The farm-to-table movement is growing in Greenville, but often the table gets the spotlight + the farms don’t see much recognition. Our city gets a lot of praise for our growing foodie scene (as it should), but we’re taking a look at the local farmers who are helping create those Instagram-worthy dishes.

But to really support farms means we need to define what farm-to-table means. Does a restaurant who sources a few pounds of kale from a local farm count?

Why are GB&D’s burgers $12? The higher cost means your money is supporting the work of a local farm. Image credit: Greenville Journal

We chatted with Jonathan Willis from Farm Fresh Fast, who said that Greenville’s going through a farm-to-table learning curve. Restaurants like his, along with Husk, The Anchorage, and GB&D, want to set a standard for truly supporting local producers + turning them from family farms to (more) profitable businesses.

This means restaurants will need to be proactive – like telling farms exactly how much produce they are planning to buy, so growers know how many acres to plant and don’t eat the cost of unused product. Or when sourcing a dish locally means it’ll cost too much for a restaurant’s average customer, working with a farm to find alternatives.

And farm-to-table advocates know local costs more.

It’s easier and cheaper to buy a hot dog at the grocery store, but when you know the locally-made chicken sausage you’re buying is just chicken, black pepper + casing, you’ve seen the time and effort behind each chicken, and you can state in the menu that the end product has “no sugar, no nitrates + no dextrose”... maybe the few extra dollars are worth it?

Getting our farmers, restaurants and customers better connected could mean we’re able to match a city like Asheville. Willis thinks 2018 will bring a “food renaissance” for GVL – but what can you, as a consumer, do to keep our food local besides eating at GB&D?

Shopping at the farmer’s market is an easy way to give your dollars to a local farmer instead of stocking up at the grocery store. What you’ll find in a standard produce section is cheaper, but it’s kind of like buying a Prius vs. a Ferrari. There will be a marked difference in what’s loaded off a truck + what a farmer in Greenville spent months harvesting.

But the best way to form a connection with a local farm is to join a CSA (community supported agriculture) program. You prepay + get boxes of food throughout the season, and farms will reserve their highest quality product for you (sometimes even restaurants miss out because product is being saved for CSA members).

Look out for producers like these at the farmer’s market + in local stores like the Swamp Rabbit Cafe (a major supporter of local producers), and follow them on social media to see where their products will be available:

Jonathan Willis thinks Greenville is ready to embrace a truly farm-to-table food culture. Farm Fresh Fast’s Instagram followers see the pigs + cows that will end up on their plates, but it doesn’t make people as uncomfortable as it used to – people want to know what they’re consuming.

And working mainly with local farms means menus change depending on what’s available, so your favorite grass-fed burger could be missing one day or that salad you love might be different next time. Our restaurant culture would change – but it would mean Greenville would be better looking out for local businesses and making the high-quality Anchorage or Husk food that lands us on foodie lists the norm in every restaurant.