Farmer Chef Connection

I just attended my second Farmer Chef Connection through Seattle's Chefs Collaborative. This year's sold out event was held at Herban Feast in the SODO district- a lovely, rustic event space with high ceilings, great lighting and endless party potential.
The Seattle Farmer Chef Connection brings in farmers and chefs from all over the state, and some as far away as Oregon and Canada, all in an effort to promote sustainable farmer and chef connections and share and celebrate the latest efforts of the farm to table movement.
The event started at 8 am and went until 5. In between guest speakers and breakout networking sessions, we all enjoyed a huge spread of dishes for lunch, set up buffet style- all made by local chefs with ingredients provided by local farmers. From the creamer for the coffee and the butter on the table, everything provided at the event was made locally with quality ingredients.

One of the highlights of the whole event was listening to Gabriel Claycamp, Armandino Batali and Keith Luce speak about the future of artisan charcuterie. Two other great highlights were learning about the creative ways farmers and producers are teaming up for cost-saving distribution methods and listening to Kristofor Lofgren, the owner of Bamboo Sushi in Oregon describe his fully sustainable sushi restaurant.
I made some wonderful connections and spoke to some inspiring farmers, chefs and activists all working towards the same goals. What I came away with more than ever, was that as each year that goes by, more and more people are joining together to celebrate slow food and wanting to help shed some light on where our country has gone in regards to food production and where we still need to go today.