Farm to Fork
Bon Appétit’s Farm to Fork program is about “putting our money where our mouth is” - quite literally. It’s about investing in the health of our community.Farm to Fork is a company-wide initiative to buy locally. Our first choice is to purchase seasonal and regional produce from local farmers within a 150 mile radius. These gems of the earth are prepared and served within 48 hours of harvest. The result is healthier communities and customers.
By buying directly from farmers we have much more control over what types of agribusiness we are supporting. We can support sustainable farming practices that nourish and replenish the local land rather than stripping it. We can support farmers that steer away from pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics. We can support family farms and farm collectives such as AMO Organics, a cooperative made up of farmers who have made the transition from farm-worker to farm-owner. We can support farmers who are preserving the diversity of our food choices by growing heirloom vegetables rather than genetically-modified “super-produce.” We can be sure that the profits are kept with the local grower, not a distant importer, and therefore reinvested into the community.
Farm to Fork also has an effect on the flavor and nutritional value of the food we serve. A tomato grown without pesticides and ripened on the vine tastes unbelievably better than one sprayed with chemicals, picked while still green, trucked thousands of miles and force-ripened in a warehouse. It is especially important to Bon Appétit chefs to start with food that is alive with flavor since we cook everything from scratch and don’t use “flavor enhancers” such as MSG.
Buying 100% locally is not yet practical but the commitment we have made to Farm to Fork is to help insure that our community can eat well today and tomorrow.