what is local............?
when dining in some of america's favorite 'local foods driven' neighborhood restaurants one has to ask themselves- what determines that a specific product utilized in the kitchen by your favorite chef IS truly local............ who draws the parameters, and how do we keep the moral 'FOOD POLICE' active and how do we sleep at night knowing that some of the bragged about products on that favorite menu of yours are not local......... is 400 miles away local......? local cannot mean that a product was shipped in from over 400 miles away..... the carbon footprint on this product alone creates a conflict....... chefs and food purveyors in general usually practice local product procurement on the products that make sense geographically..... if your favorite neighborhood eatery boasts how LOCALLY driven they and their menu are- then offers up lamb from new zealand, how are you going to react at the chef's choice to bring in that lamb from over 3000 miles away to put it on your plate....... (the question is- do you even care) I would prefer to purchase the above mentioned lamb from a family run farm down the road that has adopted careful animal husbandry, rotational pasture grazing and other sustainable measures that will assure a low impact on the environment, put money directly into the community and allows me to travel to THE FARM to see with my own eyes that all of these standards have been met...... lobster from the cold coastal waters of maine are not local when served in the foothills of northern virginia...... do we consciously think of these facts before making that food purchase.....? prior to rapid mass transit, refrigerated cargo containers and factory farming the family meal plan and dinner choices were natural.......... you ate what grew in your region- hence no okra in vermont...... it just did not grow there....... but okra flourished south of the mason-dixon....... and come to think about it- there are no cranberry bogs in arkansas either....... as a professional chef I respects everyones efforts in the kitchen, and hell even I bend a little...... I have put sustainably harvested american (texas) shrimp on my menu from time to time...... and yes I am currently operating a 'local foods driven' kitchen in the piedmont........ but more over- I purchase 99% non industrial, sustainably raised, certified humanely dispatched meats (from blue ridge meats), as well as tons of local fruits, berries, nuts and tubers grown in rappahannock county to compile my weekly changing menus..... virginia has some true culinary treasures whether fermented, farmed, foraged or grown..................... traveling the hiways and biways of america you pass over 100 restaurants that offer crab cakes.......... is this right.......have you given it much thought...........!
when dining in some of america's favorite 'local foods driven' neighborhood restaurants one has to ask themselves- what determines that a specific product utilized in the kitchen by your favorite chef IS truly local............ who draws the parameters, and how do we keep the moral 'FOOD POLICE' active and how do we sleep at night knowing that some of the bragged about products on that favorite menu of yours are not local......... is 400 miles away local......? local cannot mean that a product was shipped in from over 400 miles away..... the carbon footprint on this product alone creates a conflict....... chefs and food purveyors in general usually practice local product procurement on the products that make sense geographically..... if your favorite neighborhood eatery boasts how LOCALLY driven they and their menu are- then offers up lamb from new zealand, how are you going to react at the chef's choice to bring in that lamb from over 3000 miles away to put it on your plate....... (the question is- do you even care) I would prefer to purchase the above mentioned lamb from a family run farm down the road that has adopted careful animal husbandry, rotational pasture grazing and other sustainable measures that will assure a low impact on the environment, put money directly into the community and allows me to travel to THE FARM to see with my own eyes that all of these standards have been met...... lobster from the cold coastal waters of maine are not local when served in the foothills of northern virginia...... do we consciously think of these facts before making that food purchase.....? prior to rapid mass transit, refrigerated cargo containers and factory farming the family meal plan and dinner choices were natural.......... you ate what grew in your region- hence no okra in vermont...... it just did not grow there....... but okra flourished south of the mason-dixon....... and come to think about it- there are no cranberry bogs in arkansas either....... as a professional chef I respects everyones efforts in the kitchen, and hell even I bend a little...... I have put sustainably harvested american (texas) shrimp on my menu from time to time...... and yes I am currently operating a 'local foods driven' kitchen in the piedmont........ but more over- I purchase 99% non industrial, sustainably raised, certified humanely dispatched meats (from blue ridge meats), as well as tons of local fruits, berries, nuts and tubers grown in rappahannock county to compile my weekly changing menus..... virginia has some true culinary treasures whether fermented, farmed, foraged or grown..................... traveling the hiways and biways of america you pass over 100 restaurants that offer crab cakes.......... is this right.......have you given it much thought...........!