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Behind the Line

Topic: State of the Industry/Trends

Molecular/Farm-to-Table

Do you secretly wish the farm-to-table hysteria would just go away, since everyone should use fresh food anyway?

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Yes and no. If not everyone is using farm fresh food, I'd rather my guests know that I'm one who does. So in that sense, I'll fly the farm-to-table banner as high as it'll go. Now if we could g... more »

Last updated: Dec 25 2012

 
"Farm to table" as a catch-phrase has become a little passe. It seems as though, restaurants that cling to it are justifing doing as little as possible to their ingredients. While I certainly don... more »

Last updated: Sep 18 2012

 
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  • Hugh Amano
  • Chef
  • Food on the Dole
  • Chicago, Illinois
Absolutely--but not so secretly! My position is that while the support of the farms is a great thing, I fear it is a trend/fad, and we all know what happens to those. Just ask Max Headroom or try t... more »

Last updated: Jul 14 2012

 
Pat headshot
It's an unfortunate necessity until we get to a point that as both diners and chefs we can be certain in our food systems that we are growing for quality and not quantity. It should be the logical... more »

Last updated: Feb 27 2012

 
Jen headshot
No, I think that the more hype around it, the more people will understand how important it is. Not just on from a restaurants point of view, but for people to bring in local and fresh foods to thei... more »

Last updated: Feb 18 2012

 
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I think the trend is a positive turn for America, as long as it takes for all people to eat healthy and to be educated on their food I don't mind.

Last updated: Nov 15 2011

 
Kardas-7-em
Absolutely. I think if you are a chef with any kind of integrity you use the best possible ingredients anyway. In my experience fresher food equals better tasting so I use local quite a bit but don... more »

Last updated: Jun 29 2011

 
L
i would just prefer everyone used farm fresh food. we dont list the farms we use or use them as a "brand" on the menu. no need. we let the food speak for itself. the hysteria is acceptable because... more »

Last updated: Apr 3 2011

 
Pizzadinner-04
Indeed, everyone should use fresh food and so I suppose I wish the celebrating of using quality ingredients would die down. However, one of the primary reasons we celebrate farm to table cooking i... more »

Last updated: Feb 26 2011

 
_mg_9930
It should be the standard, not something special. Unfortunately, it still is the exception and not the rule. For this reason, I don’t get tired of hearing about it. The more it’s out there, the mor... more »

Last updated: Jan 8 2011

 
Prtrait
  • Edward Lee
  • Executive Chef
  • 610 Magnolia
  • Louisville, KY
Labels are always problematic especially when one tries to encapsulate an entire cuisine or movement in a catchphrase. But it's still important to keep the motivation behind the label going. I sti... more »

Last updated: Dec 13 2010

 
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  • Jason McLeod
  • Executive Chef/Owner
  • Box Tree Restaurant, Inc
  • San Diego, CA
It would be great if everyone did use fresh food, but we are so far away from that, so I say keep the Hysteria and maybe more and more will eat fresh food... But yes we should all eat fresh food, ... more »

Last updated: Dec 13 2010

 
Picklesordinary
true enough, but the fact that we have strayed so far away is the reason it has to be brought back into focus. It used to be "the way it was," now it's conceptualized because of some missteps alon... more »

Last updated: Dec 13 2010

 
Jillg
Everybody should use fresh food. I love knowing where my food comes from. farm to table used to be the norm , and i hope it's back for good.

Last updated: Dec 13 2010

 
Chefjimmyjr
Farm to table is great and should be used only if the product is good.

Last updated: Dec 13 2010

 
Fehribach_paul
For chef-driven restaurants, use of locally grown produce is de rigeur today, so I think it's important how far we've come. It's just not news anymore. I think we can all look forward to the day wh... more »

Last updated: Dec 13 2010

 
247
It is necessary to have and impossible to universally achieve. So I'm glad it's keeping a lot of people honest

Last updated: Dec 13 2010

 

Last updated: Dec 25 2012