Farm to Plate is an incredible event hosted by the Sustainable Food Center. 30 area chefs/restaurants provide delicious bites. Guests stroll the gorgeous grounds of Barr Mansion while enjoying live music, nibbling on locally sourced cuisine and sipping adult beverages. This year it was great seeing so many local beverages provided by Argus Cidery, Glazers, Hops & Grain, Independence Brewing Co., Saint Arnold Brewing Company, Tipsy Texan, and Zhi Tea. From savory to sweet the chefs prepared creative cuisine to share with guests. The portions are small enough to sample many of what the restaurants are serving yet large enough that one’s appetite is satisfied as the event comes to an end. Some of my favorites dishes were: Italic — walnut olive oil cake with mascarpone and blackberry. I loved that this dessert was more savory vs sweet. Lick Ice Cream — Roasted beet & mint Ice cream with honey cream, goat cheese and chocolate waffle. Delysia Chocolate — Raspberry truffle; potato, smoked cheese, bacon and chive truffle. I don’t know how chocolatier Nicole Pitel comes up with these flavors but she’s a genius! The Bribery Bakery — strawberry lime brown butter blondie. This was my first time trying Jodi Elliot’s sweets and I was incredibly impressed. Eden East — Hay smoked red fish with pickled garlic chip, lemon confit, dill kennebec potato pancake and crispy fish skin. Bonneville — savory Korean style braised lamb steamed buns. The company I work for purchases a table to this event every year through a co-op partner as they believe in SFC’s mission and services they provide our community. SFC empowers adults and children to grow their own food by providing education and resources. Their nationally recognized Happy Kitchen program is a cooking and nutrition education program that helps grows skills in food selection and preparation. SFC also has a Farm Direct program which brings together local growers, schools, urban residents, and institutional food service operations worksites in demand of fresh produce through weekly SFC Farmers’ Markets and direct marketing projects, such as farm-to-cafeteria, farm-to-school, and farm-to-work. Events like the Farm to Plate put money back into this wonderful organization.
