Why Eating with a Farm to Table Approach is Not Just Healthier, But Important
Farm to Table: A Movement for Local and Organic Food
The farm to table movement has been growing for years. We’ve all heard about it and most of us have likely spent time browsing local farmers markets, as consumers’ appetites for local foods is exploding to over $20 billion, according to Packaged Facts, a market research firm.
But what does Farm to Table really mean for our health, our wallets and the environment?
Farm to Table (FTT) is a phrase that can mean different things to different people. At its heart, it means that the food on the table came directly from a specific farm, without going through a store, market, or distributor along the way. Many institutions, markets and restaurants get their produce from other parts of the country or around the world. These ingredients need to be shipped long distances, and as a result, they are usually picked before they are ripe to lengthen their lifespan, or they are frozen to prevent spoiling. All of this results in food that is bland in taste and much less nutritious due to age, picking time and exposure to the environment and temperature changes.
Farm to Table food is sourced or picked at peak freshness and is high in flavor, nutrients and vitamins, rendering the nutrients in the food more bioavailable when we eat it vs eating food that has been conventionally grown, processed and/or preserved, packaged and shipped over long distances.
But first, a history of Farm to Table
Alice Waters literally started the FTT movement. One of the first farm to table restaurants that opened up was Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California in 1971. Chez Panisse was her first FTT restaurant, where she was passionate to improve the taste of food served in her restaurant by using produce from local organic farms because it was more flavorful and fresher than conventional or food-service produce.
Chez Panisse became very successful, and the farm to table movement began to grow steadily during the late decades of the 20th century. The movement didn't explode in popularity however until the 2000s when other farm to table restaurants were established in cities like Boulder, Colorado and Seattle, Washington. Now you can find Farm to Table restaurants in cities all across the country.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Farm to Table
The FTT movement has come a long way since Alice Waters first opened Chez Panisse. It's now one of the fastest growing food trends in the U.S., but because of the many benefits provided with the growth of the movement, and trends toward eating local, there are those who have found ways to exploit its approach. We think the benefits generously outweigh the drawbacks in terms of the importance to our food supply and positive implications to the environment.
Benefits
The farm to table movement has had a huge impact on the grocery and foodservice industry—even downt to how more and more restaurants source and prepare their food. Here are some of the main benefits of the FTT movement:
Farm to Table helps to boost the local economy and support local farmers. Because FTT businesses deal directly with the farmer, the money spent stays in the community. The farmers are connected to the community in a profound way, and the consumer also has an understanding of where their food is grown. Farmers also are increasingly helping consumers to prepare their produce by providing recipes and samples at markets. Even people who don’t enjoy cooking can find something easy to prepare by buying local, FTT products.
Because the produce is usually very flavorful on its own, it generally doesn’t need to be prepared in a complex way, or covered with sauces and overpowering seasonings, instead preferring to let the freshness and flavor of the food speak for itself. Fruit that can ripen longer on the plant generally tastes better, and small farmers tend to produce varieties that are more favorable, albeit less able to stand travel across the country.
Eating FTT supports a healthy environment. The produce doesn't have to be shipped long distances, which translates to less time on a truck and fewer greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere. Additionally, many FTT farmers are using sustainable farming practices with soil regeneration, crop-covering, and other farming methods designed to reduce their footprint on the environment. Supporting these FTT farmers by buying their produce directly or in your local market or restaurant is a win-win for the environment.
Drawbacks
In recent years, FTT enthusiasts have grown increasingly skeptical of establishments that claim to serve farm to table food. It can be challenging as the seasons change, because different foods will be available from the farm, and food service establishments and restaurants have to adapt to what produce is available and fresh, some changing their menus daily. It can make food management and food costs more challenging to manage for restaurant managers and grocers. To make a profit, many FTT operations have to offer their food at a premium to cover their costs, and sometimes at a lower margin. While this may not be an issue in larger cities like New York City and Los Angeles, the price may be prohibitive to consumers in suburban or rural settings.
Since FTT is a movement, it is not regulated, so people have used it to create buzz and take advantage of marketing the term. Similar phrases include locally-sourced, farm fresh, and farm-to-fork. Some restaurants have taken advantage of the buzzword nature of the FTT movement by claiming to be farm to table without actually using local ingredients so they can charge the high prices usually associated with by local and organic, fresh produce. In 2016, the Tampa Bay Times released a series of articles about how many farm to table restaurants were using frozen and non-local meats and produce. So unfortunately for the movement, there has been more skepticism among consumers about the authenticity of restaurants that claim to be Farm to Table. So it is important to ask the servers and managers at these restaurants about where they source their FTT ingredients, they are usually happy to tell their story!
We all know that cooking our own food, or cutting back at eating out at mainstream restaurants is a healthy habit to build. Eating with a Farm to Table approach supports optimal nutritional health while supporting efforts to help reverse the damage done to the planet and our environment. Both are a win-win and deserve more attention as it become ever more important to do what we can to preserve the natural resources of planet earth.