day is ideal. In the summer, when tomatoes are ripe, picking them and never putting them in refrigeration can make a huge impact on the favor. Add some basil, salt, and pepper and a drizzle of good olive oil, and you don't need anything else!
The Green City Market in Chicago has been a successful tool for connecting people to local farms. Here's what makes Green City Market unique:
- We require farmers to be present at the market. It gives chefs and the public an opportunity to get to know the person behind the food. It opens the door for conversation-understanding-education about where our food comes from, the seasonality of the food, and what the challenges are in supplying us with the best food.
- Each farmer is committed to using growing practices that are respectful of the earth and "sustainable." We verify this by asking our farmers to have an outside agency certify them. We currently accept 7 types of certification. Certification keeps the market "transparent" so that anyone can understand what we mean when we say "sustainable."
One fun and exciting educational component to the Green City Market is "The Edible Garden." What better way for people to experience fresh food and really understand where it comes from than to grow it themselves? Our garden, in Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, is a teaching garden that 25,000 people go through each season. Many of them are from local school groups and they get actual hands-on experiences of planting, weeding, and harvesting. The garden grows heirloom varieties of vegetables that are on our "endangered" list. Vegetables that may be difficult to grow or don't store well on a shelf are perfect for our Edible Garden and for our farmer's market because they are unique and most of them are delicious.
There are challenges dealing with local farmers: delivery issues, supply issues, etc.. But the care that goes into the product and the flavors that present themselves at the table far outweigh any of these challenges. The key is, we have made a durable connection to the local food system. For the chefs and their restaurants, the wonderful flavors of fresh food, the creativity that is a natural result of seasonality; work their way into the menu and transform what we serve to our guests to enjoy. No true chefs would select products that weren't the best they could find to serve to their guests. I know chefs who have gone the extra length of having a garden just for the restaurant. Now that's farm to table!
--
Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/prairie-chefs/2011/06/post-2.html
~
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com
Sharing is Sexy !
About the Author
0 komentar: