A: “How would you like to organize a dinner of local food for 500 people at the base of a vacant grain elevator?”
L: “Um, I have no catering or much restaurant experience.”
A: “That’s ok.”
L: “Why not?”
That simple and with as much positive attitude, I have found myself in this new role that oddly calls on most of my life experiences. A waitress at Baker’s, was married to a chef I helped through the Culinary Institute of America, hostess for a minute, organic farm apprentice, farmer’s market bouquet maker, Local Food Forager for Whole Foods Market, along with a parallel career as a painter and art professor. From this range of situations, the relationships I have developed with farmers have been the most meaningful. Take note of that fact – after twenty five years of working life, the people who grow my food are the ones from which I receive the most sustenance.
The dinner; I agreed to coordinate this massive event because it intrigued me that someone thought it up and was convinced it could be done. I saw a wonderful opportunity to bring together local chefs who are already buying local and bragging about it on their menus, hopefully inspiring others to do so. And what a great market for our area growers at a time of year when the abundance is often overlooked by customers busy with school, sports and already planning for holiday overextension. With a shared vision of a long table blending folks from all walks of life, breaking bread and talking about the massive grain elevator behind them and what its use and disuse could mean, I have thoroughly enjoyed the ride of this planning process.
The task seemed daunting; I even considered backing out, so we tried one version of how the day could go and decided it didn’t quite fit. To have a caterer take care of everything certainly seemed the easy route, but we wanted to provide opportunity for the talents of the community, create a continuous family table to rival the elevator, and afford varied perspectives. Accepting the challenge along with the satisfaction of doing it as collaboratively as possible, I dove in. Chefs were invited and many responded. We apologize if you were missed, and would love for you to let us know if you are also using local food on your menus. Feats of scheduling have been performed and we have successfully met twice with the whole team to discuss service and menu.
Details are still coming together and may be altered by the very last minute produce offerings at the market that weekend. Starting with salad mix, dressing with Nebraska made vinegar, cheese, bread, pickles, preserves and honey; we will enjoy five more courses throughout the afternoon. There will be vegetable stew, pig roasted on site the day before, and in a stunning coup, bison will take over for beef as the red meat entree, head to toe, no less. This is one of the amazing outcomes of our discussions so far – responsible meat purchasing. Rather than leave a farmer with pounds and pounds of cuts or grind that they can’t readily sell, we will be utilizing whole animals. And the chefs are already talking about how they can work together in the future to share purchasing and keep this going.
This is when I get goose bumps; seeing the possibilities for real change in food buying. Is this the goal of Emerging Terrain’s Stored Potential project? I don’t think there was a goal besides conversation. Maybe conversation about land use sounds irrelevant, but everything around us is based on land use. From what we eat to how we get to work to where we live, land use is involved. Like politics, it is not about right and wrong, and even though it is often decided somewhere else, it does affect our day to day life. Now change only happens when we begin discussing things, but conversation in and of itself is a necessary and dying art. Face to face talk about what surrounds us, and over such wonderful food? Who will be joining us?
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christina narwicz said,
August 28, 2010 1:26 am
can’t wait to see what Elle Lien creates. She is one of the most innovative farm to table chefs in the Midwest! Tru grass roots!