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