From the farm to the table
Why from the farm to the table?
I'm a firm believer in buying local resources. Getting to know your local farmers, your local butchers; the people that put so much pride into their work. It's also a way to give back to the community and educate yourself of where your products come from. When you're buying local, you're putting back money into your community, you're getting to know your neighbors, and you have better confidence that the product you're buying has been created in the best possible way. Farm to Table is more than just a movement. It's the proper way that we, as a society and as human beings, should be eating. Natural, real food is not meant to have a long shelf life. For example, if you go to your local artisan bread maker and buy a loaf of bread, it will lost you upwards of $10, and if you go to your local grocery store and buy a loaf of store-brand bread, it will cost significantly less. The bread you buy in the supermarket has an average shelf life of about 2 months from the date of production. Compare this with the local artisan bread, which will start to grow mold after about 1- 2 weeks. It is the addition of chemical processing that extends the shelf life of your food, making it cheaper and often times becoming the more economical choice for many of today’s hardworking families. However, this cheaper food comes at an expense, as this is what you're putting into your body.
This is the reason why I created Saveur catering. After many years of working in the local restaurant industry, i became frustrated with the process in which I was cooking. For me, cooking has always been a big part of my soul. And my soul wanted to go back to the traditions that have been passed down to me. For me, Farm to Table is more than just maintaining and utilizing local resources. It is about maintaining traditions, meeting others, developing relationships, and sharing their table. You're not only buying their products. From a local small vendor you're buying their memories and traditions that have been passed down for generations.
Not only as a chef my first choice is farm to table, but also being the daughter of two immigrant parents that have an agricultural background, I choose to enforce the traditions that I was raised with. Cooking for me is very personal. It is creating the memories that I have as a child. I is also connecting with the earth that gives us life. As everything in life, I have learned that creating food is hard work. My grandmother used to wake up every morning at 4am to start her day: feeding the animals, milking the cows. As a child spending my summers in Honduras, the last thing I wanted to do was wake up at this hour to. Help my grandmother with the duties of running a small farm, but I also learned the value of hard work and dedication.