December 2018   |   27 

T

he restaurant industry—or, 

more accurately, the food 

industry as a whole—is 

undergoing a shift in focus, a 

desire to know that ingredients are not 

only the highest in quality, but also the 

freshest and the purest. We want to know 

what’s in the foods that we’re eating and 

where it came from. We want its timeline 

and lifeline tracked from start to finish. 

     From seed to spoon. 

     From farm to fork. 

     From dirt to dish.  

We want to know its pedigree—where 

it was raised, what it ate (or didn’t), what 

extra curricular activities it enjoyed. When 

we order a steak, we want to know that 

before Bessie became dinner, she 

was a local gal; and that, should 

we have taken it upon ourselves 

to gambol about a nearby cattle 

farm, we might have made her 

acquaintance.     

It’s not a case of snobbery 

but rather than a concern for 

the bigger issues: the impact 

our food supply makes on the 

environment as well as the way 

that what we’re feeding our faces 

affects our bodies. We want to 

know that our fish has been caught in local 

waters and was still enjoying the good life 

until a few hours ago and that our fried 

chicken habit isn’t loading our systems 

with buckets of harmful chemicals and 

hormones.      

We want our food to do more than just 

taste good—we want it to be good. And 

for that reason, we’ve turned our attention 

to the local farms and fisheries that can 

feed our hunger with products that feed 

the local economy, reduce environmental 

impact, and cut down on waste. 

“The whole movement focuses on 

producing food locally and then making 

that food available to consumers who 

can see directly where their food comes 

from, and we love using those fresh, local 

ingredients here because we feel that 

it’s an important step in re-establishing 

the connection between people and food 

and the work that goes into farming the 

land and catching the fish,” says Cris 

Waller, co-owner of The Point Restaurant 

in Perdido Key, where they’ve been 

welcoming diners to taste some of that 

local love for more than 50 years. “We 

like taking the extra steps necessary to 

use local sources because we believe it 

has economic, health, and social benefits. 

It not only helps keep our community 

thriving but also strengthens the 

community relationships—and everything 

fresh tastes so much better!” she continues.

Frank Patti, Sr., of Joe 

Patti’s Seafood Company 

couldn’t agree more. 

“The taste is superior 

when you get fresher 

products, and people can 

appreciate the difference 

when they see products 

that they know have been 

brought in from the local 

area,” says Patti, whose 

family has been in the 

business of selling and 

Purity

 

on the

 

Plate

story by

 

Liesel Schmidt

27-28 Coastal Cuisine-Purity on the Plate.indd   1

11/25/18   11:17 AM