Last night, I enjoyed two hours of eating at a benefit dinner for Columbia County Bounty, an organization that promotes and supports “networking connections between local agricultural producers and culinary businesses” in New York’s Hudson Valley. From what I gather, their main objective is to raise awareness of local producers and facilitate connections within the business and farming community. I’m still a little unclear as to why this takes a lot of money. But hey, everything does. As it turns out, one of the co-chairs is our neighbor (!) so hopefully I can understand a little better what’s going on when I meet him.
Thanks to Columbia County Bounty, as chefs we get to put superior, fresher product on the plate without thousands of food miles on the food and local farms can sell portions for 100-300 to a restaurant or caterer, as opposed to just standing all day in a Farmer’s Market hoping to sell to a family of 4. The hope is not only increased economical viability for the farms, but incredible eating for everyone. What has become clear to me, is that the same pride the growers and producers have in their products, the chefs have in preparing their dishes.
Last night’s event was great PR for all the farms, caterers and restaurants. What follows are some highlights of the evening. Also, check out the flickr stream for a visual tour.
Top three:
Ancho-Fired BBQ Pulled Pork Crostini with Cajun Slaw & Root-Beer Mustard Sauce by Georgia Ray’s Kitchen (Yes! As complexly delicious as it sounds! Outdoor flavor with sweet, sour, spicy on the picnic tables mingled with tender meat and crispy toast. Exciting and gone before you knew what hit you!)
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Smoked trout salad with homemade Ranch dressing by Bezalel Gables. (Excellent presentation and the trout was incredibly fresh and oh-so-smoked to perfection.)
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Tarte Provençal by Stissing House. (With what I think was a corn pudding bread as the bottom layer, the whole creation seemed to encompass all the glory of summer’s flavors.)
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Best presentation: Chocolate fountain with fresh fruit and/or potato chips by The Chocolate Moose.
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Also incredibly enjoyable:
Mexican Spring Rolls by Mexican Radio (so spicy and fresh!)
Beer by the Chatham Brewing Company
Coffee (and chocolate!) milk by Ronnybrook Farm
Pastries by Chatham Village Cake Shoppe and Patisserie
And of course, oh Lord, of course, the cheese. Coach Farm’s goat cheese, especially the Green Peppercorn Brick, is phenomenal, one of the small miracles of dairy on this earth. They also had a block of fresh cheese, “fresh” as in it was made less than a week ago, which was mellow with an interesting texture. Of course, Old Chatham Sheepherding Company was there, who make a wonderful Camembert. (I’ve been to their farm a few times to visit the sheep. It’s a great place to visit with kids.) There was also another dairy farm present, but I’m afraid I didn’t get their name…
In sum, the cheese was out of this world, some of the food was really delicious and exciting, and the produce from the farms was perfect. I think that some of the chefs could have made bolder choices; that is, there was a lot of fresh vegetables with a tomato base sauce or other traditional summer stand-bys. These recipes good, but a bit boring, presenting ingredients in a familiar and sure-to-be-tasty manner, as opposed to best showing off unique flavors and unexpected joys. Then again, this dinner was about the bounty of Columbia County, not the prowess of its chefs. And the dinner certainly did a good job at showing off all that the farms around here have to offer.
More importantly, in an ideal world, I wish this event could have free/more affordable so that more people could have attended. To say the least, the room lacked diversity both economic and racial. Fresh food should not be considered luxury.
If you’re ever in the Hudson Valley or at a farmer’s market in New York City, where I believe some of these farms also sell their produce and cheese, pick some up! Who needs California, anyway?
(By the way, as I write this, cows are mooing.)
Comments 2
Great Blog!
Thanks for all the terrific feedback on “A Taste of Columbia County Bounty.”
When we started Columbia County Bounty a little more than a year ago, incredibly no one even had a list of all the farms in Columbia County — we created that data base. There were farmers that didn’t even know each other existed. We also canvassed restaurants that would be interested in buying local products from local farms and producers and created that data base. We have created a binder with these listings which was mailed and distributed to members, launched a new Web site with these listings — plus up-to-date information for chefs and farmers, and produced a retail brochure with lists of farms that welcome visitors for U-pick, farmstands, and culinary/agri-tourism visits — from U-pick berries to pumpkins, apples, and Christmas Trees. And we’re adding new farms and restaurants to our data base all the time.
We do a tour of farms for the local chefs to help educate them about what it takes to grow and produce ingredients and we do a tour and hands-on demos in the chefs’ kitchens for the farmers to educate them in how we work and put product on the plate. We also do a Chili Cook-Off at the Hudson Waterfront partnered with Greene County, which features local ingredients in the chili. Every year we also help host an Agriculture Brunch in tandem with the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce.
In addition, we’re adding symposiums in the winter months this year to help farms and chefs have some professional help and advice in marketing themselves. We’ve been hearing about Napa and Sonoma for so long, it’s time we started celebrating and marketing the Hudson Valley region.
Thanks to Columbia County Bounty, as chefs we get to put superior, fresher product on the plate without thousands of food miles on the food and local farms can sell portions for 100-300 to a restaurant or caterer, as opposed to just standing all day in a Farmer’s Market hoping to sell to a family of 4. The hope is not only increased economical viability for the farms, but incredible eating for everyone. What has become clear to me, is that the same pride the growers and producers have in their products, the chefs have in preparing their dishes.
Advocacy takes money. The reason we need to raise funds is that we are an entirely volunteer organization, so the funds we raise go for Web site design and maintenance, printing, postage, event costs, basic supplies, educational materials, fuel, and maintaining data bases.
The “Taste of” event was also about raising awareness of growers and allowing farmers and chefs to pair together and get to know each other while actually tasting and enjoying the comrardery of the table. And isn’t the laughter and community of the table ultimately what it’s all about?
Posted 30 Jul 2008 at 6:55 am ¶Indeed, laughter and community around the table is precisely what life and living are all about.
Thank you so much for your insightful comment! I am so glad to have a clear understanding of exactly what Columbia County Bounty does. You are doing an important service to the community up here. Keep up the good work!
Posted 30 Jul 2008 at 7:13 am ¶Post a Comment