The Farmers Market Box

The global food chain has endangered local small farmers, markets, ravaged the waters and polluted land, air and sea. Can conscience and a desire to support local communities overcome cheap prices for cheap food and greed? Can a trend that evolved from what was once tradition become the protocol for what we eat? If it is simply a trend now it could ultimately become the model for the way we live tomorrow. The conversation will continue. The trend will persist. Sustainability and farmers markets are building momentum. A chef has a responsibility to the community, to the farmers, to the growers, to guests and ultimately to themselves. Where do you stand?

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WINTER CROPS:
Bacon and Fuertes Avocados, Cabbage, Cardones, Baby Cauliflower, Celery Root, Cherimoyas, Citrus: Buddha’s Hand, Grapefruit, Meyer lemons, Mandarins, Kumquats, Blood Oranges, Pomelos, Tangelos, Dates, Escarole, Fennel, Kale: Black, Peacock, Kohlrabies, Leeks, Mushrooms: Black Trumpet, Chanterelle, Oyster, Shitake, Nettles, Parsnips, Radicchio, Radishes, Sapotes, Sorrel, Sweet Potatoes, Swiss Chard, Turnips, Winter Squash
Allow this to be your navigational guide to menu-making and spontaneous cravings, getting what’s in season locally and just one chapter of living, breathing sustainability.

Local Truffles: both white and black, roughly the size of walnuts and sold by the ounce are available at the farmers market via Clearwater Farms. The white truffles have an intense fragrance and an mild flavor of butter, fresh-roasted hazelnuts, and dried morels with a hint of garlic. with a rather short shelf-life. The black truffles are pungent; the flavor is a strange mix of pineapple, mushrooms and chocolate. These truffles are sniffed out from the forest ground by trained dogs that find the richest mature truffles that release a musky aphrodesial scent. Imagine, fresh domestic truffles harvested from Douglas Fir woodlands! A rare treasure, indeed…