There’s a movement underway in Kentucky and elsewhere, focusing on something we all share — the basic need for food just about every day of our lives. This movement urges us as consumers to demand more locally produced foods in our grocery stores and restaurants. More people are joining the backlash against artificially produced food.
Sure, organic food not mass-produced by large corporations costs more, but those who have tasted the difference believe in efforts to bring fresh farm products to more people of all incomes.
“The main reason is once people make that farm-to-table connection, whether it’s personal or through restaurants, they realize there’s quality when people take close care in raising food,” said Bob Perry, special projects manager for sustainable agriculture and food systems at the University of Kentucky. “Once you taste that quality, most people will never go back to industrialized food.”
Perry, who came to UK in 2006, is what the dean of the Agriculture Department calls the “chef in residence.” He’s been a professional chef for 25 years with such operations as private yachts, steamboats, high-speed ferries, trains and restaurants that don't move. He also does food consulting. He once was food director for Kentucky State Parks.
“Most restaurants get their food from a broad purveyor. These companies carry everything from food to cleaning chemicals to tableware,” said Perry. “You can get almost anything from these companies. You’d be hard-pressed to find out which farm the food came from. There’s almost no way to know. It’s not intentional; that’s just the way the system has evolved.”
In the farm-to-table movement, Perry is trying to put a face with the food.
“We are very blessed with a strong local food movement, like the Lexington Farmer’s Market [founded 1975] and Good Foods Co-Op [founded 1973], among others,” he said.
Perry calls the movement a three-legged stool involving society, economics and ecology.
“When you’re buying local, no matter on what scale, the money will turn over in the community and foster further economic growth,” he said.
He describes this food as being grown in a way that does not harm the environment but enhances it.
“Pasture-raised meats, like cattle, pigs and sheep, that live from birth to death on pasture land with no artificial environments — you get some really high-quality products with that,” said Perry.
He relishes providing naturally raised chickens and their eggs, he said.
“They’re eating good feed, but also the bugs and grubs and grasses outside,” he said. “The yolks from these chickens are extremely colorful — bright yellow or orange — and they have more depth of flavor.”
Several restaurants in Lexington, including Alfalfa’s, Table 310, Azur, Dudley’s on Short, Portofino and more, are providing fresh, locally produced, natural foods. Regionally, Heirloom and Holly Hill Inn in Midway, Ky., and Beaumont Inn in Harrodsburg, Ky., embrace the movement.
Some of that food comes from a special place in Garrard County.
“The difference in our product is how it’s raised. The animals are antibiotic, hormone and steroid-free and come from grass-based agriculture,” explained Richard McAlister, founding partner in Marksbury Farm Market in Lancaster, Ky. It’s a USDA meat-processing plant and distribution center with a retail butcher market attached.
“The scale with which we do this is much smaller than most,” McAlister said. “We fit well for some farmers, but not for others. That’s just part of the food business.”
An operation must make the grade to be affiliated with Marksbury. The company turns away farmers who don’t meet its standards.
“We buy products [animals] from farmers who raise it in the manner in which we ask. We’re very careful. We have strong relationships with producers. They understand what we’re after and provide it,” said McAlister.
Marksbury is slowly capturing a greater percentage of the consumer market. For a lot of people, what Marksbury does is a different way of eating. Marksbury controls the quality and source.
“Customers [restaurants] buy from a business [like Marksbury] that buys from farmers and processes it the way we want it and then distributes it. It’s now a little easier for restaurants [to get food products],” he said.
McAlister said it’s not unusual for local restaurants in Lexington to list in their menus the source of their meats. Local farms compete for the designation. It’s all good for the local economy.
McAlister said many large food corporations still produce products of high quality, but not all of them do.
“Ultimately, it’s the consumer who makes that decision, or the chef or owner of the restaurant,” he concluded.
Perry, who has had his own French provencal bistro, “The Farmer’s Hall,” said more restaurant goers need to know about the food they order and often pay a high price for.
“People should ask restaurants the source of their foods and seek out restaurants that truly buy locally; then, as the adage goes, ‘A rising tide lifts more boats.’ The more food we buy locally, the more farms we support locally,” said Perry. “We are helping ourselves, and besides, it tastes so good.”