SUPPLY SIDE: “It is very exciting what is happening here. There is a cresting wave of agriculture, farmer’s markets and local and sustainably produced food.”
—Jon Rowley, food producer/activist
IN DEMAND: ‘Food from nearby farms is inspiring and it comes to us with that something special, called life What is more vital or intimate than the food that we consume?’
—Deborah Madison, chef
The day was all about relationships.
For one thing, there was the “speed dating” format. Plus, there was a whole of lot heart-to-heart talks about deal-breakers and deal-makers.
On one of those early February days in Seattle that hint at spring, more than 200 farmers and chefs gathered for the inaugural Seattle Farmer-Chef connection.
“It’s time for the ‘peppa’s’ to pick the peas!” exclaims Linda Chauncey, associate dean of Seattle Central’s Culinary Academy, acting as matchmaker of sorts.
Chefs were wearing “peppa” nametags while the farmers and food producers sported nametags with peas. Ecotrust, an Oregon-based nonprofit organization committed to developing sustainable food systems, hosted a sold-out, daylong gathering at the UW Center for Urban Horticulture. The event was designed to introduce some of our brightest food producers (farmers, ranchers, and cheesemakers) to Washington chefs.
Mission accomplished.
“The farmers are here looking for a market and the chefs are here because they want access to local, fresh and sustainably produced products,” explains Sylvia Kantor, from Washington State University’s King County Extension. “It’s a good match, hence the dating game.”
It widely accepted that cooking is chemistry in the kitchen, whether it is about mixing ingredients or turning up the heat. This first annual Farmer-Chef Connection expands the chemistry to relationships. Food is business. Fresh food is relationships.
“Standing in the back of the room and just listening to the buzz it is really exciting,” says Mary Embleton, executive director of Cascade Harvest Coalition, a local organization committed to building healthy food and farm systems. Embleton especially praises the “electric” speed-dating setup—every “couple” gets five minutes together, then moves on to the next potential customer/supplier.
“These relationships really are just like speed-dating,” says Eric Tanaka, corporate executive chef for Tom Douglas. He says, “there has to be something there” for the chef to take a new vendor
’Something’ to it
As most of us know, that “something there,” can be apparent in moments, and even in the world of chefs and farmers, is more similar to love connections than you might think. Tanaka mentions common goals and a shared vision for the future.
“Do you both agree about how the product will be used?” asks Tanaka. “Do you like them and do they like you? Do they have that special something? It is hugely important.”
Tanaka met with ranchers, farmers and a local tofu maker. He admits to feeling a spark for the folks from Bluebird Grain Farms.
“They custom mill their flour,” he says, blushing. “They have local products that you don’t see too often.”
Not your run-of-the-mill grains?
Tanaka appreciates Bluebird’s uniqueness. He likes the rare ingredients, like amaranth, that Bluebird brings into businesses and lives.
“Food from nearby farms is inspiring and it comes to us with that something special, called life,” say Deborah Madison, an award-winning chef and cookbook author, during her keynote address. “What is more vital or intimate than the food that we consume?”
Madison speaks of the “fine and subtle charge” that local and fresh produce brings to menus. She speaks from experience as a chef and catalyst. She is a regular speaker at organic farming events, talking up the notion of chefs and producers forming friendships and local food alliances that represent nothing short of culinary love.
For her part, Madison can taste the “fine and subtle charge” of local, fresh produce at many events at which she speaks. The accompanying potluck dinners have offered “some of the best dishes” she’s ever tasted.
”[The charge] doesn’t come when food is at the other end of a 1-800 number called at midnight,” she stresses. “Buying direct is more complicated and needs commitment.”
While some local chefs make the time to visit Washington farmers and producers (see story, next page), the recent Farmer-Chef Connection makes things a bit more convenient. Every seat is filled and handfuls of registered attendants create a standing crowd in the back of the room. If bodies are any indication of commitment, buying direct is a relationship —so long, wholesalers—which many within the food-industry seek.
“It is very exciting what is happening here,” says Jon Rowley, a food-marketing consultant who specializes in oysters and keeping our Puget Sound clean. “There is a cresting wave of agriculture, farmer’s markets and local and sustainably produced food.”
One of the most exciting things about this fresh and local wave is that sustainable ingredients and sumptuous flavors always seem to bring us back to the health of our planet and our own bodies.
King County Executive Ron Sims is spotted at the event, receiving compliments about his new body shape from participants. He notes the farm-chef connection is a critical step in farmland preservation.
“We are so lucky to live in a place where farming can flourish in such close proximity to our urban core,” he says.
Good question
One audience member asks Sims about the city’s responsibility toward institutions and their purchase of local produce. Specifically, when will our public schools begin feeding kids fresh and local food?
Sims pledges to bring school officials into his office and discuss the switch.
For the farmers, connecting to chefs can provide financial stability and the not-unimportant upside of being featured in popular restaurants.
“The restaurant angle has really provided us a good balance for our production,” says Luke Woodward, farmer with his wife Sarah Caasidy at Oxbow Farm near Carnation.
Woodward was part of panel that presented ways to strengthen business relationships. He readily allows he is good at growing great food and not as good at selling it.
“We were able to get through all of our food for the first time this year[because of restaurant relationships].”
“This event is part of rebuilding connections between local growers and food buyers,” says Jen Lamson, a founding partner of Good Food Strategies, a Seattle-based marketing company committed to promoting local food. “Once upon a time, this is how people got their food from local producers.”
Once upon a time, food didn’t travel thousands of miles to reach your plate, increasing numbers of kids didn’t develop diabetes, quality-grown food didn’t need a warranty label and GMO was a yet-to-be tagged acronym.
Can we go back there please?
The Seattle Farmer-Chef Connection event was sponsored by: Cascade Harvest Coalition, King County, Ecotrust, Chef’s Collaborative, Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Market Association, Washington State Farmers Market Association, Washington State Department of Agriculture, WSU Extension-King county, WSU Small Farms Team. For more information visit:www.farmerchefconnection.org or www.pugetsoundfresh.org.
Ritzy Ryciak is a regular contributor to Seattle Conscious Choice. She will be exploring more local food issues in the growing and harvest seasons ahead.