Carrboro Farmers’ Market tasting unites chefs, farmers

Chefs from five local restaurants treated shoppers at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market to their choice of an all-American dish at the Ninth Annual Chefs Event Saturday morning.

Kelly Clark, a longtime volunteer at the market, created the event nearly a decade ago with Bret Jennings, owner of Elaine’s on Franklin, to highlight the partnership between local farmers and restaurants.

“We thought it would be fun to have an event that featured chefs who regularly shop at the market,” she said.

Matt Neal from Neal’s Deli in Carrboro, one of the chefs at the event, said his restaurant adjusts its menu throughout the year based on what local food is available.

“We try to live with the seasons, and it’s exciting to watch things — sides and specials — come and go every year,” he said. “We look forward to it and get it while it’s good, and then it’s on to the next season.”

Another chef, Seth Kingsbury from Pazzo in Southern Village, said he cooks with food from the market because it is fresher, helps the local economy and reduces the negative impact of long-distance food delivery on the environment.

Kurt Ribisl, a professor in the UNC Gillings School of Public Health who attended the event, said he makes a point of going to restaurants that use locally grown food.

“It’s going to be a much more sustainable and better thing for our environment,” he said. “And it tastes better.”

Chefs who shop at the market also benefit from directly selecting their food, said Eliza MacLean, the owner of Cane Creek Farm in Mebane.

“They don’t have to pay a delivery fee, and they’re literally handpicking it themselves,” she said. “I can have 25 pounds of pork belly, but if one of them just isn’t to their satisfaction, they don’t have to take it.”

Many restaurants list the farms where their food comes from on the menu, which helps both the farmers and restaurants, MacLean said.

“When people see Cane Creek on the menu, it’s helping the restaurants now,” she said. “First it helped me, and now I think it’s making the restaurants look good because I have been a staple at this market for a while.”

Every year the Chefs Event has a culinary theme, which have included chili, side dishes and picnic food. This year’s all-American theme inspired dishes from pot roast to pickled okra.

“I like always hearing when people leave the event, usually they’ve tasted something that they thought they didn’t like when they came in and found out that they did — pickled okra being a perfect example this year,” Clark said.

Neal, who prepared the okra, said he was pleased with the response from shoppers.

“People are digging it,” he said.

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