Celebrating Local Food, Local Farms

North Carolina has a year-round growing season, and the Center for Environmental Farming System’s Farm to Fork initiative is celebrating that fact by spreading out 2018 activities over several seasons. First up: a pop-up dinner featuring Jacob Boehm, executive chef and owner of Snap Pea Underground & Catering, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 16.

The self-taught chef prepares multi-course, hyper-local meals designed around compelling themes, gathering diners in bucolic outdoor settings or dramatic indoor spaces not typically associated with fine dining. Boehm’s monthly dinner events are well-known across the Triangle.

“What we do simply wouldn’t be possible without the amazing renaissance of sustainable farming in this area,” Boehm said. “There are copious benefits to sourcing our produce entirely locally — the first one is that the produce is just better.  Not only is it fresher because it hasn’t had to be picked weeks in advance, but I can actually talk to the farmers about the varieties they are growing and their growing practices.”

Specific details of CEFS’ pop-up dinner — including the menu and place — will not be announced until days before the event, but Boehm will be cooking with seasonal ingredients at their peak, provided by some of our best-known farm partners. Tickets to the event are $200 each.

The event will benefit farmer training programs at CEFS and the W.C. Breeze Family Farm Extension and Research Center in Orange County. CEFS is a partnership of NC State University, NC A&T State University and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that develops and promotes just and equitable food and farming systems that conserve natural resources, strengthens communities, improves health outcomes, and provides economic opportunities in North Carolina and beyond.

For tickets or more information about CEFS’ year-round Farm to Fork celebration of local food and local farms, visit CEFS’ Farm to Fork website.

This post was originally published in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences News.