The concept is simple -- sourcing locally produced ingredients from farmers, fishermen and food suppliers during their season, and you've got what is known as farm-to-table dining. It's a way of eating that a local chef is pushing because he believes it's the best way to eat.
"The benefit of eating farm-to-table is that you know and understand where your food is coming from. Regardless of what people may tell you, I strongly believe that organic tomatoes flown in from Peru or California cannot match the nutritional value, taste, look and texture of farm-grown tomatoes from a farmer who is simply doing what our grandparents and parents did back in the day, which was natural farming," said Chef Simeon Hall Jr.
Admitting that the farm-to-table concept is not new to The Bahamas, Chef Hall said people moved away from it as a means of convenience, which rendered the growth of produce in a backyard obsolete. But he believes it's a way of life and eating that should not have died, but it did. And he's on a mission to resurrect the concept.
The farm-to-table concept of dining, or bringing garden-fresh ingredients as quickly and freshly as possible from a local farm to the plate was revolutionized in the United States by Chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in the 1970s. In college, Waters lived in France, and it was there that she experienced for the first time, the pleasures of market-fresh cooking. Many well-known chefs in the United States have since been influenced by Waters' beliefs and have taken the farm-to-table concept to heart.
"I'm pushing farm-to-table at home because somebody has to ... someone has to embrace it," said Chef Hall. "We are years behind the movement as it pertains to almost every other place."
His goal is to eventually have a restaurant in a hotel that only utilizes local product -- not in terms of peas and rice and macaroni and cheese -- but local product in terms of taking peas and beans when they're in season and making a French cassoulet. Diners would be able to enjoy a piece of salmon (which isn't native to The Bahamas) but the fish he said would be infused with flavors that complement the local season availability, and as a result he said you could conceivably a get salmon dish with a goat pepper and roast corn succotash.
"I'm a locavore -- but not to the point where I'm being impractical. We're in this to make money, but at the same time, somebody needs to reeducate people, especially the younger generation on the benefits of farm-to-table," he said.
While the chef said farm-to-table does not immediately suggest healthy or even a healthier cooking style, he said it is definitely better ingredients which translate into a healthier lifestyle because there are no pesticides or growth hormones pumped into the ingredients.
"The bottom line for farm-to-table is I know when my eggs were harvested. Who can tell me when they go to any store, ... even stores that have organic eggs, when those eggs came from those hens? I can tell you when my eggs were harvested, and I can tell you at the exact time, and that's what farm-to-table is all about -- knowing where your ingredients came from, and when. And as a chef, my responsibility is both about educating and stimulating. By educating the people they will appreciate it, and by cooking a perfect dish, or a better dish, people will be able to understand. As simple an ingredient as an egg is, he said people would notice the difference between an egg just plucked from the hen's nest over a store-bought egg. The yolk has a deep, rich yellow color. And the white was not as runny when cracked.
"Once an egg gets older, the protein in the egg whites break down and it becomes watery. If the egg is fresh, the egg whites are still vibrant and strong, so the egg itself will stand up better. The taste is going to be deep and rich because the ratio of fat in the egg yolk is going to be higher, and richer, so you're going to get egg and not the watered down version of an egg. Even if you only eat the egg whites, you will taste a better product," he said.
The chef said a simple ingredient like an egg is a wonderful, but underused ingredient in terms of diversity. And that in most instances people do not even cook an egg properly, and don't understand the importance of cooking it properly to impart the best possible flavor.
"Because of our culture, and how we've been raised, people tend to fry eggs too hard and too dry, which does not allow you to get the full flavor of the eggs," he said.
Heat plays an important part in cooking the perfect egg. You don't want to put too much heat on eggs. When doing a scrambled egg dish, Chef Hall suggests that eggs are placed on the heat, then removed from the heat while constantly stirring it almost as you would a risotto, to produce a delicate, fluffy, mass.
Eggs should also never be pre-seasoned before cooking. This breaks down the proteins so instead of getting a fluffy egg, you get a more watered down egg.
In an ode to farm-to-table dining, Chef Hall produced an all-day menu in which eggs starred. He utilized eggs he harvested from hens at Farmer Poitier's farm (which cost $4.99 per dozen). He took those eggs away from the breakfast arena, and showcased them as all-day dining fare. For breakfast he produced a breakfast-scrambled eggs with Gruyere cheese, blistered tomatoes and "burnt" toast with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil); for lunch, Farmer Horatio Poitier's eggs starred in a crispy potato and spinach frittata, and in a play on breakfast for dinner, he did a riff on eggs and bacon.
The chef chose to do a scrambled egg dish, not because it's traditional, but because a lot of people don't understand how to cook an egg, and to explain to them how to do it right.
With the frittata which is basically a baked egg, flavored with whatever you want, he wanted to show the continuation of farm-to-table, and instead of butter and olive oil, he used chicken lard to reinforce the flavor profile of an egg.
"After all, eggs come from chicken, so it's just continuing that process," he said.
Chef Hall added a light salad to cut the dish's richness.
And in a play on breakfast for dinner -- in another classic dish of eggs and baon, he used pork belly (bacon that is uncured and unsmoked) and a poached egg, something most people are afraid to make, but which he said is quite easy if you take your time.
"To make a poached egg, all you have to do is boil an egg in acidulated water, which is simply water that is seasoned with some acid -- whether you use vinegar, lemon or lime -- some form of acid must be added to the water so that the egg white coagulates around the egg yolk and that's it. It's a very simple dish," he said.
To get a true taste of a real egg, Chef Hall suggests that you pay a visit to Farmer Poitier, purchase a few of his eggs and check out the difference in flavor for yourself, on your journey as you start your foray into the farm-to-table dining experience.

BREAKFAST
Breakfast-Scrambled Eggs with Gruyere Cheese, Blistered Tomatoes and "Burnt" Toast with EVOO
Serves: 2

6 Farmer Horatio Poitier brown eggs
A bunch of vine-on Farmer Chad Thompson tomatoes
1 artisan wheat boule (bread)
3 ounces chicken lard (substitute melted organic butter)
2 ounces Gruyere cheese, shaved with a microplane
1 ounce organic butter, chilled
1 ounce first cold press extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Sea salt and cracked pepper to taste

To garnish your eggs, pan roast cherry tomatoes on the vine in a hot pan with chicken lard (or organic butter) and season with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Turn the pan on low heat to cook the tomatoes.
Cut a generous portion of bread, drizzle with EVOO, and toast in a large toasting oven or on the grill until crisp and slightly charred.
As the eggs are the highlight here, we are not going to treat these like the everyday scrambled eggs, but almost like a risotto. In a decent stockpot, add 6 large eggs to the cold pan with no seasoning as the salt will break down the egg. Add the butter and place on the heat. With a rubber spatula, continuously stir the eggs so that you get a creamy, fluffy product. To maintain a constant temperature that doesn't over-cook the eggs, continuously remove the pot with the eggs from the heat, and return to a lowered heat. When the eggs start to come together, completely remove from the heat and add the cold cheese as this will help to balance the temperature in the eggs. Season the eggs with salt and pepper and add fresh chopped chives. This will bring out the flavor of the perfect, soft-cooked farm fresh eggs. Assemble and enjoy.
Chicken lard is chicken fat made by boiling chicken fat deposits with water, then separating and cooling the chicken oil.

LUNCH
Crispy Potato and Spinach Frittata
Serves: 4
3 ounces fingerling potatoes, pre-boiled and smashed slightly
3 ounces chicken lard (substitute melted organic butter)
1 fresh Farmer Chad Thompson lime
1 ounce first cold press extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
2 sprigs of Lucayan Tropical thyme, peeled
A heaping handful of spinach
8 Farmer Horatio Poitier brown eggs
4 whole, fresh Fisherman John stone crab, lump meat removed
A bunch of assorted Farmer Chad Thompson mixed greens

Preheat a cast iron pan and add the chicken lard. Add blanched, smashed potatoes, and allow the potatoes to crisp up. Add thyme leaves, spinach and Andros stone crab meat. With the fire on medium heat, add the just-whisked eggs. Stir evenly and season with sea salt and black pepper. Remove from the heat and place in the oven. Cook at 375 degrees for six minutes, then remove and immediately flip onto a serving plate.
For the salad: Simply take fresh, harvested greens (Chef Hall used a combination of arugula and spinach) and toss with a squeeze of lime, EVOO, salt and pepper. This salad is used to complement, and cut the rich, fatty taste of the eggs and crab.

DINNER
Eggs and Bacon
2 pieces, 4-ounce pork belly
2 large Farmer Horatio Poitier brown eggs
1 ounce olive oil
1 ounce melted butter
1 garlic clove, peeled
2 large Farmer Chad Thompson limes
1 medium Farmer Sekani Nash avocado
1 ounce Andros honey
1 Farmer Chad Thompson goat pepper

In a large stockpot, bring eight quarts of water to a rapid boil. Add a fresh bay leaf, sea salt and the juice from a small fresh lime to the water. Crack the eggs individually in a small bowl or soup cup.
Season the pork belly with pepper, sugar, garlic, thyme, soy sauce and rosemary. Wrap with plastic wrap and foil and place in a 250-degree oven and cook for two hours until extremely tender. Remove pork belly from foil when done and place on a paper napkin. In a hot pan, sear the pork on all sides while basting it with the oil and butter mixture infused with the rosemary and thyme. Sear for two minutes on each side, then add honey lime pepper mix and continue to glaze. To plate, add the lacquered pork belly, then sliced avocado, poached eggs and cheese crisp.

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