Washington DC area chefs set up shop on Capitol Hill in support of local farmers

Chefs representing Washington DC area restaurants descended on the Russell Senate Office Building Wednesday for Farm Food Voices 5th annual National Small Farm and Ranch Grassroots Lobby Day and Legislative Reception. Together the chefs prepared a feast of small plates for the lobby day’s local foods reception. Each chef presented dishes sourced from the “bounty of America's heritage farmers”.

 

 

The reception was sandwiched between a full day of lobbying events where food security organizations, local-sourcing food advocates, and small family farmers from across the country lobbied legislators in support of local food and food sovereignty. The stated goal of the days lobbying was to educate elected officials on how "real food" is raised and practical ways people can eat better and support local growers.

 

Food sovereignty, the right of the people to define their own food sourcing via closer, local control of agriculture, livestock and fisherie systems, contrasts commodity driven food systems subject to international market conditions. Most of the chefs in attendance shared the opinion that local sourcing of food is key to the quality and variety of food available in their kitchens.  

 

“It’s our lifeblood; I think it really is what makes our restaurants and cooking unique…” Angelo Vangelopoulos chef/owner of The Ivy Inn Restaurant drove up from Charlottesville, VA because a lot of the farmers involved in the day’s lobbying events are his neighbors. Being so close to the source of the food they cook allows a high level of creative and quality control. Vangelopoulos's stuffed pork loin with cornbread pudding topped with gravy spoke volumes to the merit of local sourcing.

 

Bryan Voltaggio, chef/owner of VOLT Restaurant in Frederick, MD and season six runner-up of Bravo TV’s critically acclaimed series Top Chef, made his second trip to Washington DC this week. Coming off a strong showing at Cochon555 DC, an event celebrating locally sourced heritage breeds of pig, the Top Chef alum was an invited guest speaker advocating food sovereignty at Farm Food Voices 2011. Voltaggio spoke touting the coexistence between chef, farmer, waterman and local food artisans and later shared with me his views on food issues of the day “the most important thing to me as a chef is to have choices in the products that I’m using”. 

 

Wednesday's Washington Post and CNN reports of sharply rising global food costs and the rising prices effect on access to food and food security were also hot topics at the legislative reception. Pertula George, Executive Director of Common Good City Farm noted that “There was a time in this country when most people knew how to grow their own food—this is no longer the case.” Common Good City Farm is a Washington DC based NPO that grows food in the community that it attempts to serve by helping residents of all income levels with sustainable means to meet their food needs. George continued, “With the soaring food prices, we need to examine our food culture and the value we place on sustainable agriculture.”

 

Bryan Voltaggio of VOLT had a similar response to my mention of rising food prices “[with] fuel cost and everything going on in the world, we are ignoring the fact that we could end a lot of those [pricing issues]. If we went back to the farmers in our communities...if we localized everything, things could change.”

 

 

 

For information on food sovereignty and Farm Food Voices, click here