Local gourmands gather at food forum to talk shop

Over plates of black bean ravioli and hearty steamed vegetables, around 200 farmers, restaurateurs, food service workers and activists shared stories, strategies and business cards Tuesday in Andrews Dining Hall. "It's all local," organizer Jenn Baumstein '08 said of the feast. But so were the feasters themselves, all gathered for the fourth annual Local Food Forum. The event included various discussions and a "speed networking" session and was meant to connect local food producers with local consumers, developing better systems for agricultural cooperation, said Noah Fulmer '05, executive director of Farm Fresh Rhode Island, one of the event's sponsors. "The state is so small that getting people to know each other can make all the difference," Fulmer said. Many of the participants wouldn't otherwise find the time to communicate and collaborate, so a day off designed for just that can go a long way," he added. Mostly jean-clad - except for a cadre of chefs from Johnson and Wales University - the participants swapped advice about everything from barrel sizes to product labels. Some recognized a number of friendly faces, while others found themselves surrounded by mostly new acquaintances. "It builds on itself through friends," Baumstein said of the idea behind the forum. "Half of these people have known each other for 25 years," she said, but a catalyst like yesterday's event helps them solidify a "framework" for those relations to develop in profitable terms. Among the topics discussed at the forum were distribution strategies for produce, the benefits of cooperation and intercommunication in local agriculture and the importance of knowing where food comes from and ends up. Farm Fresh RI hopes to address all these issues with a project it is currently developing - a local foods "hub" that would serve as a storage facility, distribution site and community center all at once. The hub would create a "year-round market space," said Sheri Griffin, the organization's development director, that would help to "repair and recreate" an agricultural and consumer climate in Rhode Island that values the local. In addition to food storage rooms, the building is slated to include classrooms for workshops, a library for resources on grant-writing and waste management and perhaps even a kitchen. Now on the drawing boards, the building will be located somewhere near Olneyville, Griffin said. By providing a chance for local growers to "get their names out there," the forum has drawn many participants back several times. Perry Raso, who owns and operates Matunuck Oyster Farm, said that he made two crucial contacts at last year's meeting - one who invited him to sell his shellfish at a farmers' market and another who has bought oysters from him every week since. Raso said he sells most of his oysters and scallops to larger markets in Boston, Washington, D.C., and New York, but that he likes to sell locally to diversify. What's more, he said, he enjoys getting positive feedback about his work on a community level. "I like walking into a restaurant and hearing, 'Oh, your oysters are great!'" he said. Kristin Lewis of Rabbit's Dance Farm in Cumberland maintains her farm's ties to the community through a system of community-supported agriculture. Her customers pay upfront for a seasonal share of the crop, and then come to the farm to pick up a variety of organic produce every week. "They like the experience of connecting with the farm," Lewis said of her clients. She said she often invites them to pick their own vegetables when they come, and gives them recipes for the food they take home. "People say they eat a lot better," Lewis said, adding that she thinks it's because the experience isn't just nutritional but educational as well. Baumstein, who interns with the University's Community Harvest program, said she hopes that Brown Dining Services can continue to expand its relationship with the local food community, and noted that events like the forum present a way to make that happen better. Lewis said she meets more and more people who are familiar with the concept of community-supported agriculture, perhaps an indication that awareness of the local food movement in Rhode Island is growing. "More people are coming to me saying 'This is what I want,' not 'What are you doing? I'm curious,'" she said. Reminiscing about the now-vanished farms of his New Jersey childhood, Fulmer said his inspiration for taking a greater interest in promoting local food communities is quite simple. "You realize that everything goes back to food, whether it's health, the environment or just pleasure," he said.