Goodness, I am sooo relieved to finally start writing this blog! I had so wanted to start this back in March 2012, when I launched a community meetup group in Los Angeles, called "Let's Eat Farm to Table". Sadly the blog was to be delayed. After a few months, however, and over a dozen successful meetup events, it was time to start documenting these experiences.
But before moving on, let me tell you how the meetup inspiration got started in the first place...
As 2012 dawned upon us, I felt the itch to check another item off my bucket list: Cooking classes abroad. So, with about a week's paid vacation on my payroll, I decided to jet to Paris and take a few classes at "L'Atelier Des Sens". It was surprisingly cozy for a winter break, and a lovely way to reconnect with the culture that gave us, "L'art de la cuisine!" I had already inherited the love of cooking from my grandma and mastered a few family recipes in recent years. But this was different. My experience took me beyond the delicate art of croissant-making and the perfect parchment-paper salmon with leeks. After discovering that I was the only non-native in class, our chef engaged us in a discussion about food quality differences between France and the U.S. In a snooty, yet intellectual approach, his argument was very simple: Why do Americans choose non-fat/low-fat alternatives to real dairy products? Why do we consume so many artificial sweeteners and substitutes? Also, the fact that our meats and poultry are so conveniently packaged, but deconstructed far beyond recognition. How is it that we allow so much processing and convenience at the cost of good nutrition? It made me think of all things that have gone wrong with our food culture over generations. As we added heavy cream to cook our leeks, I thought about what lessons to take back home with me to L.A. Not that I wasn't already aware of all the points our chef made. It just put things in a different perspective for once. So when I returned, not only was I excited to cook that great salmon dish for my family, but I felt compelled to start a group for like-minded people to experience real food through local sources. I wanted to do the research but also wanted to see who would join me on my adventure! That's how "Let's Eat Farm to Table" began.
Since March 2012, members from all over the Los Angeles area have joined our meetup group at farms and farmer's market tours, local restaurants, cooking classes, and community gardens. We have collectively expanded our understanding of where our food comes from through sustainable farming and gardening techniques, composting, goat cheese production, and more. We even got to milk a cow during one of our first meetups, at Amy's Farm in Ontario.
This blog follows our various meetup events and also my personal adventures from the garden to the table. I hope you will enjoy what I share with you...whether you are a meetup member, or just someone who enjoys learning about fresh, locally sourced food!
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| Fresh, organically grown pickins at Amy's Farm (From our meetup in May 2012) |
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