New Hampshire Farmers Look to Expand Market to Local Chefs

T.11
:57 these you got to get a wedge, just a bite of each one, b/c I have to get 60 pieces...yes, yes.

Chef Sebastian Carosi is stained in sweat.

He's quickly showing his staff how to cut the limited supply of five local cheeses that will be the feast's final course.

But with the guests already arriving, Carosi only has a half hour until dinner needs to be ready.

Carosi runs into the main kitchen to start working on some of the other courses.

Sfx: kitchen sound

T.24
:00 These are NH brook trout... these were alive less than four hours ago let me tell you something these are the hardest things in the world to filet, and I had to filet about 35 of them.

4:06 sfx: deeper sizzle

T.22
Sfx: crowd eating, being served, chatting

In the dinning room, the 54 guests have seated themselves at long tables, eager to dig in.

This meal is the first of nine to be held around New Hampshire through October.

The series is sponsored by farmers, restaurants and the Department of Agriculture, among others.

Extending the stomach grumbles just a bit longer, the Department's Gail McWilliam Jellie told the crowd about the program.

T.20
2:34 the growers dinner event is a way of introducing chefs and farmers so that long standing relationships will develop. The chefs find out what is available in NH, and long after these events are over, the chefs continue to buy local goods and expand their purchases...

The $50 dollar a plate dinner included venison from Plymouth, beef from Piermont and mushrooms from Freedom.

Carosi's eight dishes left many mouths watering.

A few were disappointed about the petite portions, but most praised the kitchen for the creative, elegant dishes.

T.39
1:29 I liked the little red deer that was fabulous...my wife and I grew up out in Utah and we used to have deer pretty regularly. And this was very pleasant recollection of what we used to have together.

T.25
1:02 I thought it was outstanding, each part of it was very tasty and different...I don't normally eat goat cheese, but I thought it was very tasty and mild.

That tasty and mild globe of goat cheese was made just 19 miles down the road on Valerie Davies farm.

T.11
Sfx: baby goats

Davies milks her 40 goats on her 5 acre plot in Gilmanton Iron Works.

She has been drawn deeply into some of the problems that arise when you try to bring farmers and restaurants together.

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Sfx: putting the dogs inside (quick sound)

She estimates she made about 9000 lbs of goat cheese last year.

T.7
:00 we are in the cheese room, do all my pasteurizing in here...

:14 opens tank...paddle...etc

She says business is good, she says she brought in about 65 thousand dollars in '04.

Working with some 40 restaurants has taught her about chefs particular expectations.

T.8
5:28 ...Chefs are used to getting their tomatoes and toilet paper off the same truck and writing out one check.

6:28 it's easy for them, they pick up a form, it's got 1000 items on there, they check it off, call it in and two days later it's at their door, they don't have ot think a lot. With us, it's a little more.

Clearly, when buying local, it's not that simple.

On the other side, Davies has heard from the farmers that talking to their plants beats doing the business thing.

She says certain complaints are very familiar.

T.13
1:17 ...I've got to be in my fields, tending my vegetables. I don't have the time to be driving around to all these r. I don't want to be talking face to face with chefs. I've seen guys going in, trying to do it, they still literally have dirt on their fingernails, it's not particularly impressive to the chefs. Especially you get into these high-end white glove places.

Davies says the market is there, the produce is there, the missing links is a distribution system, with a distributor who understands the needs of both groups.

She has started such an outfit that's just getting off the ground.

As of right now, everybody agrees, the state is sorely lacking the network to help the market expand.

But the obstacles for local food aren't just a matter of conveniences.

Certainly there are questions of prices...and reliability.

Dairy, meat, bread, no problem, those items are available for much of the year.

But produce?... this is New England, after all.

President of the New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association Paul Hartgen says for this to work the restaurants need predictability.

T.4
2:05 looking at the vision side of it, we wonder, what if r. could get together with a farmer in January and say, you know what, we are going to do yellow tomatoes, and this is the volume we are going to do for a year, can you plant those just for us. that would be awesome for us.

Restaurants may want products in a certain volume, but that doesn't mean producers can always deliver.

Take for example the dilemma facing the New Hampshire-based Common Man restaurant chain.

Deer farmer Henry Ahern says Common Man owner Alex Ray approached him about producing venison for the restaurants.

But Ray needed more than Ahern could deliver.

T.26
4:05 I've known Alex for years, and he of course has approached me about using venison, I can't provide the Common Man restaurants with their venison, so I told him, I can't do it, so he has to continue using the venison from New Zealand.

For Ahern, it's like two star-crossed lovers.

Both men want to work together, but something as elemental as quantity prevents the consummation of a deal.

Sfx: dinning room sound

T.45
:05 you see the cheese with the black ash, that's from Valerie Davies, that's the one I was speaking of before, my favorite on the planet...I hope you enjoy, that's the last one.

Chef Carosi's final course is a sample of cheeses.

Most of the 55 dinners have thoroughly enjoyed the New Hampshire grown and produced foods.

It was good enough that some guests have promised to start buying local and carry the message to friends and neighbors.

Shaker Table general manager George Shattuck says ideally, the dinner series will change what people eat.

He admits it's an uphill battle.

T.35
1:28 Friday night you have a beautiful r., gorgeous views, exquisite foods, and we might have an evening where I serve 25-30 people who really enjoy it, who leave extraordinarily happy, but I am a little sad I can't see a few more fannies in our seats. I drive home. I pass a couple of chain r. and they are packed. It's discouraging.

At the same time, this whole dinner series does offer Shattuck and others some solace.

About eight years ago, the Department of Agriculture and some farmers got together to try to start a similar local food program.

The effort never got off the ground...the restaurants weren't interested.

Now, says Lodging and Restaurant Association President Paul Hartgen, they are.

T.4
7:25 the market is changing, consumers are getting more educated, they want fresher products that are locally produced, less processing involved, and for our industry to meet that need, we have a great opportunity to buy locally. So that's the cool thing about it, if the market wasn't there, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Throughout this year's growing season organizers of the dinner series will be watching to see just how big the market is for local food.

The next meal is scheduled for July.

For NHPR News, I'm DG.

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