August 8, 2011

Blue Heron- Sunderland


Chef Deborah Snow
In speaking with farmers and restaurants owners about their decision to grow and buy locally, I’ve been impressed by the intensity of the their commitment. Deborah Snow, the owner and chef at Blue Heron in Sunderland, certainly falls in with this league of passionate people.
“Eating, for me, is a political act,” she said. “By using local ingredients I’m working against the large corporations that own most of the food industry.”
It didn’t take me long to realize that Deborah is much more than a working chef with compassion for local farms. She is fully dedicated to the cause as it stands as a worldwide issue. In fact, she's working on a book. 
“It’s focusing on the politics of food, sustainable capitalism, and how it can work practically. I’m trying to define what local eating can be within the context of a community."
While Deborah researches and writes in hopes of reaching a broader audience, she has already influenced the local community by managing Blue Heron. Deborah and Barbara White opened the restaurant in 1997, and they have supported local agriculture from the very beginning.
We’ve always been that way. It is really who Barbara and I are.”
Deborah grew up on a dairy farm in Ohio, and her family bought locally as much as they could. “It’s just what you did when I was growing up,” she said. “I like farmers—they’re my roots, they’re my family. It seems crazy to go out and order food from somewhere else when you can have a relationship with a farmer.”
Blue Heron has a relationship with twenty-three farms and suppliers in Massachusetts, and all meats are USDA certified, most coming from within a 200 mile range. “We try to do New England as much as possible," she said.
Deborah recalled one of her first connections with local farmers. “I met Deb [Habib] and Ricky [Baruch] of Seeds of Solidarity Farm when we first opened in Montague, MA, and we became friends. We both had a dream, and it brought us together.”
“Some of it is just work, but you can really get to know them,” she said of her partnering farmers, “We have meaningful conversations; we talk about our difficulties. We’re just all working hard trying to make it.”
            The ever-troubling factor of animal welfare also influences Deborah's approach. She frequently visits slaughterhouses to get a sense for the kind of meat she is dealing with. 
            “I want to know what’s going to happen to the animal. I don’t want to have blinders on about where the food comes from.”
While it seems only natural that a chef should know the origins of his or her ingredients, Deborah is part of the small minority that actually follows through with this.
“The beauty of local is you can look at it, you can smell it, you can see what they’re doing—there’s transparency,” she said. “When you buy locally you’re not a slave to the big companies. It promotes change and community.”
In addition to feeling good about the farms that she supports, Deborah also spoke to the potential economic benefits.
“It’s more expensive to start with, but we generally don’t have the fluctuations because we’re not controlled by the global economy. It’s more consistent—there’s greater economic control in buying local.”
There’s no question that the farms certainly appreciate Blue Heron’s support, but how does the community feel about the local initiative?
The community is complicated,” Deborah started. “We have a strong customer base that wants this kind of product. But there are also customers who will say they want our product but don’t understand why it needs to be so expensive. For example, for meat and fish I have to pay around $8-$9 a pound whereas it would be around $2.50-$3.50 for a generic brand. It’s a challenge to get the customer to understand the benefits of paying more.”
Deborah, who used to work in Boston, also spoke about the differences between working in a city and a small town. “In a city, you have people walking by the restaurant every day, but here you’re really relying on word of mouth to get people to eat at your restaurant.”
But there is a certain awareness for supporting local here in the Valley that one wouldn’t see in many other places. 
“Luckily, in Western Mass we have organizations like CISA getting people to see how complicated it is. CISA gets farmers to stop working alone and see the bigger picture. Those organizations are very important.”
When I asked her about the future of the local initiative, Deborah said she is optimistic. “But it’s an optimism mixed with [understanding the] reality that world is owned by these big corporations. The meat industry is controlled by 4 large companies. There simply aren’t enough slaughterhouses. Just in the valley here, there are not enough slaughterhouses. We need to walk the talk, which means getting the government to change their regulations on how a slaughterhouse can be run. There needs to be federal regulations to affect it. If we put meat back in the hands of small farmers around the world, there would be hope.”
            In working against the system, it’s Deborah’s passionate political stance and love for food that keeps her motivated.
            “We have a holistic approach to business. You have to be motivated by being profitable, caring about people, caring about place and community, and caring about the planet. It all comes down to profit, people, place, planet, and passion.”

            If Blue Heron’s thoughtful food philosophy doesn’t convince you to dine there, the fresh, seasonal dishes certainly will. The menu changes about eight to ten times per year based on the produce available. “You won’t see a tomato in a salad until the summer,” said Deborah, “We work with what we have.”
If you stop by the restaurant in the summer months, you’re in for a treat. The sprightly summer menu is full of bright flavors from fresh produce. “We are currently in that wonderful season where food is plentiful,” said Deborah, adding “I think winter’s great its just different. When it gets colder, the client’s palate isn’t looking for light, summery food.”
You can feel good about ordering pretty much anything on this menu, but here are some sustainable suggestions:
Toast with fried egg from State of Grace farm in Leverett, MA
Pork sliders from P.T. Farms in New Hampshire or Northeast Family Farm in Vermont
Pork chop from Lucky 7 Farms or Niman Ranch
Pomegranate Custard with cream from Mapleline Farm in Hadley, MA

*All photographs by Paul Shoul of Northampton

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