Chefs' Call to Action
Jane Yoo
Posted: December 17, 2009
Chicago-"Bringing Sustainability to the Table" was the theme of Chicago's Chefs Collaborative National Summit in September. More than 160 chefs and food professionals attended workshops as diverse as a whole hog butchering demo, food choices and climate change, and promoting lesser known seafood species. Talking about species such as steelhead, triggerfish, and tripletail, chef Paul Kahan (Blackbird, etc.) concluded: "If your staff passes on its enthusiasm to customers, you can sell anything!"
Although the 5,000-member organization was founded in 1993, it has maintained a low profile over the past years. According to executive director Melissa Kogut, the Chicago Summit, the first of what will be an annual event, was organized in part to mark the organization's reentry as a player in the growing public discourse about issues including global warming, a sustainable food system, animal husbandry, and fisheries. The Shedd Aquarium opened its galleries for the announcement of "Green Chefs, Blue Ocean," an online sustainable seafood educational program.
In a surprise appearance and adding stature to the organization, Ann Wright, deputy undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs for the USDA, announced the new $65 million federal initiative, "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food." Although admitting that the prospect of eliminating agricultural subsidies was dim, she emphasized this administration's commitment to local foods and markets.
A 10-plus course farewell lunch prepared by an equal number of local chefs was served family-style in the Great Hall of the park's Café Brauer. Heaping platters included an organic pork shoulder; grilled chicken breast with summer succotash, lardons, and chicken skin cracklings; a grain and Alaskan side-striped prawn salad; and a goat cheesecake with late summer vegetables.
Bruce Sherman (North Pond), chairman of the board of overseers, pointed out that it was time to foster positive relationships with middlemen. "We must think more about working together, especially in the area of distribution. We cannot continue to have individual farmers driving 250 miles to market."
The final speaker, North Dakota farmer and Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann, pointed out that our current food system is unsustainable. Cheap energy will be a thing of the past, water supplies are becoming scarce, and the climate is increasingly unstable. Calling for a radical change of focus, he said: "We tend to think that if we are 'green' and tweak the system, things will keep going. It's an illusion. If we are to be resilient, we must create a system that can withstand and absorb these shocks."
"However," he continued. "we must have pleasure in good eating as part of the experience. If not, we won't get there." -Jan Greenberg
