Locavore

Well, this is my first post.  I will post something everyday, be it photographic, memoir, instructional, my opinion, philosophy, relevant to culinary arts or not for one year.  All will be related to my job as a cook, a chef and a restaurant owner.

What's on my mind today?  Seasonality and sourcing local produce and meats.  Quite frankly it's on my mind everyday.  I think it is safe to say it should be on everyone's mind, especially those who share my profession.  At the restaurant we are truly committed to using local products, especially those from small producers and/or businesses.  It is something that is important to me and my wife and therefore our business.  We love knowing what we support, knowing the names of who we support and knowing the children and animals of who we support.  Why?  Well, I could go on and on about the economic importance.  I could ramble endlessly about the many virtues it carries to living a healthier lifestyle.  I could journey into the simplicity of it being piece of mind.  All of these factor into our ultimate reasoning, but to me the most important factor is flavor.  The utmost most important attribute food can have is flavor and the simple result from using local ingredients raised by small producers is produce and meats peaking with flavor and beauty.

Small producers care about their product, they have to otherwise you will move on to someone else.   We are fortunate enough to have a restaurant that is in an agricultural area that has a boasts core of small farmers just outside our city lines...in some cases inside the city lines.  They work extremely hard to produce delicious tasting foods that look as good as they taste and, I know it's a novel idea, they also stand by their product.  They are always pestering me about the quality and offering to replace anything that might not be up my standards...I have extremely high standards and in three years and I have yet to ask for a replacement.  Wonderful people, beautiful land and amazing meats and produce.

Using said producers is a choice we make and we understand that that choice has its ups and its downs.  One of the downs is price.  Understand that the producers we use are exactly like us.  They are doing what they can to make ends meet, to support a lifestyle that makes them happy and to possibly save something for the future...the American dream.  In some cases we pay only a few cents less than you if you are getting your goods from them.  This obviously affects our prices.  Our prices are now higher end of the spectrum not because we are necessarily offering something different than another restaurant but because we choose to know who we are supporting.  We can live with that.  Furthermore we are proud of it.  Are we the only restaurants doing this?  Of course not, and believe me that is a good thing.  Are there restaurants that do just enough to be able to claim that they are like us?  Of course, a few too many in fact.  It is upsetting that they are taking advantage of you and me.  It creates a white noise by making us look like we are playing on the same playing field when we are not.  Restaurants and businesses that are committed to the cause receive a lessened value because of it and just look like they are over-charging.  We are just over-supporting.

The so-called locavore movement is a good thing.  It was one of the few fads that hope has a long shelf life.  There are three things necessary for life: air, water and food, maybe it's time we start caring more about our food.

I have to place my orders for tomorrow...