KCAA Peninsula Local Food Chef Show-Off

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The President’s Hall, Kitsap Fairgrounds
Buffet Style Serving Begins At 4:00 PM

Sublime Local Food Prepared By The Peninsula’s Best Chefs

I am working with the Kitsap Community Agricultural Alliance (KCAA) leader, Jim Freeman, and a cadre of other volunteers to promote and carry out this delightful event. It is basically like a "Taste of Kitsap" event, except the chefs are cooking with local ingredients donated by small farmers. There will also be local beers and wine!

While the food and fun will be great, the speakers who will be there are very important, too. In fact, I believe they are the most important part of the event because they have first-hand knowledge of what it takes to be a small farmer in this modern economy. I am looking forward to hearing their thoughts on what the government's role is in being a successful small farmer and what can be changed to make farming more attractive to young people. Nash Huber and Kate Dean are the speakers (see the event link above for more information). 

Farming is a faint part of my childhood memories. My mother grew up farming and would talk about the ways it was difficult, fun and how it interfered with her social life. She always wanted us kids to enjoy "being a kid" more than she felt she had been able to. At the same time, my maternal grandparents still farmed a bit when I was quite young and my aunt Janice still farms today. When I visited these family farms, I delighted in visiting with the farm animals and watching the action on the farm. I gleefully attended chicken butchering - though I squealed when the headless chicken ran around. I would eagerly pick the overgrown zucchini from Aunt Janice's garden and thrown them to the noisy pigs. I stopped by the pastures while on a bike ride, in order to chat with the newly born calves. 

Our family primarily ate beef from Aunt Janice's farm, to my memory, while I was growing up. Only after we had eaten through the reserves in the freezer did Mom bring home beef from the grocery store. Because Aunt Janice had chickens and pigs sporadically over the years, we ate commercial chicken and pork products.

In high school, I learned the living conditions, genetic engineering and processing that led to the frozen chicken breasts I so frequently ate. That knowledge empowered me and led me to slowly eat less and less chicken. Today, I only eat chicken in rare instances and have been slowly decreasing the other meats I eat. Yet, I do not want to be a vegetarian - I merely want to eat animal products that come from animals who lived naturally on a farm. To me, that means grass-fed beef, as an example.

I continue to challenge my own values that determine what meat I will and will not eat. Is it hypocritical to eat small-farm meat because the animals had a "natural life" but reject farmed fish? What are your thoughts?

In any case, if you are interested in these issues, or just like to eat yummy food and you live within driving distance of the Olympic Peninsula - give me a shout and see you at the chef show-off!