Learn value, impact of local food on flavor at benefit The Farmer & the Chef

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By Jennifer Shima

Mill Creek MetroParks volunteer

The Ohio license plate shows bright blue skies over a farm and city, connected by a bridge. It’s a bucolic image with a lot more meaning than you might think.

Summer days make city and country dwellers alike think salads, luscious fruit and the mouth-watering smell of dinner on the grill. It’s a food-lovers paradise and Ohio’s agricultural economy is all around us, growing the stuff we love so much.

In Northeast Ohio alone, there are 53 local CSAs (community supported agriculture) that allow people to pay up front to have fresh produce and dairy delivered to their door, according to Cleveland.com. Our region is also home to 70 farmers markets, with at least nine active markets in Mahoning County.

But even with an abundance of produce being grown right in our communal backyard, most produce, dairy and meat are purchased from big chain stores that import their stock from an average of 1,500 miles away.

In spite of the image on our license plates, it’s just not that simple to bridge the distance from local farms to city tables.

And it’s not just hurting our local economy, we’re losing out on taste, too. According to one extension service, “Produce that is ripened on the vine has better texture and flavor than produce harvested unripe, then treated with chemicals and ripened during shipping.”

Buying local, though, usually means making a plan to go to a farmers market on a Saturday morning or researching and signing up with a CSA — far too much effort and time for what many of our busy lives can spare.

Some area restaurants and organizations work to overcome the lack of local food in our diets by intentionally cooking with local produce, lighting up our taste buds with local flavors. Highlighting the value and impact that local food can have on flavor is one of the goals of The Farmer & the Chef, an event benefiting Mill Creek MetroParks on Sept.13.

It pairs a local chef with a local farmer to create dishes that specifically highlight a certain locally grown ingredient.

Danny Catullo of Catullo’s Prime Meats will use a locally raised pig to make a dish featuring sausage, and Michelle Barratt, owner of The Flaming Ice Cube, will use locally grown fennel and sweet potatoes in her dishes to highlight that one-of-a-kind local flavor,” says Alexa Blackann committee co-chair. “We hope that by demonstrating the taste and value of locally grown food, people will make an effort to eat at restaurants that source from local farms if they can’t make it to their local farmers market.”

Local food is more important than ever for taste, and economic and health reasons. It may take a little more work to buy, but with nonprofits and restaurants incorporating local food into their recipes, we can support our economy and taste the delicious flavor of home, more easily than ever.

Join us for a taste of local food and local fun with dancing and entertainment. We’ll help you connect to your local farmers — through your taste buds!