Farm to Restaurant

The goal of the Farm to Restaurant Project is to promote a viable food system by facilitating local food sourcing between Santa Fe restaurants and regional food producers and educating the public about the benefits of supporting locally grown and prepared foods.

Why is this important?

ECONOMY A dollar spent locally generate three times as much income for the local economy.

COMMUNITY Purchasing local food reconnects the eater and the grower and supports local farmers.

HEALTH Food is our most basic tie to the land. Our bodies live better with the foods that are grown where we are.

TASTE Chefs prefer the freshness and quality to make the delicious dishes we all enjoy.

ENVIRONMENT Local food has a smaller carbon footprint and less influence by industrialized farming.

The Farm to Restaurant Project consists of two parts:

One is the Marketing Campaign to raise awareness among consumers about the need to support local restaurant that source from regional food producers. In 2010, the value of the media campaign came to $40,000.

The other part is Farm to Restaurant Delivers, an aggregation and delivery system that will offer  Santa Fe restaurants access to local and regional food. In 2010, this project brought $30,000 to regional producers from July-October.

Feel free to read the Farm to Restaurant article in the October 2010 issue of Green Fire Times that explains the whole project.

(The National Restaurant Association’s annual survey of more than 1,800 professional chefs reveals that local sourcing of ingredients, healthy kids’ meals and sustainability are two of the hottest trends on restaurant menus in 2011.)