The Bounty of Rutherford County
Foothills Connect shows what fresh means to chefs
By SCOTT BAUGHMAN Daily Courier Staff Writer
“When Tim Will from Foothills Connect came to me with this idea, I knew it was a gold mine.”
Jean-Pierre Marechal Chef, Savannah Red Restaurant
RUTHERFORDTON - Chef JeanPierre Marechal thinks he has a recipe for success thanks to his new partnership with Foothills Connect and their Farm Fresh Market. The Charlotte gourmet met with local growers and food aficionados Monday afternoon to sample dishes made from local products and talk about the kind of food he needed, fresh. Marechal is one of the first chefs in Charlotte to make use of the Farm Fresh Market website set up by Foothills Connect to bring together cooks and the Rutherford County farmers who have produce to sell to them.
The real draw for these culinary greats is the freshness of the produce as it comes literally straight from the farm to their restaurants. “I am very happy to see so much interest in being successful with this today,” Marechal said as he addressed a crowd of about 25. I have traveled to about 21 countries all over the world as part of my training as a chef. I have cooked in Japan, France, Mexico, Brazil and many other places, and today I have come to talk to you about one of my restaurants in Charlotte, Savannah Red. “Our theme is traditional Southern food with a twist,” he said. “For instance, as an appetizer we serve a lobster cobbler. I am in the process of creating my spring menu for use starting in March and I wanted to talk to you today about the ingredients. “We probably do a $7 million a year business and I have a food budget of about $100,000 a month,” Marechal said. When Tim Will from Foothills Connect came to me with this idea, I knew it was a gold mine. I know nothing of agriculture, but I know that the trend in food is to get back to the origins of ingredients. People want food to have taste and be fresh. I want to buy produce from you because it is so much better tasting — 10 times better — than the product that has been sitting in containers for months and is shipped to us.”
Local produce growers and fine-dining fans sample gourmet fare created with local winter fruits and vegetables at Foothills Connect Monday as the Farm Fresh Market program kicked into high gear.
To pique the interest of Chef Marechal, local chef Liz Rose, owner of Cafe’ at the Mall restaurant, prepared some gourmet dishes for him and the guests to sample out of locally produced items. The menu included herb goat cheese and multi-grain bread from OakMoon Creamery and the Cafe’ Baking Company; Apple Cake from Coston Farms and the Cafe’ Baking Company; Zaleti’s Italian Cornmeal Cookies from Lakeside Mills and The Cafe’ Baking Company; Honey Roasted Turnips from Calvin Freeman Farms and Golden Valley Honey Farm; Cornmeal Fritters with Sautéed Garlic Greens and Red Pepper Goat Cheese from Lakeside Mills, organic beef and Asian spiced beef from Red Feather with bib lettuce grown at R.S. Central High School. “I didn’t really plan out this menu today,” Rose said. “They told me what food we had and I created a menu from it. Chefs love to do that, but it is not as easy for Chef Marechal because he can’t change his menu that quickly.” Marechal emphasized his need for security and reliability when discussing buying locally grown produce. “For me to do this on a larger scale, I need to know I can have the ingredients I need to meet my commitments,” Marechal said. “But, as I said, I don’t understand agriculture that well. I started out asking Tim for passion fruit, not understanding that you cannot grow that here in Rutherford County. I am in the process of making my menu so I can work together with you for whatever you can grow to be ready to sell me by March.”
Local producers, like Boyce Abernathy, did have some suggestions for Marechal. “Well, I can tell you that we can’t have the purple potatoes that you have been mentioning ready by March,” Abernathy said.
“But there are many other plants we can have, like greens, that would be ready. What we don’t want to do is have a situation where people grow a lot of this rare, exotic stuff you’ve requested and have it go bad because you won’t use it in time, or you won’t use as much as they’ve grown. We have a saying in agriculture — you either sell it or smell it.” After much discussion about produce and recipes, the group decided to form a farmers committee to discuss the items that they could grow for Chef Marechal and how quickly they’d be ready for harvest.
Contact Baughman via email at sbaughman@thedigitalcourier.com
  
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