Farmers, restaurants embrace farm to table concept

It’s one of the biggest trends in the restaurant industry.
Getting food from local farms and serving it while it is still at its freshest.
It’s called farm-to-table and an increasing number of Okanagan chefs and farmers are embracing it.
A farm-to-table conference took place in town Wednesday, organized by Tourism Kelowna.
Designed to be a speed networking session, the farmers and orchardists attending are promoting their products to local chefs and restaurant owners.
“Chefs are always expanding their supplier networks and are on the lookout for those great artisan food products,” said Catherine Frechette with Tourism Kelowna.
They are all hoping to take advantage of the increasing public interest in eating locally produced food.
RauDZ Regional Table already buys from nearly 150 local food suppliers and is looking for more.
RauDZ owner, Chef Rod Butters says the concept is not new.
“It’s interesting to hear it’s a new trend when it has actually been around for generations, but it is becoming more mainstream now because the general public wants to know where its food is coming from,” says Butters
Many top Okanagan restaurants use local produce whenever possible which is good news for those who grow it, like Loretta Cross from Function Junction Fruit Stand
“It’s good products. Safe. Much safer than some places in the world. People are looking for healthy choices,” adds Cross.
“There’s a movement, totally in that direction, towards fresh products from local markets and farmers,” said Lorena Wood from Old Meadows Organic Farm.
Despite the benefits, buying local can be time consuming.
Mark Filatow, head Chef at Waterfront Restaurant says the effort is worth it.
“Take a tomato that is grown here at the end of July and compare that to something that has been imported from Mexico, and it’s been sitting in a box and it’s been gassed. There is no comparison,” Filatow says.
Local Chefs say a few years ago only a small number of their customers cared if the food they ate at restaurants was locally produced or not, but that attitude has changed dramatically in recent years.
Tourism Kelowna says many tourists like to go on farm tours, especially if the know they’ll be able to get that farm’s products at a nearby restaurant.