Farm to Table/Fork/Market

Robin posted this on FaceBook and I thought it would be good discussion item for us foodies here.

IT'S A LONG READ. REAL JOURNALISM. Get a cuppa joe or a big glass of wine.

Would really like to hear from local farmers, restaurateurs & farmer's marketers on this.

http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2016/f ... staurants/

Richard

You are right it's a great story! Certainly a little long-winded but there are certainly a lot of restaurants in the Tampa area that need to up their PR campaigns a little to overcome the damage done by the article. It would be interested to see how local farm to table restaurants would fare if studied this closely.

I think a good summary would be:

Positive spin: Food sourcing is very complicated, and even well-intentioned business people can get suckered in.

Negative spin: Many things selling to peoples' better nature are scams, and always have been.

I think a good summary would be:

Positive spin: Food sourcing is very complicated, and even well-intentioned business people can get suckered in.

Negative spin: Many things selling to peoples' better nature are scams, and always have been.

I certainly agree with your negative spin but don't really think of anything positive that comes out of the article! People who operate a restaurant should know that food sourcing is very complicated going in so it shouldn't be any surprise to them. As far as well-intentioned goes I'm really not sure about that either, they just use terms and names in marketing that they know will please the customers.

There was a bit of a dustup in this forum several years ago. The owner of Sheltowee Farms called out a local restaurant for touting the use of their mushrooms when in fact the restaurant was not a customer. If anyone researched here to the degree the critic in Tampa did, I would not be surprised that he or she would find similar results.

Marketing marketing marketing!

There is very little "truth" out there anywhere anymore. But there is plenty of marketing. Nothing this article said surprised me. But if you think there is a disclosure problem with our domestic goods just imagine what's going on with our food stuffs from China. If we knew we'd all be gagging.

Too much of what we believe is due to a successful marketing campaign and not based on fact. Witness the "Got milk?" And "Milk, it does a body good" propaganda.

I finally got around to reading this. It is well worth the time and I would be curious to hear other reactions to it. My random thoughts:

-- At restaurants, I never gave a whole lot of thought to "local" claims because I knew that I had no way of verifying it. I'm not, like most customers, buddies with any of the owners and can't trust (or distrust) them on a personal basis. Since I can't verify, it isn't in my calculation for restaurant quality.

-- I'm more concerned about the misrepresentation of goods, particularly fish and seafood. I've known for years that crab is really "crab" at many places and I know to ask. Also, if it's a filet/slab of seafood as the entree, then it is usually obvious. But if the seafood is one small item in a larger dish, such as tacos or sushi, then what am I paying for? I'm not sure how to tell.

-- Farmer's markets. I don't buy packaged items there, so I can't react to that. But I have would have trouble believing that the veggies are leftovers/rejects from the area grocers, as was the case in the article. At FMs here, looks matter and if a head of lettuce is too bad for Kroger, I can't see it selling at an FM. I'm comfortable with veggies there. With meats and eggs, I know that it has to be easy to misrepresent, but I get them there anyway and will continue to do so on a weekly basis.

Lastly, has Leo or some other publication written about this? Some city papers reacted to it or did a (much) smaller-scale local take. It would be interesting to read how local markets verify their vendors, what their process is for choosing them, and educating us about (and promoting) our own local farmers and the Kentucky Proud program.

I think one obstacle to the viability of any farm to table movement is unreal expectation on the part of all involved. The economic strain of running a business that can compete in price and performance, while meeting the bureaucratic requirements, and still producing the food and products at a consistently high level are all difficult hurdles for anyone along the chains of custody in the "farm to whatever" movement. There are grand ideals by some that are far loftier than can be achieved realistically. Sustainability and viability are difficult to achieve for any small business, and restaurants, farms, producers, and purveyors in this niche business are not immune. I cannot tell you how often I have seen people at farmer's markets and tastings look at me with disappointment when they find out I do not personally slaughter each animal I sell in a barn on our property. Why I would slaughter an animal in a barn, or why they would want me to do so, I can not tell you. Instead I am left feeling like there is a gulf between what can be achieved in small scale agriculture and what people would like to fantasize about. I think many consumers are looking for a more authentic experience than can truly be provided at any public business, and perhaps they would be best suited by beginning to take up homesteading and wild game hunting than pursuing an affordable night on the town or day trip to the farmer's market.

Just out of curiosity Adriel, where are those animals slaughtered? I ask because the family I work for wanted to buy a whole (or maybe a half) cow for their freezer. They were specific as to wanting beef that was as hormone free as possible and organically fed and humanly slaughtered. ( I'm not even real sure what that would entail. She also wants it butchered properly.-? After questioning her I think what she really wants is an autopsy .) Before I make a ton of calls for them, what can I reasonably expect?

Just out of curiosity Adriel, where are those animals slaughtered? I ask because the family I work for wanted to buy a whole (or maybe a half) cow for their freezer. They were specific as to wanting beef that was as hormone free as possible and organically fed and humanly slaughtered. ( I'm not even real sure what that would entail. She also wants it butchered properly.-? After questioning her I think what she really wants is an autopsy .) Before I make a ton of calls for them, what can I reasonably expect?

We like many Louisville area purveyors use Boone's in Bardstown. It is another overlooked difficulty with local production that there are only a handful of local shops that have a kill floor and storage capacity large enough, along with the USDA required certification to do meat that is for resale. Slaughter is a touchy subject but it is important. It is overseen by the USDA, and the sites undergo supervision by a federal inspector who maintains an office on the premises. Whether it meets every bodies criteria for "humane" is another question, but for our needs we use them because we trust the family who runs it and have worked with them for a long time. They have a small enough input of livestock and enough experienced staff on hand that we know the animals are handled in a manner that applies the appropriate amount of care. I think of it like class size to teacher ratios. You want it small enough to insure all the kids are getting the proper attention from the teacher.

Memphis Meats, Marksbury Farm, and Trackside Butchershop are other butchers that spring to mind that you could investigate.

Just out of curiosity Adriel, where are those animals slaughtered? I ask because the family I work for wanted to buy a whole (or maybe a half) cow for their freezer. They were specific as to wanting beef that was as hormone free as possible and organically fed and humanly slaughtered. ( I'm not even real sure what that would entail. She also wants it butchered properly.-? After questioning her I think what she really wants is an autopsy .) Before I make a ton of calls for them, what can I reasonably expect?

We like many Louisville area purveyors use Boone's in Bardstown. It is another overlooked difficulty with local production that there are only a handful of local shops that have a kill floor and storage capacity large enough, along with the USDA required certification to do meat that is for resale. Slaughter is a touchy subject but it is important. It is overseen by the USDA, and the sites undergo supervision by a federal inspector who maintains an office on the premises. Whether it meets every bodies criteria for "humane" is another question, but for our needs we use them because we trust the family who runs it and have worked with them for a long time. They have a small enough input of livestock and enough experienced staff on hand that we know the animals are handled in a manner that applies the appropriate amount of care. I think of it like class size to teacher ratios. You want it small enough to insure all the kids are getting the proper attention from the teacher.

Memphis Meats, Marksbury Farm, and Trackside Butchershop are other butchers that spring to mind that you could investigate.

Thank you for your time and input.

My pleasure!