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At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you’re being fed fiction

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Re: At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you’re being fed fiction

#11

Post by nommm-nommm »

CPLX wrote: post #7
School-Cotton wrote: post #2

I've never understood what "farm-to-table" means. Doesn't all food come from a farm? Is it supposed to mean "farm owned by a stereotypical farmer, not by a corporation?" If so, that's pretty vague and subjective.

The distinction presumably is between: Farm --> Table and Farm --> A Bunch of Other Places --> Table

I listened to an interview with Alton Brown where he was talking about how much he hates the term "farm to table" because of its meaninglessness.

He said "there should at the very least be a sink between farm and table."

Re: At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you’re being fed fiction

#12

Post by jly »

School-Cotton wrote: post #2

I've never understood what "farm-to-table" means. Doesn't all food come from a farm? Is it supposed to mean "farm owned by a stereotypical farmer, not by a corporation?" If so, that's pretty vague and subjective.

In my area, I see some chefs at the weekly farmer's market buying meat, fish, and produce directly from local farmers. To me, that is 'farm to table'. Anything else is questionable, but could be.

I believe buying from wholesale distributors would be the opposite of farm to table.

Re: At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you’re being fed fiction

#13

Post by jcoffland »

This is super common. My wife and I live in Sonoma County. She operates a floral design business where she only sources locally grown flowers. To our frustration many of her competitors also claim to use local flowers. However, my wife knows nearly all of the local flower growers personally and they tell her that these same competitors give them very little to no business. Instead they buy nearly all of their flowers from the SF flower market which in turn gets most of it's flowers from South America. It's amazing how many businesses have no problem flat out lying to their customers.

Re: At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you’re being fed fiction

#14

Post by jly »

You can tell what's probably NOT 'farm to table' by the pricing of dishes. Many restaurants would not be in business selling food at the prices they do if were actually farm to table direct from local farmers who uses the growing/raising practices the restaurants claim. If you buy meat or veggies of this quality, you already know - it costs a LOT.

Re: At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you’re being fed fiction

#15

Post by prodmerc »

wyldfire wrote: post #9

> “It’s really hard to find non-GMO produce,” Moran said. Aside from the IP problems of patent-infringement-via-unintended-germination, I don't understand what's not to like about GMO. GMO seems like a great idea -- modern human medicine seems to include techniques that are similar to or just-short-of "GMO." Are there any HNers who can articulate what they don't like about GMO?

Welcome to the club. It's funny how people who would not be alive today if not for the Green Revolution protest against GMO crops...

Re: At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you’re being fed fiction

#16

Post by mindcrime »

hayksaakian wrote: post #3
School-Cotton wrote: post #2

I've never understood what "farm-to-table" means. Doesn't all food come from a farm? Is it supposed to mean "farm owned by a stereotypical farmer, not by a corporation?" If so, that's pretty vague and subjective.

it's super subjective until the government defines it and regulates it (read penalize mis-labeling).

it's super subjective until the government defines it and regulates it (read penalize mis-labeling). reply

Yeah, once the government gets involved, it'll still be all lies, but it'll be legal because somebody paid off the right regulator, or because the regulator owns shares in the restaurant, etc. And then this kind of thing will be used as a weapon to inhibit the entry of new competitors into the market, to the benefit of the entrenched players.

Re: At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you’re being fed fiction

#17

Post by nkurz »

jly wrote: post #12
School-Cotton wrote: post #2

I've never understood what "farm-to-table" means. Doesn't all food come from a farm? Is it supposed to mean "farm owned by a stereotypical farmer, not by a corporation?" If so, that's pretty vague and subjective.

In my area, I see some chefs at the weekly farmer's market buying meat, fish, and produce directly from local farmers. To me, that is 'farm to table'. Anything else is questionable, but could be. I believe buying from wholesale distributors would be the opposite of farm to table.

Part 2 of the article suggests that buying at the farmers' market is no guarantee: http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2016/food/farm-to-fable/far...

Re: At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you’re being fed fiction

#18

Post by SixSigma »

School-Cotton wrote: post #2

I've never understood what "farm-to-table" means. Doesn't all food come from a farm? Is it supposed to mean "farm owned by a stereotypical farmer, not by a corporation?" If so, that's pretty vague and subjective.

It means traceability in the supply chain. E.g. all meat in Europe has to be traceable to the farm as a consequence of the BSE outbreak / horse meat scandal. [1]

Big cases in the US were the Peanut Corp of America [2], Jack in the Box E Coli [3] and the most recent Chipolte [4] and more [4].

Supply chains are protecting themselves through tractability and this is being turned into an opportunity.

It doesn't mean that the food is wholesome, just that if you get poisoned, the origin of that poison can be determined.

[1] http://www.foodnavigator.com/Policy/EU-traceability-requirem...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut_Corporation_of_America

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Jack_in_the_Box_E._coli_o...

[4] http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/12/the-10-biggest-u-s-foo...

Re: At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you’re being fed fiction

#19

Post by splawn »

School-Cotton wrote: post #2

I've never understood what "farm-to-table" means. Doesn't all food come from a farm? Is it supposed to mean "farm owned by a stereotypical farmer, not by a corporation?" If so, that's pretty vague and subjective.

If done accurately it means that the food is produced using the most unsustainable and inefficient ways possible so that only the most privileged can partake. Other than that its just marketing that is targeting people that either want to think of themselves as upper class or have been falsely led to believe that this type of food production is actually eco-friendly and more healthy. (Also see "Organic" food)

Re: At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you’re being fed fiction

#20

Post by SixSigma »

CPLX wrote: post #7
School-Cotton wrote: post #2

I've never understood what "farm-to-table" means. Doesn't all food come from a farm? Is it supposed to mean "farm owned by a stereotypical farmer, not by a corporation?" If so, that's pretty vague and subjective.

The distinction presumably is between: Farm --> Table and Farm --> A Bunch of Other Places --> Table

No it just means

We know which Farm --> we know about this bit --> Table

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