The Importance of Supporting Local, Sustainable Agriculture

Chef Marco Shaw of Fife Restaurant

When you shop at the grocery store or the farmer’s market, you often have information about where the food is from and whether it’s certified as organic or sustainably produced. However, when you eat out, or buy take-out food, which America does for almost half of its meals, you often don’t know where the food is from, or how it was produced.

Even in Oregon, where a larger percentage of our chefs and restaurants, from white tablecloth to Burgerville, strive to support local farmers, it can be difficult to know how much of what you’re eating is sourced locally and sustainably. The beef may be sourced locally, with the rancher listed on the menu, but what about everything else on your plate?

Marco Shaw at Fife Restaurant in Northeast Portland’s Beaumont neighborhood is one of a handful of chefs in town who walk the talk, and are passionately committed to sourcing locally and sustainably. Chef Shaw sources approximately 95% of the food he serves locally (which he defines as within 100 miles) the 9-10 months of the year that it’s available here in Oregon. The majority of the food he serves is organic. Each winter, he gets together with his farmers and they huddle over seed catalogs to choose what they’ll grow this year for his restaurant. This isn’t easy, and takes significantly more time every day than buying everything from one food service company.

Chef Shaw goes above and beyond to buy from local farmers because he is committed to supporting local farms and reducing his carbon footprint. He buys organic both to avoid pesticides and because he finds that organic produce has better taste and shelf life.

Does your local restaurant do this? Ask. You and your local businesses can help to shape your Oregon by the food choices you make.