Chefs and farmers talk “buying local” at Dallas Farmers Market confab

by Teresa Gubbins

DALLAS — Local chefs and food suppliers met up at the Dallas Farmer's Market administration building on Sunday for the 2nd Annual Chef's Roundtable, to discuss how to make it easier to buy and serve locally-grown food.

The panel was organized by Chad Houser, chef at Parigi, who teamed up with Ryan Eason, president of volunteer group the Dallas Farmer's Market Friends.

Houser is one of a small network of chefs and food producers in Dallas pioneering the difficult path of buying produce, meat, and cheese from local suppliers.

The chefs and farmers first had a roundtable conversation, then answered questions from the Friends. It ended with a mixer, with Houser supervising hors d'ouevres prepared and served by members of the Dallas County Youth Village. Houser's adorable 11-year-old daughter Lilia ran around with the microphone during the Q&A.

Sitting in on the discussion were:

• chefs Graham Dodds (Bolsa), Jeffery Hobbs (Suze), David Uygur (Lola), and Scott Gottlich (Bijoux and Second Floor);
• local herb and lettuce growers Rocky and Celeste Tassioni of Tassione Farms in Stephenville, dairy farmers and cheesemakers Stuart and Connie Veldhuizen of Veldhuizen Farms in Dublin, grass-fed beef producers Doug and Marguerite Robbins of My Rancher in Greenville, famed tomato grower J.T. Lemley of Canton, and cheesemaker Deborah Rogers of Deborah's Farmstead in Fort Worth.

Buying local

The reason it's hard to buy local in Texas is because the growing season is not year-round. Chefs in Dallas who want to serve fresh food between November and March end up buying produce from other parts of the world.

"When I worked on the West Coast, we had purveyors who'd bring us things right to the restaurant where I worked," said David Uygur. "When I moved back to Texas, I found it was hard to get cool fresh local ingredients. At Lola, I use Mr. Lemley's tomatoes. I always prefer to use local items because they taste better. But good flavor is what I'm going for."

At Bijoux, chef Scott Gottlich said that the one thing he tries to do is to use things in season, and he changes the menu frequently. But at Second Floor, the menu changes only quarterly.

"We'd use everything local if we could," he said. "But not everything can grow here in Texas."

Bolsa, the new restaurant-market in Oak Cliff, has quickly built a profile as one of the most locally-driven restaurants in town. They've even started hosting a monthly farmers market. Chef Graham Dodds changes the menu daily to follow what's in season, using nearly 100% Texas produce during growing season, and "maybe 50%" during the winter. But that means he has to create something new every day.

"It's hard work to be flexible, but I see that people want it," he said.

Deborah Rogers of Deborah's Farmstead in Fort Worth suggested it might be a good idea to start a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture.

"We don't make money by selling to a middle man," she said.

Suze chef Jeffery Hobbs said he'd find value in a Web site that lists Texas produce as it's in season, providing both a resource for growers to list what they have and for chefs to see what's available.

Food Safety bill HR 875

The topic of buying local has a new sense of urgency thanks to the drafting of HR 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. The bill would create a new governmental entity called the Food Safety Administration to oversee safety of our food supply.

Many consumer groups and organic-food organizations are opposed to the bill -- not because they're opposed to food safety but because they fear that its requirements will put many of them out of business. There's an online petition urging lawmakers not to pass it.

Marguerite Robbins worried that the additional cost of licensing and inspections would put her out of business. She said it didn't make sense to treat an independent like her ranch, with only 50 "feeders" and 50 "momma cows", in the same manner as a massive ranch that processes thousands of animals.

"This bill lumps us all together, but we don't work the same way," she said. "I understand that they're concerned about situations like the salmonella in peanut butter, but those kinds of problems do not come from small farmers."

Connie Veldhuizen of Veldhuizen Farms pointed out that most small outfits are doubly watchful.

"As small producers, we have to have a good product, or we'd go out of business," she said. "We can't afford to have a 'bad batch'."

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