Chefs get it: the best ingredients are the freshest, and that means local. Authentic flavor also comes from absence of processing – local again. As all the old jobs disappear, probably forever, sustainable jobs in the new economy show their fresh faces. Jobs such as those created by local cuisine.
Fortune Magazine just last week featured the stories of 6 green cooks – chefs who use local ingredients, bought from local farmers or even grown themselves.
Chef and restaurateur Jeremy Barlow described discovering that the best way to find the cheapest and freshest ingredients was to turn to nearby farmers.
“As my passion for cooking evolved, I made the connection between getting good product and buying local, and what that does for the environment,” he says. “It’s about the importance of keeping farmland around within a region in order to support a community. Without farmers you have no community.”
Portland caterer Brittany Baldwin, chef and farmer both, saw a market in catering meals prepared using local ingredients, and was surprised that no one had thought of it. She leased a half-acre to raise quail and chicken, growing beets, sweet peppers, onions and salad greens.
Baldwin’s idea spread throughout Portland and she now has a waiting list longer than six months. A typical customer might be a young family of four that is too busy to organize dinner; or a grandmother following new dietary restrictions; or a wealthy couple who wants to entertain guests with fresh, local produce. “All the time and realize how lucky I am,” says Baldwin.” I wake up, I go out in the garden, and I pull the order.”
Check out the full article for profiles on all six new-economy entrepreneurs.
