Farm-to-table eating: What does that mean? Doesn't all food come from farms?
This is a conversation I have had with a few folks. Those of a certain age, like my dad, remember when everyone grew the majority of their food.
They had victory gardens and depended on the food they grew, since money was tight and some items were rationed during the war. It was necessity, not fashionable.
Then, as the country recovered from the war, populations moved to the suburbs, people returned to work for companies in cities and the victory gardens of the past started to dwindle.
Most of us still have a few tomato plants every year and maybe even a few cucumber plants, but the food system further became nationalized, as I wrote about awhile back, with regional food systems giving way to more centralized growing areas like California, Florida and the wheat and corn fields of the plains.
Now, we have large companies devoted to distributing food across the country to provide us with year-round foods of all types.
Want strawberries in December? No problem. How about apples in May? Sure, why not.
This transition is important if you want to understand why not everyone gets the farm-to-table movement. This centralized food system that delivers to our every whim has created a generation of people who may not realize that they are so detached from their food - and I don't mean just those under age 30.
I had a friend take me out to a farm-to-table dinner in Chicago. It was delicious, but I did not have the heart to tell her that it wasn't really farm-to-table.
For starters, fresh seafood any time of the year in Chicago can't be local. The menu had great choices, the food was prepared tastefully and the service was great. However, the food was not local.
What I should have seen on the menu were dishes featuring locally grown asparagus, peas, micro-greens and spinach, not to mention the staples that come from greenhouses such as tomatoes, lettuce and basil.
I would have thought we would see the remaining root vegetables that so many of us are tired of come early spring.
Seasonal eating is not always easy to plan, especially for restaurants (my hats off to the farm-to-table establishments that are truly using locally sourced, seasonal food). It takes some discipline and training to eat this way.
For example, my heart was broken the other day when my farmer friend told me that the ice cream I had become addicted to (Sweet Violet Creamery's Goat Milk Gelato), was only available until the end of August. What? Why?
"All this milking takes a toll on the 'girls' and we like to clean them up and let them rest before we breed them" she explained.
In my defense, I am a very new, very beginning farmer who specializes in poultry and vegetables; but I should have realized that.
For those who think this is no big deal, that means no goat milk or fresh feta either. Not until April.
But fear not, winter squash season is just around the corner, and the butternut squash, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts will be here before you know it. I can hardly wait.
I encourage you to try to eat local. Start with something easy, like 50 percent of your meals at home between now and October.
Visit your local farmers market, farm stand or local market and see what is in season.
The Farmers' Almanac offers a planting and harvest schedule based on zip code, and most farmers markets will be able to tell you what is coming into season near you.
So, next time you are looking at a menu, think about where your food comes from. Is it in season? If not, then it may not be local unless is it's a food that can be canned or frozen.
So while you can enjoy local strawberry jam, strawberry baked goods and strawberry wine year-round, that bowl of fresh berries and whipped cream will have to wait until May if you live in the West Virginia or Ohio.
BethAnn Earl is the president and acting market manager of The Wild Ramp Board of Directors. The Wild Ramp is a nonprofit, year-round indoor farmers market in Huntington, open six days a week.
BethAnn was one of the earliest Wild Ramp producers, selling garden vegetables from Urban Farm. Through her involvement with The Wild Ramp, her farm business grew, expanding to a 108-acre farm in Southern Ohio last year.
The Wild Ramp is located at 555 14th St. W., Huntington. For more information, visit wildramp.org, call 304-523-RAMP (7267) or email info@wildramp.com.