Slow Down Sit-Down – Slow Food Baton Rouge hosts third annual farm tour and dinner

On a well-appointed table under textbook Louisiana live oaks, four courses inspired by the local culinary bounty emerged. Hog’s head cheese with Creole mustard and pork belly with red pepper gastrique came first, followed by mixed greens with Steen’s cane syrup and pecan vinaigrette. The ensuing entrées were fennel-stuffed pork and roast beef from boutique farms and Creole paella made with Gulf shrimp. Louisiana-grown grilled asparagus and Brussels sprouts with cane vinegar honey made an appearance, and for dessert, there were kumquat curd tartlets with goat cheese mousse and strawberry-Pinot Noir coulis.

At this chic farmhouse dinner, the provenance of every dish and cocktail morsel was traceable to farms within easy driving distance of the table. In fact, before the guests took their seats, many of them had participated in farm tours that brought them face to face with the growers responsible for the evening’s ingredients. Later this month, Slow Food Baton Rouge will once again host its annual Farm Tour and Dinner in the Field, an event that sheds light on the relationship between local foods, consumers and producers.

The event shows what’s possible, not only with local ingredients, but with local talent. Jaime Hernandez, executive chef of Juban’s Restaurant, is this year’s coordinating chef, and he will lead a team of chefs and volunteers to create dishes prepared with Louisiana produce, meat, seafood, breads and dairy products. It will be held on the grounds of Oakland Plantation in Gurley, La., rain or shine. Hernandez says the menu won’t be confirmed until shortly before the event, allowing the team to play around with ingredients emerging that week.

“We want to see what the farmers are getting in and allow each chef to have creative freedom in designing their dishes,” says Hernandez. Last year’s chefs included Hernandez, corporate chef Fred Heurtin, Eric Arceneaux from the City Club, MJ’s Café’s Maureen Joyce, and Luca Di Martino and Abby Guillot from Latte e Miele. Heurtin, who spearheaded the event in 2011 and 2012, has since relocated to Atlanta, but the other chefs are expected to participate again, says Hernandez.

Slow Food Baton Rouge organizer Carl Motsenbocker says the separate farm tour portion of the annual event has become a popular draw, and it will expand this year to include more farms. Participating farms last year included Port Hudson Organics, Feliciana’s Best Creamery, Yardbird Farms and McKowen Farms, which features sheep tended by herding dogs.

The local chapter of Slow Food USA has come a long way since its founding four years ago. In addition to the annual farm tour and farm-to-table dinner, the organization provides hands-on workshops in beekeeping, raising chickens, edible landscaping and other urban agriculture topics.

Slow Food Baton Rouge has also become a key coordinator in local community gardens. With help from AmeriCorps volunteers from the Louisiana Delta Service Corps, the nonprofit has established several gardens in town, including one at the new One Stop Homeless Services Center downtown.

Who knows—perhaps one of these gardens will provide produce for some local chef’s innovative dish at next year’s farm-to-table dinner.

Tickets to the dinner and map of tour route available at slowfoodbr.org.