A world of microgreens, micro herbs, heirloom vegetables, specialty lettuce and edible flowers is blossoming at The Chef’s Garden®, a small family farm in Huron, Ohio. At the root of this American family success story, is a secret ingredient that ensures that chefs serve their customers product with optimum shelf life, quality, flavor and nutrition. It’s been lovingly and meticulously nurtured with centuries old sustainable agriculture practices. That secret is The Chef’s Garden’s soil.
About 30 years ago, before the Chef’s Garden was even a concept, I was approached at a farmer’s market near Cleveland by a chef named Iris Bailin. She had recently returned home from Europe, classically trained in the high arts of French cuisine, searching for the same ingredients that were easy to find overseas. After taking a look at our offerings from the farm, she asked if we could sell her the blossoms that grew on our squash.
Thank you to all who came out to learn, eat and be inspired at our 2nd annual Roots Conference. We hope you enjoyed your experience at Roots and that you made enduring connections and took away information that you are able to incorporate into your work and your life.
"For the first time in my career I had the opportunity to breathe life into a restaurant that is not chasing trends but a restaurant that had no choice other than represent a place and time by producing food representative of its past, present and future." Chef Kevin Sousa
A brief discussion with Cortney Burns of Bar Tartine, Nephi Craig of The Native American Culinary Association and Bob Jones Sr. of The Chef's Garden about the food system and the fact that it is broken. Focusing on vegetables and the question, "How do we transcend the notion with real world applications that vegetables are reserved for an elite group and not accessible to the masses?" Do we need a vegetable butcher?
Chef José Andrés, the keynote speaker at the Roots Conference, talks about the feeding of nations and the future of food. At the Conference, held in Milan, Ohio in October Chef Andres also announced his new fast casual concept.