The Naïveté Of Cooking Native

Farmers Markets, food festivals, your neighborhood bistro, even the supermarket. Local foods are everywhere. The ‘locavore’ movement has been set on fire in this country, and the flames are being fanned by a broadening consumer base, independent and corporate restaurants, important non-profits, food service companies- even some conglomerates- as well as other movements and businesses that all support this ethos.

From straight edge hipsters on single speed bikes, to affluent soccer moms in SUV’s (yes, they are still driving them), professors, lawyers, brick layers and retirees- everyone wants to ‘keep it local’. For the most part, this is great news. We all know by now that buying local supports small businesses and local economies, puts your dollars back to work in your area, makes you feel good and is an important part of creating community.

I have personally always been a proponent of purchasing foods for my restaurant and stores locally, not because it is hip and trendy, but because it makes sense. Why would you consider buying corn from Iowa, Illinois or Nebraska, when the best sweet corn you have ever tasted comes from just down the road at the peak of season? Why would you purchase pork from a giant factory hog farm like Smithfield, when the pork grown by the gray haired dude 20 minutes away, is more flavorful, tender and has better marbling?

Well the reason you might, is because of price. Local food is not cheap. Small production, local food relies on a less cost effective work force (it rarely employs underpaid migrant workers, like factory farming), utilizes land that is more expensive to purchase and maintain (trust me- there are no back room real estate deals for independent farmers who want to purchase or lease land), and for farmers raising animals, that breeding stock comes at a steep price if purchasing heritage breeds, not to mention the sky rocketing costs of taxes, equipment costs and supplies. Add to all this the fact that the contentment, feed and overall care of the animal is maintained and generally managed much more closely. This means the end product is going to be more expensive. A turn off for some, an understood and necessary evil for many others.

While it is my goal to produce menus that utilize as many local goods as possible, the above dilema is a reality to cooking ‘native’, that restaurant chefs have to endure every week when those invoices start rolling in. Believe it or not, I would much rather my menus be focused on seasonality rather than regionality, as attempting to purchase 100% of my ingredients from around the corner obviously isn’t possible for many reasons. Strictly speaking from a small business perspective: purchasing in that fashion would bankrupt my restaurant real quick, as I would have to charge exorbitant prices to compensate for the cost of goods. On a recent trip to California, I chatted up a local poultry farmer at a Farmer’s Market. At the end of our conversation he said “Alright, I’ll give you the chef’s discount for these dozen eggs…that’ll be seven dollars”. With my gaping mouth collecting flies, I paid the man, thanked him and walked away as white as his Langshan White Hens. Seven dollars for a dozen eggs! That’s the ‘chef’s discount’?!!!

 I believe that chefs need to view ‘buying local’ as ‘gravy’. In my view, if you can create a fully functional, well costed and high-selling menu or menu item that is seasonal and delicious, then you are off to a good start. If you can seal the deal by purchasing as many of those ingredients from local and sustainable sources, then you have really done it right. Conversely, if you are a chef or restuarant that purchases local produce, then congratulations- you are most likely already cooking seasonally.

Meats however, bring us chef-types more of a challenge. Locally raised and slaughtered livestock can easily be twice as expensive as commodity meat- or even meat that is responsibly sourced, but that comes from distributors. The most expensive relationship is that of the chef and the pig farmer. The reality of small production animal husbandry and rearing is that those animals come from expensive breeding stock (particularly heritage breeds), they typically require more expensive feed (not only is it not the cheap, highly processed corn byproduct that is soaked with additives, hormones and stimulants used in mid-western factory farms, but often we need to ship that feed in), these animals require more land and space to grow, and lastly are being slaughtered in independent facilities that charge more.

Additionally, issues like land taxes, USDA certification, and lower animal yields all play a huge part in why going local with your meat, can be spendy. Here in New England, the local infrastructure for farming has literally gone through atrophy. 100 years ago, Main St. was lined with feedstores, farming equipment wholesalers,  smokehouses and slaughter facilities. Today, our livestock farmers have to drive hours to get their animals slaughtered and packaged for market.  

These are all factors that need to be discussed and recognized. Another point which requires elaboration is that as chefs-while many of us have the goal of purchasing as local as possible- also have a business to run. We are forced to make judgement calls, tough decisions and to choose our battles on a weekly basis. The pressure to commit to sourcing everything locally is ever present. I have watched many chefs who might have interest in buying local, but who simultaneously have responsibility of towing a certain bottom line, feel outcast and shunned by consumers because they can’t make the numbers work. How do we stem these two realities, and find the sweet spot where locally supported agriculture and livestock is more accessible and less intimidating for those interested in participating in the movement?

As a small business owner, I get asked to participate in fundraisers, galas, tastings, festivals and off -premise events practically weekly. More often than not, the organizers want me to donate my time and the time of how ever many other cooks I will need to assist me, as well as the ingredients for hundreds of people! How does this compute? How can I afford to talk the talk, walk the walk, and do it all for free? I can’t. I am forced to try to manipulate the dish and the ingredients used in that dish to address all angles- to appease myself, my costs, my local farmers, the event supervisor and the public. I might be a hospitality veteran, but that’s a lot of pleasing to do.

I have seen and heard the reprimands by pundits and bloggers, upon their experiences with chefs. “He said he’s all local, but I heard he buys dairy from Hood”. Or, most recently: ” (I watched a demo by a chef) who is an advocate and crusader for the use of local, organic and natural ingredients. He prepared five different recipes, and most of the ingredients he used were local ones. But, while preparing one of the appetizer dishes, he used a meat, a pork product, from San Francisco!”

So what? Maybe that guy really liked that cured meat from California. Maybe it’s flavors complemented his dish better, maybe he got a really good deal on it, and since he was feeding 100 pudgy attendees out of his own pocket,  it made the most economical sense! Listen- I’m all about going local whenever possible- my business is built on that very credo. But there is a certain heavy bottomed naïveté that purchasing local is the onlyway. Ask 10 chefs if they could create a $2 taco (sale price) from local meats and produce, while maintaining a 30% food cost on that taco, and you would get a resounding and collective “No”.

So, herein lies the query. Is buying local worth it? For me, it is. As I mentioned earlier, the most expensive relationship is that of the chef and the pig farmer. Well, it is also the most rewarding. I love nothing more than working with my local farmers, getting excited with them about what they are growing, coming to them with new ideas of items to grow or animals to raise for the upcoming season. Without this collaboration, and these types of relationships, cooking for me would just be a futile attempt at going through the motions. The conviviality, passion and energy that oozes from the relationships we have as chefs to our producers, is everything. It is the lifeblood of our creativity, our vision and ultimately, our businesses.

I think the question is how can we all work together to realize the hidden costs associated with purchasing locally, talk about it openly and find solutions to these problems? These issues take a lot of consideration- there are literally layers and layers of issues to consider. For a chef, the hidden costs associated with buying local are cowering in the dark corner like a blood thirsty hyena, ready to pounce on the wounded. How do we get these issues out into the daylight, discuss them together and make changes so that we can alter the ecosystem of food in this country?