CHARLESTON, W.Va. - When "buy local" becomes the focus of articles in the finance section, you just know that what we have all seen as a continually increasing trend now reflects an even more profound lifestyle change than we had previously recognized.
From what I remember as a kid, a bowl of Campbell's tomato soup and a toasted cheese sandwich for lunch was about as American as apple pie. But last month, Campbell's Soup announced major shifts in the way the company has been doing business for more than half a century, an effort to address the fact that a growing number of people don't trust where their food comes from.
Campbell's is attempting to respond proactively, and to counter this distrust by establishing their own food information website, WhatsInMyFood.com.
I visited the site, which already has a lot of information, but it is certainly a work in progress as they continue to put the details about their products online in a comprehensive way. It unquestionably points to a change in attitudes among their customers (and potential customers) if Campbell's is prepared to make these sweeping changes and is going to all this trouble to let folks know not only what is in their cans and other packaging, but where it came from.
As consumers, we can actually get the same information about where our food comes from much more easily. When we buy from a roadside stand or other direct market, we are buying it from the actual producer at the site where it was produced.
It is also worthwhile to note that when we do buy local farm products because we care about quality taste and good nutrition, we are following the example of many excellent West Virginia chefs and restaurants who have concentrated on featuring in-state products and ingredients on their menus for years. One notable example here in Charleston is the Bluegrass Kitchen.
Another is South Hills Market and Cafe, where owner chef Rich Arbaugh, who recently achieved his certified Executive Chef designation by the American Culinary Federation, has also received a highly coveted invitation to prepare dinner on Aug. 25 at the extremely prestigious and selective James Beard House in New York.
Arbaugh will be showcasing our West Virginia products by presenting a New Appalachian theme menu with ingredients like pork belly, ramps, buckwheat and morels. (If you would like to see the full menu, visit www.jamesbeard.org/events/new-appalachian.)
Another excellent example of a restaurant that buys local - a little bit out of town but still only a pleasant hour's drive up Interstate 79 - is Cafe Cimino, in Sutton. In fact, Cimino's chefs Tim and Eli Urbanic not only have been purchasing extensively from local producers for years, they actually raise some of their ingredients themselves.
I always enjoy hearing Melody Urbanic tell the story of one summer when she and Tim would leave the restaurant at 9:30 in the evening and drive to their farm to pick heirloom tomatoes by flashlight, so that they would have a fresh supply the next day.
Still farther north, and maybe a little far to drive just for dinner but absolutely worth the stop when you are going to or from Morgantown or Pittsburgh, is Provence Market in Bridgeport. Anne Hart, owner and executive chef, has for more than a full decade not only been purchasing, but also cultivating farmers to produce various products just for her restaurant that they hadn't previously been accustomed to growing.
By working with the farmers in this way, her approach was essentially the same as what Alice Waters, the founder of "buy local" was doing in Berkeley, California, in the 1970s.
And of course, a major leader in the buy local movement here in West Virginia is chef Dale Hawkins, now of Fish Hawk Acres, who provided the recipe at the end of this article for your summer picnic.
In fact, the term "New Appalachian cuisine" which Arbaugh is featuring at the Beard House, was coined by Hawkins in 2005 and registered as a trademark of the Collaborative for the 21st Century Appalachia. It describes an entire movement in and out of state - and promoting this style of cooking is the reason for the Cast Iron Cook-Off.
Over the last decade, the Cook-Off has become the premier gourmet culinary competition for the entire region, pitting well known and highly accomplished chefs in West Virginia and neighboring states against each other as they use local ingredients to reinterpret traditional recipes.
This year, however, the competition is shifting its emphasis to identify West Virginia's emerging culinary leaders - "rising star" chefs who have three years or less experience as an executive chef or restaurant owner. And the competition is interested in enlisting your help in identifying these individuals with the promise of a reward.
As an enticement and reward for your good Samaritan deed, if the chef you nominate is selected as one of the six competitors in next year's Cook-Off, on Feb. 6, 2016, in Charleston, you will receive a complimentary ticket for a dinner with wine at the event.
For more information about the cook-off and the nomination process, visit www.castironcookoff.org.
Chef Dale Hawkins' New Appalachian Slow Roasted "Hawg" Shoulder and Barbecue Sauce
6 to 8 pounds pork shoulder (make sure it is a true shoulder, which has both the picnic and butt - many grocery stores call pork butts "pork shoulders")
2 bulbs garlic, peeled
3 lemons, juiced
Salt and pepper
Make slits in pork shoulder with a paring knife and insert garlic cloves.
Season roast with salt and pepper.
Sear in roasting pan at 450° for 30 minutes. Turn oven down to 200° and roast uncovered (17 hours total). After the first two hours of roasting, baste with lemon juice.
Baste roast every couple of hours with the rendered pork fat and lemon juice that has accumulated in the bottom of the roasting pan.
Pork should pull apart when finished. Stack high on Kaiser or onion rolls and add Barbecue Sauce (recipe below), but don't drown it; pork cooked this way has a wonderful flavor on its own.
Barbecue Sauce
4 lemons cubed without rind
2 onions, diced
1 cup white vinegar
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
5 teaspoons of kosher salt
Place all ingredients in sauce pan and simmer for one hour.
For more information, visit C21C and WVFarm2U at www.wvfarm2u.org. Send questions or comments to Allen Arnold at aarnold@wvfarm2u.org.