Most of Buffalo's fine dining restaurants change their menu two to four times a year in order to take advantage of the season's best produce and to provide their clientele with weather-appropriate dishes. You may love a good braised short rib, but it may not be suited to an evening's meal in the full heat of August. A wise chef moves forward with proteins, produce and preparations that reflect the season. The best way for a chef to do this is to purchase goods grown and raised by area farmers.
But buying local isn't as easy as it seems if you're a chef in Buffalo.
Once upon a time, Buffalo chefs would rise at dawn and head down to the bustling Clinton Bailey Wholesale Market to buy fresh produce from an array of local farmers. In recent years, the market has seen resurgence, but not to the point of being the hub of Buffalo’s food industry that it once was. Today, only a small number of dedicated farmers arrive at pre-dawn hours with their homegrown goods. A handful of local restaurateurs still visit the market regularly, while fewer still have wisely brokered deals with specific farmers for hard to obtain or specialty items. But this arrangement is less than ideal for many chefs and farmers.
Chefs, especially those who operate their own restaurants, never have enough of one thing: time. During the growing season, time is an issue for farmers as well. And when you think about the opposite hours that these two trades maintain, and the distance between an urban restaurant and a rural farm, it's no wonder that there is difficulty in making the connection between the two.
In larger cities, farmers can make a living peddling produce with a simple knock at the back door of popular upscale restaurants. In Buffalo, this just isn't a viable option for farmers. Currently the majority of our area farms grow only one or two types of crops, having spent the last few decades earning a living the only way a WNY farmer can; by selling off their harvest to major industrial food companies. The farmers that do grow a variety of crops spend a good portion of their time either operating stands at local farmers markets or on their own farms.
And that's just the beginning. WNY has a lot of other issues it needs to examine and resolve when it comes to connecting local food producers to the consumer, be they a chef or a home cook. For decades, unlike our region's forefathers, we've traveled to corporate supermarkets for our groceries, and chefs have ordered packaged, processed food that is shipped in from as far away as China. The supply and demand fueled connections that once brought food from the farms located just outside of the city to our grandmothers' corner stores and neighborhood restaurants have dissipated due to lack of use. My peers and I have begun to refer to this as WNY's Broken Food Chain. And it isn't all about produce. There are even bigger obstacles when it comes to commodities that require processing and/or refrigeration like meat and dairy.
The Prodigal Chef
The good news is that change is in the air. In Buffalo, a unique set of circumstances has culminated in a newfound interest in locally grown food. In the last two or three years Buffalo has experienced an influx of new chefs and restaurant owners that are excited about the burgeoning culinary scene. Many of these chefs are new to Buffalo, but most of them are natives returning after years away, having earned their keep (and their chops) at culinary schools and four-star restaurants around the country. Under the influence of great chefs like Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller, and in the kitchens of schools like the Culinary Institute of America and Johnson & Wales, Buffalo's most recent class of chefs come armed with an appreciation for food just ripped from the ground.
Local is Hot
Coincidentally, the rumblings of the national locavore movement have begun to take root in the Buffalo area after having swept major American cities like forest fire. Consumers are increasingly aware of the many benefits (which range from better flavor to a better environment) that are connected with actively seeking out food that is produced close to home. Area restaurants have noticed that offering specials on the menu that note the provenance of the dish's locally sourced pork chop or heirloom tomato sell more quickly than others. As all things “green” and “local” become increasingly hip, the value of Buffalo's bounty becomes all the more obvious.
Footprints and Wallets
It may appear that not all restaurants can benefit from reconnecting the WNY food chain; for many casual restaurants, specialty ingredients are not necessary. But food costs are on the rise, and there’s no end in sight. The average ingredient found in any kitchen travels an average of 1,500 miles. The growing cost associated with transporting goods from major wholesalers has begun to drain profits from the bottom lines of restaurants all over the country. At some point in the near future, casual restaurants will be looking for a way to cut costs on basics like potatoes, tomatoes, onions and green peppers, and wise farmers will find a way to capture that business. If dining trends and the city’s recent injection of chefs who are passionate about using local, fresh ingredients aren't enough to fuel the development and maintenance of local food connections, then the motivation of an increased profit certainly will.
Sow Now What?
Consumers are disconnected from the producers. Reconnecting them is better for the environment, better for the consumers, better for the producers, and better for our local restaurant scene. But there is a question of how that will be accomplished.
The first step is to have restaurants and farmers come together in figuring out how to make this work. Certain strides are being made in this area by organizations that are truly invested in the effort (like Slow Food Buffalo, and recently, Buffalo First), but the job is a big one and it’s going to take a lot of us.
It is my opinion that restaurateurs and chefs with buying power need simply to determine what they want access to--things that they can't easily get their hands on. Farmers can then sift through this wish list and determine what will flourish in our soil. Offering these items to restaurants and farmers markets is a simple way to start building the relationships our area so needs in order to improve access to fresh, locally grown produce. Essentially, we as a community need to come together and work, step by step to reconnect WNY’s broken food chain.
I think the next step in the solution to this problem lies in ramps, sunchokes, golden beets, Green Zebra tomatoes, edible flowers, fresh herbs and microgreens--all of which are examples of what chefs (and earnest home cooks) want and cannot easily find. Ideally everyone would be able to buy almost everything locally. Starting small, with specialty goods, is a safe and potentially lucrative option for farmers, and it also holds a unique value for area chefs starved for interesting, cutting-edge menu options.
Reaping the Benefits
There are a multitude of benefits associated with eating and buying locally grown foods (for the most obvious, see our “Why Eat Local?” inset). Here in WNY, these benefits certainly apply, but there are other links in the disconnected food chain that, once repaired, will lead to enhancing every citizen’s quality of life in varying degrees.
Developing our area’s supply and demand for local foods will spur area farmers to seek out the available agricultural advancements that can lengthen our harsh climate’s growing season, ultimately making fresh fruits and vegetables available for a greater portion of the year. New businesses will develop, producing what’s known in the industry as ‘value added’ products (think applesauce, jam, tomato paste). This will not only increase our access to locally grown food year round, but will also have a positive impact on our region's economy.
Finally, as WNY’s farmers find it lucrative to convert from soon-to-be outmoded industrial agriculture businesses to farms that operate as traditional farms, they may, like many other farmers around the country, discover the increased profits associated with farming “organically grown” or “naturally grown” produce. That transition will improve the quality of the food available to the consumer, in addition to creating long-term benefits for our region’s environment.
In the interim, it’s our job as consumers to buy local when it is at all possible and reasonable. Frequenting farmers markets and engaging in conversations with your local food producer is just one way to build value into our suffering system; it is only through community and education that the local foodshed can grow, so that the WNY Food Chain can become whole again.
Author's Note: After this story was written, I found myself engaged in a conversation with the owner of SAMPLE, Chef Adam Goetz, about this very topic. He told me of a blog maintained by a farmer near Cleveland who has found great personal and financial reward in converting his farm to a farm that specializes in organically grown produce varieties chosen specifically for their appeal to chefs. If you're interested, you can check it out here: chefsgarden.com
-If you are a chef or restaurateur interested in narrowing the gap between locally grown food and your restaurant, please email us. We’d be happy to help you make the connection with the various groups that are working on this subject.