Farm to table has been used to sell so many things that mean nothing that you can be forgiven for tuning the phrase out entirely. But on our side of it, the meaning is concrete. It is the moment in late summer when the tomatoes come in faster than we can cook them and the menu pivots overnight to soak up the surplus. It is the December afternoon a hog gets butchered and the entire kitchen team spends two days breaking it down. It is the simple economic fact that when food does not travel, it tastes like itself.
There are also things farm to table is not. It is not a luxury experience. The original farm to table cooks were peasants. Working with seasonal ingredients is not exotic, it is ancient, and it is what most of human history ate by necessity. Pretending farm food is precious does a disservice to both the food and the farmer. The best vegetables we grow get cooked simply, salted well, and eaten while standing around the kitchen counter.
If you want to eat closer to the source where you live, start by knowing one farmer by name. Visit a farmers market often enough that the vendor at one stand remembers your face. Ask what just came in. Cook it the way they recommend. After a season you will have a different relationship with food, and you will spend less money for better meals.
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