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

[HuckleB]

http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2016/food/farm-to-fable/restaurants/

"...

What makes buying food different from other forms of commerce is this: It’s a trust-based system. How do you know the Dover sole on your plate is Dover sole? Only that the restaurateur said so.

And how can you be sure the strawberries your toddler is gobbling are free of pesticides? Only because the vendor at the farmers market said so.

Your purchases are unverifiable unless you drive to that farm or track back through a restaurant’s distributors and ask for invoices.

I did.

...

My conclusion? Just about everyone tells tales. Sometimes they are whoppers, sometimes they are fibs borne of negligence or ignorance, and sometimes they are nearly harmless omissions or “greenwashing.”

..."

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Part 2 covers Farmers Markets:

Tampa Bay farmers markets are lacking in just one thing: Local farmers
http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2016/food/farm-to-fable/farmers-markets/

"...

Around the country, farmers markets have become ritual weekly opportunities for us to connect in some small way. In Tampa Bay, people park dog strollers to browse beeswax candles and wait for grilled cheeses while listening to one-man bands Rolodexing the Buffett oeuvre.

They fill string bags with produce. And few people seem to know that there are nearly no farmers. That this stuff came from Mexico, Honduras, Canada. That your grocer has already passed it over.

Over several weeks, I visited Tampa Bay’s outdoor markets. At a dozen different markets, I counted 346 discrete vendors, many of whom sell at multiple markets. Of that number, only 16 sold their own produce, honey, eggs, meat or dairy. Plenty of wind chimes and hot sauces, but less than 5 percent represented Florida farmers growing their own food.

Many vendors at the outdoor markets are not growers but resellers, and there’s a reason for that. Publix, one of the 10 largest-volume supermarket chains in the country and the largest in Florida, is based in Lakeland.

..."

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Sure, it's just about Tampa Bay. But does it happen elsewhere?

[HuckleB]

1. San Diego, too: Farm to Fable: Deception, fraud, and honest mistakes in the farm-to-table movement

http://www.sandiegomagazine.com/San-Diego-Magazine/July-2015/Farm-to-Fable/

Yikes.

[jwirr]

2. In our area everyone advertises the idea that meat on sale

is specifically Black Angus beef. When it first came out I was very surprised. So when I went down to NW IA, SW MN and SD I started to count the farms that were raising Black Angus cattle. Between the Worthington MN area and Souix Falls I saw 5 farms. Not enough to provide all the fast food restaurants and grocery stores with what they are all claiming to have.

While some claims may be correct. I still doubt that all of them are.

[HuckleB]

6. Interesting observation.

Thanks for sharing.

[Glassunion]

3. No farms, no food. Know farms, know food.

Wife and I have a favorite farm to table joint we go to from time to time. They are straight up with exactly where their food comes from. Turns out the duck eggs come from my favorite bartender who works at the taco joint I like to go to. He raises ducks, and sells them to local restaurants. Now I have a duck egg supplier. His name is Adam. Nice guy.

You have to pay attention to labels, and get to know your farmers. We used to go to one of those road-side "farmer's market". They were selling "organic" and "local" produce. It was mostly bullshit. They were stripping labels off of their products. I live in Pennsylvania, there is no such thing as a local Avocado. When I questioned about where some other item (I think tomatoes) came from, they gladly gave me the name of the farm. As it turns out that farm does not nor have they ever grown that item. They were eventually closed down for weights and measures violations.

Get to know who supplies your food, and you will be a happier and more informed customer.

This crap happens everywhere. It doesn't help when there are not strict rules surrounding labeling. Think you're eating Red Snapper? Odds are, you are not.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. We have a VERY small farmer's market and one larger produce market.

The town sponsors a local farmer's market on the courthouse square from April till end of July.
Local people, some are my neighbors, sell stuff they have grown or made.
definitely not commercial, not out of county, but rather pricey.

The produce market at the other end of town goes all year round and sells a mix of "foreign" and local-ish stuff.
If you know what to buy, it is a good place to shop.
For sure sweet corn, watermelon, baby cukes, Vidalia onions, honey, squash are local, I have seen them unload it from farmer's trucks,
they have flavor not found in stores.
Other stuff, like the rock hard square tomatoes, are not local, but we are all growing our own in the summer anyhow.

Watermelon season...end of June thru first-ish of August......I pig out. Old timey varieties with superb flavor and scent.

[KamaAina]

7. Vidalia onions are local to 'Bama?

I thought they came from only a few counties in Ga. where the soil has a low sulfur content. Sulfur compounds are what make most onions taste sharp and make you cry when you cut them, so onions grown in low-sulfur soil are sweet. Besides Vidalia, Walla Walla, WA and Maui are known for sweet onions.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. They are from Georgia, yes.

But, like Chilton county peaches, they can be hauled/shipped here with not much problem. So I consider them "local" as opposed to the 3,000 mile lettuce from Cal.

[snowy owl]

5. Yes! A review of NY restaurants adv NW Wild Salmon: at least half were not.

It was some time ago and I saw it in NY TImes I think but half the restaurants featureing NW Wild Salmon were not serving it. I'll try to find the article although it was several years ago. Also, we have a public market - Pike Place Market - featured often in city advertising because it is big and fun. They infer local farmers but much of it comes from Associated Grocers wholesale distributers. You cannot trust at all.

I don't know what to do about it. I try to go to farms but that not very doable. I tend to trust the organic sections of some of our groceries that are not part of huge chains. Gotta eat.

[dembotoz]

8. whats the pt barnum quote...sucker born every minute