Chefs: Five Steps to Sourcing Local Ingredients

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Owner of Silver Diner Boasts a Local Foods Menu

How Restaurant Chefs can Begin to Source Local Ingredients

5 Steps to Take

by Guest Blogger, Cindy Cullen, Culinary Arts College

Gone are the days when exotic food items were the most sought-after items on any menu; today, it’s all about the local flavor – the more local you choose, the more popular and reputable your restaurant. Sure, local ingredients are more expensive, but you get what you pay for – quality over quantity, produce that’s fresh and in season, and fewer side-effects from pesticides and chemicals.

Buying local ingredients allows you to boost the efforts and initiative of local farmers and help sustain them, and it allows you to contribute your little bit towards preserving our environment and reducing carbon footprints. In short, when you choose local, organic and seasonal, you know you’re doing and getting nothing but the best.

So how do chefs go about sourcing local ingredients?

Step One •    Know your area: When you decide to go local, you must know what to buy, when to by, where to buy, and how to buy. Knowing what is available locally helps you plan your meals and decide on your menu. You can rotate your specials based on the availability of fresh produce, dairy, meats and other ingredients. It’s best to visit local farms and stores that sell local produce and meats, talk to the owners, and find out how often and when the items you need will be available. Ensure that you get the quantity you need before you decide on your menu.

Step Two •    Start out small: It’s impossible to go completely local all at once, so start out on a small scale. Choose certain items on your menu which require ingredients that are easily sourced locally. Ensure that these items are completely local and advertise them as such. Once you set the ball rolling, it’s easier to move other items on the menu to the local list as well.

Step Three •    Set up an effective supply chain: The key to sourcing local ingredients in a restaurant is to ensure that there is no delay in any part of the supply chain. This means that your suppliers and your transport network must work in tandem with your needs. It’s important that you buy only the right amount; otherwise, you compromise on the freshness that local produce promises. Also, it’s important to set protocols for the packaging and storage needs of your produce, dairy and meat so the flavor, freshness and nutritional aspects are retained.

Step Four •    Tweak your recipes: Some ingredients that go into the food items on your menu may not be available locally; in this case, you can either choose to buy from your regular source, or you can try and tweak your recipes to make the same items using ingredients that are sourced locally. You not only add a new twist to your menu, you also stay true to your desire to go local.

Step Five •    Sign up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box program or organic delivery service: This way, you ensure that you get all the local ingredients that you need without having to go out and buy it every few days.

Local food is the right choice not just for the environment, but also for your community, your restaurant, and your overall well being.

This guest post is contributed by Cindy Cullen, she writes on the topic of culinary art college . She welcomes your comments at her email: cindycullen84 at gmail dot com.