Dinner in the Field returns

Photos courtesy Slow Food Baton Rouge

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Area chefs prepare for a multi-course dinner in April for Slow Food event

Next month, farm-to-table enthusiasts will have another chance to dine on a multi-course meal made with regional ingredients during Slow Food Baton Rouge’s Dinner in the Field. The event has been held annually since 2011, but it was shuttered last year because of logistical issues. This year, organizers will hold the gathering at The Grace House (24455 W L Grace Road) in Plaquemine, where chefs will prepare dishes with items sourced from Louisiana farms and waterways. (Editor’s note: The event was moved the week of the event due to concerns for inclement weather.)

The dinner has become a favorite among fans of local foods, but it is also intended to raise capital for the city’s all-volunteer Slow Food chapter, one of 175 in the United States.

Dinner in the Field patrons buy tickets in advance to attend the food and wine event, held outdoors under historic live oak trees in the rural community of Gurley, north of Baton Rouge. Local chefs, including Ryan André of City Pork Brasserie & Bar, Jenny Cornelius of Nino’s, Andy Papson of Tallulah and Eric Arceneaux of the City Club, will prepare a multi-course menu onsite. The farm-to-table delivery company, Indie Plate, is sourcing ingredients with a Louisiana provenance. Chef Elton Hyndman, owner of Nino’s and Oscar’s Pizza and Ice Cream Joint, leads the team.

For the first time this year, the event will include a limited number of chef’s tables, which will be placed near the cooking team and served special wine pairings.

Since Slow Food Baton Rouge launched in 2009, it has worked to promote the national organization’s mission of “good, clean and fair food for all.” The local chapter hosts film screenings, farm tours, chefs’ showcases, monthly socials, urban agriculture workshops and school-based programs.

As Slow Food’s annual fundraiser, Dinner in the Field supports Greauxing Healthy Baton Rouge, a school garden project that teaches kids about food systems and nutrition. The group has installed six raised beds each at Dufrocq Elementary and the Foreign Language Academic Immersion Magnet, according to Slow Food Baton Rouge board member Cheryl Giles. Groups of students have been learning to plant, tend and harvest seasonal produce, sometimes selling it back to the school community. The beds have been placed in prominent areas so the entire student body can watch the plants mature.

“The children are learning about food systems, nutrition, gardening and how to manage money and deal with customers,” Giles says.

In the fall, the students raised mustard greens, collard greens, kale, cauliflower, broccoli and radishes and sold the produce at parent events. Spring beds are under way now. Slow Food Baton Rouge is hoping that the two sites, which are modeled after an Austin-based program called Sprouting Healthy Kids, will be the first of many in the Capital City.

“We want to see these be the demonstration projects for more school-based sites,” says co-founder and LSU professor of horticulture Carl Motsenbocker. “Ideally, we’d like to hire a staff person to help coordinate them.” 

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DINNER IN THE FIELD

Sunday, April 19

Free self-guided tours of regional farms begin at 9 a.m. and continue all day. The dinner at The Grace House (24455 W L Grace Road) in Plaquemine is $125 per person before April 1; $150 after. Limited chef’s tables for groups are available. For more information, visit slowfoodbr.org.