Slow ride

It’s best described as the opposite of fast food.

The Slow Food movement celebrates untainted regional foods and encourages connections between farmers who resist industrialization and consumers who care about the provenance of their food. Baton Rouge’s Slow Food chapter showcased these principles recently in an impressive dinner—the first of its kind locally—that saw a handful of committed chefs, farmers and volunteers demonstrate what “farm-to-table” can actually look and taste like.

Before diners began savoring the four courses, many participated in an afternoon tour of local family farms. Zachary’s Yardbird Farms, Feliciana’s Best Creamery in Slaughter, Amazing Grace Creamery in Ethel and Oakland Organics in Gurley showed their unique approaches to animal husbandry and land stewardship. The final stop, Oakland Organics, was also the site of the dinner, where a vintage brick kitchen lit only with candles welcomed 30 impassioned Slow Food disciples.

Chefs who also subscribe to farm-to-table fare donated their talents that night, producing an ingredient-driven menu with local fruits and vegetables, dairy and humanely raised meats—some from the very farms toured that day. They spent the evening cooking together for the sake of promoting the movement.

“This wasn’t about egos,” says Slow Food board member and dinner organizer Chef Fred Huertin. “This was chefs giving their time because they’re committed to this idea. We were still composing the menu as we got closer to the event because it was truly based on what was available and what was seasonal.”

Huertin, along with Heirloom Cuisine chef/owner Jason Roland, Jaime Hernandez from Juban’s, Eric Arceneaux from the City Club and others cooked from Roland’s mobile kitchen parked on site. The first course’s charcuterie board included venison sausage, rabbit terrine and chicken rillettes crafted with poultry from Yardbird Farms fowl. The chefs offset the platter’s richness with fresh pickled carrots and apricot and cherry mostarda, a chutney-like condiment.

To create the second course—a salad with greens, Belle Ecorce goat cheese from St. Martinville and roasted beets with a kumquat preserve vinaigrette—the chefs picked fresh arugula and lettuces from the neatly groomed rows at Oakland Organics.

Next came cochon de lait-style pork with root beer glaze and rib roast of beef from Hollywood Livestock, a grass-fed beef purveyor in East Baton Rouge Parish. Oakland Organics fresh kale was sautéed and finished with Herbsaint. Huertin’s mushroom risotto was finished with local butter and cream from Feliciana’s Best Creamery. Finally, Latte e Miele owner Luca di Martino provided two flavors of hand-crafted gelato from Oakland Organics’ fresh rosemary and Ponchatoula strawberries.

“It was a big success,” Huertin says. “People were there for all sorts of different reasons, from health to taste, but it made everyone stop and say, ‘Wow. They do these events in other places, but we can do them here too.’”

Learn more about Slow Food Baton Rouge on Facebook.