Working with chefs and what labels don’t tell you

Hi there everyone!

I know… I’ve been laxed with my posting again.  I try and be more active with our Instagram and Facebook accounts – so I hope you’re following up with me on there.

I wanted to give you a glimpse in on what life is like for the farmer who direct markets his product to the restaurant.  Restaurant marketing makes up about 2/3 of our business.  The other 1/3 is our individual customers and farmers markets.  The following is an actual conversation Pete had with a chef today.  This chef hadn’t ordered chicken in quite a few weeks and Pete had just again asked him if he needed anything for this week.  You can see for yourself what happens after that:

It is not possible for us to drop our restaurant price below $3!  The labor involved in that process from brooding the day old baby chicks, keeping them well fed, watered, moved by hand to fresh pasture each and every day (rain or shine – the guys are out there working their buns off in whatever weather conditions arise)  and processing them and packaging them.  Our chicks are nurtured by hand and given a premium salad bar of grass/grub and GMO free Feed additionally.  It is disheartening when you see chefs particularly sacrifice quality and local sourcing for cost.  Some of our favorite chefs have even come up to the farm to help on processing day to know even more so where their chicken is coming from.  {The full list of the restaurants we work with will be posted at the bottom of this post}

But I wanted to take a moment and decrypt what they said about the other Farm.  It does not say that the chicken is pasture raised (you’d advertise this if you were doing it!)– thus it is probably raised on a concrete floor with no access to it’s natural desire for bugs and grass.  It’s not a GMO free feed ration – the genetic modification of the feed the chicken eats will have an effect on those that then consume the chicken.  It all trickles through!  It’s “local”  I looked up this farm and all it says is they’re local PA farms.  Well I know of many PA farms with nice big CAFO’s on their property.  Maybe it’s one of them!  Other wording can be misleading too.  Vegetarian fed:  Only some animals are designed to only eat veggies – Cows and sheep being some – they’re herbivores with a 4 chambered stomach designed to ruminate on the grasses that abound.  Chickens and pigs however are not meant to only eat veggies.  They’re omnivores and should consume other proteins like bugs, grub and other things like that. So, by definition a vegetarian fed chicken is not raised on pasture.  

It all boils down to some simple things that can avoid all this label confusion – KNOW YOUR FARMER.  If you know the farmer that grows the veggies you eat, go visit them.  Tour the farm and see how things are done.  Ask if the fields are sprayed with anything and when.  For meats go visit the farm and see for yourself how the animals are raised.  Ask good questions.  Ask any questions.  Be informed and be proactive in your food choices.  Also, support those who are like minded like you – aka the chef’s we work with!

Our Regular restaurants:

Legume

Pie for Breakfast

The Vandal

Bar Marco

Market Street Grocery

The Foundry Table and Tap

Lidia’s

Eliza

Morcilla

Cure

East End Food Co-Op

Tell your favorite restaurant that you want to see Heritage Farm on the menu!