Farm to table: truth vs fiction [Tampa]

Regional Dining Discussions SF Bay Area, NorCal, Tahoe
21

No, life has taught me that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Christopher Kimball reads like some aw-shucks Vermont farmer (yes, I used that term again on purpose). He’s not, by any stretch of the imagination.

I have nothing against Vivan Howard or her husband – can’t – never met them.

I have nothing against New York – can’t – I’ve been there exactly once, and I was working. I don’t know how to convince you that the city doesn’t matter at all in the discussion. You could be talking about LA, Chicago, Paris, London, or Hong Kong, and it wouldn’t matter.

I am highly skeptical, however, that two people savvy and talented enough to:

  • make it in a large and highly-competitive urban market like New York City (please feel free to substitute any large, highly-competitive urban market anywhere on the planet)

*who have the cash to start a new restaurant comparatively in the middle of nowhere AND make it a hit despite logistics and cost,

  • AND make the coups de grace of managing to highlight their restaurant on a television network deliberately targeted to upper-income, better educated folks (the demo of PBS) haven’t made a financially- or publicity-based decision that didn’t cross an ethical line or two.

Doesn’t mean I think they’re horrible people – but I don’t for a second believe that what I see on the show is a realistic portrayal of how things are, either.

Now…can we stop being hung up about one person at one restaurant and concentrate on the fact that we are collectively being lied to — which is the entire point of the Times article??

(please note that the Times piece never once mentions New York, or Vivian Howard, or North Carolina)

The point of the article is that a lot of restaurants are making claims that are anywhere from an inadvertent misstatement to a baldfaced lie, and what is it that we can or will do about it?

22

Can we retire this phrase? It does nothing good, it’s not a get out of jail free card. If someone wants to make a pointed point, do it, don’t be coy.

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23

As I see it: How do we “caveat emptor” ? I generally don’t take into account the restaurants claims of sourcing. If they are spouting the words, they are probably trying to do well, and that counts for something, but maybe they’re doing manipulative marketing. I try to let my taste buds do the measurement, and there are certainly well-known cases that one trusts - like Manresa.

I wrote about Dan Gordon’s in Palo Alto. The restaurant has a big chalkboard with suppliers. It’s way, way above the kitchen - completely a pain to change. I bet they don’t change it hour by hour as they run out of ingredients.

I can’t test a restaurant’s claims. I don’t even know the locations of the sources, by and large, although I hear some of them over and over, and could do some legwork.

I don’t think anyone would want to see police and lawyers involved, although clearly this is illegal and fraudulent activity.

My proposal:

Farm suppliers should openly publish who they ship what on what days. They can make this available through public APIs. Modern world, the manifests are on their computers, upload and publish. They are incented to, because their reputation is at stake if their name is used on inferior product. They are legally allowed to publish due to “third party doctrine” ( the same case law where Verizon can sell the records of your phone calls to advertisers ).

Then, some enterprising person can write an app where you can check if a given supplier has provided to a given restaurant. If it went through a wholesaler, then it’s not farm to table - no “chain of custody” - no “relationship” . This isn’t foolproof because a chef could buy one head of lettuce from a farm then sell 20 from a lesser supplier.

There’s almost no money in both of these, so either it would be an off-shoot of a popular system & app ( google? yelp? Siri: "it this beet really from happy valley? " ), or a labor of love.

In either case, unlikely to happen, but I can’t think of a better idea.

24

No. WE can’t retire it. YOU can, if you like. My post did “make a pointed point”. “Just sayin’”, at least as I use it, is simply a way of stating that the previous statement is just what I felt I’d like to say and you can take it or leave it… which probably doesn’t really need to be said, since that’s what people do anyway.

25

Beating this horse one more time: Vivian Howard speaking to a new cook on an episode that just ran here: “We try to support local farmers as much as we can”. Once again, I just don’t like indicting with a broad brush.

26

WHY? Especially six days after my last comment?

The article is not about Vivan Howard or her restaurant.I truly don’t give a rat’s red rump whether she buys from local farm stands or from Sysco – and I didn’t attack her. I said that I don’t believe that a tv show depicts reality. I have no idea what joy you get from concocting a reaction from me that not only did I not voice, but didn’t and don’t even feel, but I sure wish you’d do an Elsa and let it go.

When do we get to talk about the article, and the fashionable trend of late of saying that you’re farm to table when you’re not? About advertising that you buy from a supplier who says he’s never sold to you? About not even selling the same SPECIES that you tout on your menu?

When do we get to discuss the article itself, which raises hella important questions about truth in advertising and why this isn’t okay?

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27

If you don’t get it I can’t help. You DID, in IMHO, call her veracity into question when I offered her as an example of a seemingly honest F to T purveyor… even suggesting it had something to do with their New York experience. When I saw her explain her philosophy to that cook it just reinforced that it seemed unfair to me. But I’'m done now.

28

I suppose I should add that I’m sorry that I’ve taken this to where I did, given that I DO understand the overriding issue of this topic is very important but (as you have with being lied to) I’ve long ago lost patience with people who hurt worthwhile issues by seemingly concluding that EVERYONE is committing the offense. This isn’t a personal thing with you, Sunshine. It’s just that I’ve also lost patience, but with how easily negative aspersions can be cast just as a flippant comment. SO… I find Vivian refreshing, if a bit a strange combination of ‘aw shucks’ and smart marketing. I particularly notice how she lets a slightly arrogant and ‘not so nice’ side air, making it seem real. Add to this that I’m from New York, and you might have a better sense of my feeling on this. Now I’m REALLY done.

29

She has Warren and Lillie. What characters