Farm News
Where Sustainable is Attainable: Meet Chef Joel Hough
Who’s driving the move to local food? Chefs, among others. According to a recent survey of 1,800 chefs, the big restaurant trend in 2010 is the purchase of local and sustainable ingredients.
But buying local is expensive, isn’t it? Shouldn’t restaurateurs worry that chefs are going to jack up their input costs by buying directly from the farmer?
Paul Wigsten, the produce buyer at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park—and a farmer—says that “restaurants may pay 5% to 20% more for local produce but there is no ‘trim’ or waste when you get produce hours from being in the ground.” Order product from California and you lose 10-20% in prep.
For four years Joel Hough was the head chef at the highly regarded Cookshop in New York’s Chelsea Art District. Hough also relaunched Provence as Hundred Acres in 2009. In this interview we learn why Hough believes sustainable is a smart business move.
http://www.vimeo.com/8710147Additional Reading:
American Chefs Discover Sustainable, Local Sourcing for Food
Hello,
I am a fan of your blog. I am starting a new urban farm in Brooklyn this year. I was wondering if you would be willing to post some information about it. I have written a small introduction to BK Farmyards that highlights our kickstarter online fundraising campaign. Please let me know what you think.
http://alifeorganic.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-model-of-urban-agriculture-in-nyc.html
thanks so much!
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Especially here in New York, where dining out is the forum in which we make so many important choices about what and how we eat, it is absolutely essential for chefs to lead the pack in showing us how to source our food responsibly. Bravo to folks like Joel Hough! And a fascinating note for home cooks about the savings in the waste on non-local food vs. local – a great counter-argument to the pervasive view that local/organic is always more expensive!
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