The New England Farm 2 Fork Project an eco-gastronomic organization that supports a biodiverse, sustainable food supply, local producers, heritage food-ways and the pleasures that surround the American table and kitchen. Founder, Chef Sebastian Carosi and his band of ‘Roving Rural Culinary Visionaries’ present ‘a twenty mile meal’. This event will be held at our 2010 Host Farm Raven Hill Orchard, a MOFGA certified organic apple orchard, located in East Waterboro, Maine. Chef Carosi is working closely with many farmers and producers to raise local food supply awareness and to support sustainable agriculture and economic development throughout our little corner of America…
Believing wholeheartedly that regardless of what we choose to eat, nothing is more important than starting with ingredients that are of the best possible quality and are at their peak of seasonal ripeness, knowing our final results will never be better than what we started with. A hidden advantage of using quality local ingredients is that they allow us to cook simply and eat well. Because our efforts in the kitchen are hard won, hopefully the meals that we make will substantiate our lives by tasting good and by infusing us with the feeling of connection to those who grow and produce the food and to those whom we share it with.
For Sebastian as a Chef and us as an organization, the best meals are the ones in which we know where everything was grown and who grew it. A meal should make sense geographically as well as indigenously. In the large urban sprawl areas of our country this may seem like an absurd value, but that’s only because we’re out of the habit of being connected with our food and its source. It is possible to regain that sense of connection; because knowing where our food comes from enriches our lives immeasurably by linking us to the place where we live and to those with whom we share a landscape, a culture, and a history. Agriculture is big business, but there are still many family farmers working small farms who market their products directly to us through farmers’ markets and CSA programs.
The seasonal food our local farmers bring to our tables is always the most vital and delectable because of its sheer proximity to market with the highest levels of sustainable farming techniques generally used. It is a true joy to cook with, and that is why we always seek out local farmers’ markets and all other direct food sources. Although done in an automobile, our family still forages for the majority of our food. We scour the countryside for grass-fed local beef, raw jersey milk, farmstead cheese, organic vegetables, raw honey, bee pollen, pastured heritage breed pork, grass-fed lamb, and pastured eggs and chickens. Having grown up on a New England farm Chef Carosi took all of these products for granted and watched the rapid change and steady decline in the American households meal plan due to preservative laden pre-packaged convenience foods (tv dinners)………… Vowing to keep our family and dining public drug-free (antibiotics, steroids, nitrates, nitrites and all other forms of pesticides) and educated about their food ways and traditions, we will source locally what we do not produce or grow ourselves, this is our mission at The New England Farm 2 Fork Project.
While sharing these beliefs with the dining public we have decided to bring you ‘a twenty mile meal’….. Thinking of this as a way to tell the story of a particular region, demonstrating through food what the concept of ‘LOCAL’ is really about…. Trying to present an environment where the story of the region and the story of the table can be shared and where the public has direct access to them……!
The New England Farm 2 Fork Project’s ‘…..a twenty mile meal…..’ will consist of locally made artisan & farmstead cheeses, pastured local lamb, antique (heirloom) apples and many other locally raised products. Our gastronomic goal is to serve the best local, sustainably produced ingredients, and to treat them with respect and simplicity in our cuisine. This means using as much of a products resources as possible, be it the greens from garden grown organic beets, or the livers and gizzards of barnyard chickens. Our deep-rooted regional influences have shaped and continue to shape New England farm cuisine and inspire our cooking and food on a daily basis. Diners are generally served 5-8 courses, in small, manageable portions that allow them to sample the variety of edible commodities available to us in a particular season, from a local source, without relying on imported foods purchased from agri-business conglomerates…
The seasonal cheeses, fruits, vegetables, milk, meat and other foods we procure locally and at the farmers market for our ‘a twenty mile meal’, along with the conviviality of seeing our local farmer twice a week, have been the truest source of inspiration in our kitchen and cuisine. As a Chef, Sebastian believes that we have a vital responsibility to be part of an overall solution. Reuniting the local beekeeper, artisan cheese maker, herdsmen, cattle rancher, lobsterman, fisherman, clam-digger, organic grower and dairy farmer to the dining public is a mandatory necessity that must not be overlooked. The New England Farm 2 Fork Project, Chef Sebastian Carosi and his band of roving rural culinary visionaries are cultivating a more conscientious food culture within our little corner of the country….
The New England Farm 2 Fork Project kicks off ‘…..a twenty mile meal……’ at 2010 Host Farm Raven Hill Orchard beginning on Saturday, July 17th and ending on Sunday, July 18th. Dinners start at 6pm sharp…….
The evening’s menu will feature:
reception…
smashed maine grown heirloom white beans on fried peasant
bread with pickled cucumber and ham powder…
pastures, prairies, hills, fields, farms and gardens…
‘liquid salad’ with a tall tomato & cold river vodka jell-o shot and a local goat cheese grilled cheese…
the freshest mess of field greens and foraged roughage tossed in a lemonade vinaigrette
with native strawberries, rosemary’s waltz, wildflower bee pollen and
organic applewood smoked sunflower seeds…
pastured local spring lamb ‘schnitzel’ with a homemade organic pretzel crumb
crust, sweet pea mashed taters, zucchini and red rooster sauce…
some sugar therapy…
heather’s ‘home-made’ baked farmers cheese with crushed local berries…
an elixir…
pink shandy cooler with citrus…
Cuisine by- Chef Sebastian Carosi
$45 p/p ( plus tax & gratuity )
*to view our schedule of up-coming events go to: www.thenewenglandfarm2forkproject.com
Please call the field phone direct for reservations- 207-459-4271 . Seating is limited to 36 people per night…..
2010 Host Farm- Raven Hill Orchard 255 Ossipee Hill Road . East Waterboro, ME 207.247.4455
Inquiries, questions and comments for The New England Farm 2 Fork Project should be directed to: info@thenewenglandfarm2forkproject.com
*there will be several seats set aside for members of the media (free of charge), if you and a guest would like to attend, please RSVP ASAP, seats go quickly……………