OpEd: Closing the Gap Between Food Producers and Consumers

With over 15 years of restaurant experience, Rachel set out in 2010 to start a restaurant company that would source local food with integrity in its concepts. One concept – a better burger bar – compelled Rachel to travel to Piedmonte, Italy to trace the origin of Piedmontese beef. In Italy, they found no cross-breeding of cows, no dilution in the quality of beef, and no inconsistency in the flavorful, lean meat. They also found a culture of healthy people with low cholesterol who indulge daily in amazing food and wine. Within one month, and with full support of Italian and American cattle associations, Monty's Beef Company – growing and serving 100% Pure Piedmontese™ beef on US soil – was born. 



OpEd: Closing the Gap Between Food Producers and Consumers


How important is the quality of the food you put in your body and feed your family? It is incredible how many people will respond to this question, with certainty, "Oh so important!" Actually, it's unbelievable to me. How is it this important and yet in the city of Royal Oak and surrounding areas I can only think of a handful of places to buy foods I trust and even fewer places to eat? Don't get me wrong, I'm a carnivore, I love steakhouse row over in Troy but do such establishments come to mind when I am looking for a healthy, nourishing, quality meal out—not really.

So where's the discrepancy? We want to eat well; we even have actual demand for it, but how come it is so difficult? 

First, I would say that not enough people believe it is actually that difficult to eat good food in this city.  The menu special is a vibrant piece of "wild caught" something. We say, "I'll take that." The box at the market reads "cage free," so we say, "Give me two!" We hear "Grass fed", and our response is "perfect." Most of us feel good knowing the foods we choose fall into any one of these categories and that's enough reassurance that what we are eating is quality. With that said, it's very easy to dine out or shop in our city – just look for the bold letters on the box or pick the menu item whose description is bold and sounds clean.

Second, as a whole we are really confused – torn at best over the definition of quality food. There is no denying that Escargot and Genghis Kahn, or really anything at The Lark, if you are ever lucky enough to go, is going to be of supreme quality – most of us could agree on that – but where's an everyday eatery with good food? And once I am there, what should I eat? My favorite people are vegetarians – I can say this because I was one for five years – specifically vegetarians who believe that they are eating clean just by not eating meat. And I love the doctors who tell them so. I also love people who "only eat lean proteins like fish and chicken" because eating better is very important to them. And what about gluten-free foods? Is this an allergy epidemic, passing fad, or clean eating? It's really difficult to determine what's good food, and the amount of information out there can make one schizophrenic. 

But, the biggest barrier to quality food is the distance between our food establishments (grocers, butchers, and restaurants) and the supply, and this is something that a skilled chef, creative menu, good home cooking, and healthy ingredients cannot help.

What do those bold tag lines mean and who certifies that the product in the box adheres to the standards of that tag line, or is it merely marketing? Is that beautiful vegetable plate from a large pesticide-sprayed, chemical-rich soil? How can we really trust the food we are eating when we are so far from the source, be it in geographic distance or bodies in-between? You can't.

Governor Snyder spoke last month at the Pure Michigan Agriculture Business Connect Summit in Lansing and said that the two most powerful emerging trends among the largest agricultural consumers (20-45 year olds) in our state are "local" and "sustainable." He went on to say how studies have shown that not only will they spend more for local, fresh, ethically farmed product but that they will stop buying where they cannot find this. His expansion of the Michigan Department of Agriculture to include rural development has been his commitment to grow and preserve our $91.4 billion food and ag system. This can be seen throughout the work of its mission: a customer-driven, solution-oriented approach to cultivate and expand new economic opportunities for the food and agricultural sector; safeguard the public's food supply; inspect and enforce sound animal health practices; and control and eradicate plant pests and diseases. The new structure, support, and regulatory assessment provided by our state government creates an incredible opportunity for the 52,194 farms in our great state to increase their production of quality locally-grown, sustainable fruits, vegetables and protein sources, selling themselves and their farm goods directly to markets and chefs, as demand for such foods is on the rise.

Sustainable and local farming practices is no fad; it's a trend that is spreading across the nation. Recently, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) released its 2014 Culinary Forecast, a survey of nearly 1,300 professional chefs. Of the top 10 trends, six represent local and sustainable themes. The top three are locally sourced meats and seafood, locally grown produce and environmental sustainability. This trend has given momentum to farm-to-table restaurants, which are not a new phenomenon, but rather relatively foreign to our parts of metro Detroit. But not for long, because people want to know their food, know where it came from, know that it is what it claims to be, and trust the quality. As such establishments begin to pop up or even as existing spots convert their menu to local ingredients from local farmers supplying directly, there will be more quality food available to dine out or buy at the markets and pick up from your local butcher. 

And when this spot opens or that menu converts, you will know it has begun because they will have a line like Inn Season Café, wrapped around the side of their building. And that's a place to eat!