Mountain-folk find local food solutions
Tahoe Quarterly
By Laura Read
Lo·ca·vore, n. 1. One who eats local or regional food, often produced within a 100-mile radius.
Naysayers declared Tahoe couldn’t support a culture of seasonal, locally produced food because: A) The growing season is too short. B) Existing farms are too far away. C) Residents care more about sports than food. Yet lo and behold, regionally raised fare is sprouting up in backyard gardens, farmers markets and restaurants brought to the table by determined, impassioned Truckee area residents, farmers and restaurateurs, many of whom have banded together through joint projects and food-related events. Though large steps and small, this growing group of food enthusiasts continue to demonstrate that commitment to sustainably raised, reasonably priced, locally sourced food is easier—and closer—than you think.
The Restaurateur: Passing the sustainability and taste tests
When sourcing provisions for his restaurants, two factors matter most to Ed Coleman, owner (with partner Robyn Sills) of Pianeta Cucina Italiana and Pacific Crest Grill & Bar of America in Truckee: quality and environmental impact.
“These are our filters,” says Coleman, whose purchasing criteria not only benefits local growers (frequently small, organic farmers) but also dramatically reduces the fuel and pollution required for the product to reach the ultimate consumer.
About three years ago, Coleman made the switch from imported extra virgin olive oil to a supply from California Olive Ranch in nearby Oroville.
“It’s a great quality product,” he says, “much fresher than what we can get from Europe. We pay a little bit more, but the taste difference is pretty remarkable. And we aren’t flying it halfway across the planet.”
This revelation lead to another, more dramatic, switch. Coleman now buys a portion of Pacific Crest Grill & Bar of America’s beef from the historic Trimmer Ranch just 50 miles away in Genoa. Officially known as Ranch 1, the 300-acre farm is located on the first land grant awarded in Nevada, owned and operated by the Trimmer family for nearly a century. Trimmer’s JB Lekumberry, who entered into the business after marrying ranch founder Robert Trimmer Jr.’s great granddaughter, met Coleman through mutual friends.
“When I started the beef program three years ago, I thought they’d be open to it,” says Lekumberry. Now, Coleman’s business helps sustain the ranch’s new grassroots operations. “These days, farms typically raise the calves but let someone else finish them,” Lekumberry says. “But now we are taking things on the farm all the way to fruition.” Trimmer’s 100 grass-fed Herford-Angus steer not only grow up but also mature in Genoa; they become beef in Fallon, at one of the two slaughterhouses left in Northern Nevada.
Serving beef raised nearby has led to a few adjustments. Since Pacific Crest Grill & Bar of America buy a whole steer at a time, in addition to steaks, Coleman also uses Trimmer Ranch beef in dishes as humble as burgers, chili, stew and the corn beef hash served at Sunday brunch. Customers certainly seem to appreciate it. Even at the 30 percent higher prices Coleman needs to charge, the steaks and filets are gobbled up within days.
And the restaurateur hasn’t stopped with oil and beef. The Pacific Crest wine list boasts two pages of biodynamic, sustainable and organic wines, many from nearby Wine Country. Organic vegetables come from the Sierra foothills and Central Valley, and seafood mainly from the California and Oregon coasts. When in season, wild salmon arrives fresh from Half Moon Bay.
Most importantly, though, Coleman doesn’t nullify his efforts with restaurant waste. All take-out containers and utensils are compostable, and all cooking oil is recycled into biodiesel by Simple Fuels of Reno (see a related article on page ???). This latter effort, says Coleman is dually important: “One, because cooking oil is often rendered into cattle feed, we are not contributing to the cycle of factory beef lots. Two, by contributing to alternative fuels, we are reducing our dependence on oil.”
Residents: Finding Food Fresh from Hoof and Hoe
Personalizing the food procurement process isn’t just for savvy restaurateurs. In 2004, Kevin Drake and Sue Malavolta, well versed in the benefits of eating local food, moved to Truckee from Oregon. At the weekly Placer County Farmers’ Market, they became acquainted with the staff of Thompson Valley Ranch, which raises natural, grass-fed Angus beef in Quincy. Soon, the couple arranged to buy Thompson Valley beef in bulk. This year, they and two other couples split the cost of one-fourth of a steer.
“We spent a total of $225,” says Malavolta, who works as an environmental consultant at Tahoe City’s Integrated Environmental Restoration Services and in the winter as a children’s program manager at Northstar-at-Tahoe. “The ground beef we get from the steer comes out to be a little over $6 per pound. In a store, you can get it for around $5 per pound, I think, but I wouldn’t even consider buying meat from a grocery store any more.”
The couple buys produce from farmers markets and subscribes to weekly seasonal food boxes through a Community Supported Agriculture program, or CSA. (Riverdog Farm in Guinda, California, provides their box. See sidebar for other providers.)
Two years ago, Drake, who also works at Integrated Environmental, as an environmental planner, started a backyard garden. “I’m under no illusions that I can sustain all my eating habits through a garden here, but one of my goals is to connect to the seasons,” he says. “By eating locally, you’re eating seasonally. It’s fun to be eating certain things in June, a different crop in July and still different things in the fall.”
There are benefits beyond the horn of plenty. “Checking the garden every few days or every night is kind of therapy for me,” says Drake. “It helps me to slow down, decompress. Eating something out of the garden gives me a tangible pleasure.”
It also gives him intellectual satisfaction. For Drake, food is closely linked with important social and economic issues—such as the amount of fuel required to fertilize, harvest, process and deliver much of the food stocked on grocery store shelves.
“People talk about how sustaining the triple bottom line (economy, environment, people) is necessary for healthy communities,” Drake says. “Food is a common denominator that affects all of those areas in big ways. Every bite of food you take, every dollar you spend, you’re voting for the way you want things to be. Eating is a democratic act.”
The Farmer: Bringing Folks Back to the Field
The day after a sell-out “Farm to Fork” dinner at their Sierra Valley Farms property last July, Gary and Kim Romano were ecstatic: Seventy people had dined the previous evening in the old Romano family barn.
“When people came, they could not believe the quality of the food cooked on the farm, and presented in this five-course meal,” Kim says. “They were impressed with what could be done. It was a bounty of pleasure.”
The family has been growing and selling native plants since they bought the 65-acre property from Gary’s grandmother in 1989. The organic produce aspect of the business took off in the early nineties, which then led to the Romanos’ Friday farmers markets.
“It started by accident,” Gary says of their now-successful weekly market. Working for Truckee-Donner Recreation & Park District, he helped found the farmers market at the Truckee River Regional Park, and then decided to buy leftover produce from that market to resell at his farm to folks in Plumas County; however, the produce in Truckee was selling out, and none was leftover for the Romanos’ hometown stand.
So the couple shifted gears and three years ago invited farmers to set up stalls at Sierra Valley Farms. The Romanos also asked chefs from top area restaurants to give lunchtime cooking demonstrations. Customers loved the concept.
And their farm has, too. Business has doubled in the past five years, mostly through word of mouth, and is up 30 percent just this year. Volunteers have stepped forward to help the Romanos grow and pick vegetables. In July, 30 Slow Food Lake Tahoe members (see sidebar on page ??) spent a day harvesting at the farm.
“It’s not just about organic,” says Gary who adds that restaurant orders make up a good 50 percent of their business. “It’s about local, fresh, farm-grown food picked two days ago instead of a month ago.”
Of course, the Romanos and their ten-year-old son, Joey, eat well. They supplement their diets with grocery store items when needed. “We’re not so perfect that we eat everything organic,” Kim says of being an organic farmer. “But it’s what we like to do—not because we should, but because we crave that food.”
The Chef: Invoking Alice Waters
Many claim that the nation’s awakening to the pleasures of eating seasonal, fresh food began with Alice Waters, who founded Berkeley’s Chez Panisse restaurant around local food in the seventies. As Waters inspired Berkeley, so Mark Estee raised the bar in Truckee since opening Moody’s Bistro & Lounge with JJ Morgan six years ago. The paybacks have been plentiful, both professionally and personally.
“You’re supporting your local economy and you know your sources,” says Estee. “I sleep over at Gary Romano’s farm; I visit Heidi Watanabe, help pick tomatoes and eat lunch cooked by her grandmother [Watanabe Farms is in West Sacramento]. We’ve been doing this so long that people call me and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got eggs’ or ‘I found some wild watercress.’ It may be only a pound of watercress, but it’s enough to make a garnish.”
Patrons of Estee’s restaurants—Moody’s, Burger Me! (see New Spots on page ???) and the soon-to-open Baxter’s Bistro at the Village at Northstar—benefit. “If you compare Niman Ranch [hormone-free, antibiotic-free livestock raised in California] pork-to-pork with one of the big box companies, the flavor is so remarkably different,” Estee says. “The same is true of imported and domestic lamb. Domestic tastes better. The customer doesn’t always know the difference, but that’s our responsibility.”
Estee’s connections with local providers have spawned some interesting projects. For example, Moody’s is raising six pigs in partnership with Griffon Farms (on Highway 89 North near Calpine) and contributes kitchen compost to the animals’ feed. Exciting as it is to be energizing local culinary trends, committing to seasonal food isn’t for every restaurateur. “You have to be flexible and creative,” Estee says.
The Locavore: Eating for Health
As children, Truckee resident Daphne Hougard and her brother suffered from asthma. “My mother, after exhausting medical resources, decided to put us on an organic diet low in sugar, wheat and dairy,” Hougard says. “Within months, we were much better, and by the end of the year, we could stop using steroid inhalers. I got to experience first-hand how diet and state-of-mind influence well-being.”
Today, Hougard is a self-avowed locavore, making every attempt to eat organic or sustainably produced foods grown nearby. Her guidelines include buying from farmers markets whenever possible, paying attention at health food stores to where the produce originated, scouting seasonal foods and eating the highest quality available.
“My biggest challenge is when I’m traveling for work,” says Hougard, who is a commercial photographer. “I often work with teams of people on location.” She manages by keeping on hand an ice chest filled healthy snacks and scouting restaurants ahead of time.
While time consuming, she feels the extra effort pays off. “As a child, I learned that when I ate well with home-cooked foods, I felt more vibrant, clear, focused and well,” she says. “When people comment on the added costs of organic food, my thinking is, we cannot afford not to eat organic food. Health care costs are so much more expensive than the costs of eating healthy. The added vitality I feel—and knowing I’m supporting something so much larger than myself—I’m sure that eating locally is the least I can do.”
Sidebar: What is Slow Food?
Since 1990, the United States has lost 93 percent of food diversity. Recent bestselling books such as Michael Pollan’s <The Omnivore’s Dilemma,> Barbara Kingsolver’s <Animal, Vegetable, Miracle> and Brian Halweil’s <Eat Here> have decried this loss of many North American varieties during the twentieth century, blaming government agricultural policies favoring large producers, advertising programs and preferences for economies of scale.
A stalwart band of activists worldwide hopes to head off this trend by protecting local food sources and emphasizing the enjoyment and nutritional and social benefits that come with eating regionally sourced meals. Leading the organized charge is Slow Food, which was started in Italy and now has 85,000 members in 132 countries. Over 60,000 people participated in the Slow Food Nation festival in San Francisco over Labor Day weekend.
The organization’s Tahoe ties started with Carnelian Bay’s Lisa Boudreau—owner of the former Lisa’s Central Market in Truckee— who started the local chapter of Slow Food last summer with help from Sierra Valley Farm’s Gary Romano, Dragonfly’s Billy McCoullough, Moody’s Mark Estee and Project MANA’s Kaili Sanchez. Now the chapter’s some 50 members meet for monthly meetings, bimonthly potlucks and host events such as educational films and dinners.
For more information or to join, visit www.slowfoodlaketahoe.org.