A few weeks have come and gone since the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association annual 2012 conference. It has been a time of recovery and reflection for me. Six years ago was the first TOFGA conference I ever cooked for and the first conference I ever cooked for for that matter. As I was telling the story during the banquet dinner Saturday night at the conference, it was all to blame on that comment card from the conference of 2006 that got me into this mess. Yes, it was the conference of not too great food and I had plenty of ideas of how to make it better. So, I voiced my opinion all over this comment card, front, back, on the sides, writing diagonally, wherever I could find space to let the organizer know how to have better food at next years conference. Well, little did I know that I would be the one making the food for the next years conference. This year was like coming full circle for me as I came back to the hotel in Mesquite where I first cooked for a TOFGA conference and once again got to share the kitchen with Chef David Young who was still there after all these years. We were so happy to get to work together again. He is one of the warmest and most generous-of-heart persons I have ever met. We laughed so much six years ago and we laughed so much again this time. And while it was a ton of work to get the food out for 250 hungry organic farmers, we had a wonderful time in the process.
Let me just let you in on this process as it is no walk in the park. Remember when I said I was still recovering? Well, this is why: Cooking organic, quality food for a crowd in a conventional kitchen with chefs that are used to using conventional food is no joke. First comes the gathering process. This requires weeks of phone calls and emails. Not only with the farmers who might donate their hard earned goods, but also with the administrative people of TOFGA, the board, the president (the amazing Sue Beckwith), the chef at the hotel. Usually a call or email goes like this…”Hi, this is Amanda Love. I am cooking for the TOFGA conference again and we need some local, organic vegetables for our banquet dinner. Would you be interested in donating?” The person replies, “yes, we would be interested but I have to talk to a few other people and get back to you”. Then a few other people may become involved in the email chain chiming in their two cents and after much coordination and communication, you’ve got one item donated amongst the 75 that you need to create a feast. Once all the gathering is coordinated, the menus are sent out to be printed, 15 phone calls go back and forth from the president to you and from you to the chef on the last days before the conference, and then there is the calm before the storm. This is the day I was sitting in my hot tub doing much of nothing knowing all too well the next day would hit and I would be going for days without much of a break. This is the nature of cooking for large crowds. Then the real gathering began of actually going to all the farmers to get all the food they promised to donate, going to Whole Foods to fill up the biggest shopping basket you have ever filled full of staples and supplies like olive oil, sugar, spices, bread, etc and then driving for hours until you get to the hotel. Then one fitful night of rest and wake up, ready, go!
‘Go’ started Friday morning early. The kitchen was focusing on lunch. Though my sole job was to focus on the banquet, the kitchen needed help with lunch. It can be very confusing and disorienting for a kitchen to have to work with all new food, new recipes, a new menu and a new chef no matter how good they are. We scrambled to get lunch out. It was a hodge podge of menu items I never would have planned. The rewarding part of cooking for conferences in conventional kitchens is when the hotel staff tastes the food. They get really excited and begin to understand why we go through so much trouble to bring our own food – because it tastes so much better than the bland, flavorless food pumped with chemicals they are used to. Finally with lunch over we could get onto working on prep for the banquet. Though it was the next day, we had lots to do to get ready as a feast was planned. I was feeling a little worried that we might not get it done in time. We had a skeleton crew and lots of peeling, grating, chopping, sauteing and more to do.
We worked into the evening prepping and decided to start again the next day early. But we had another lunch to get out in the midst of all of this so could not soley focus our energies on the banquet dinner. Throughout the weekend there was a lot of education going on in the kitchen. Once the staff begins to taste little bits of the food, they start asking questions. They want to know why I eat this way, why do we go to the trouble of bringing in our own food, how is it different than their food and on and on. It feels very rewarding to make a difference in peoples lives who would otherwise never know why organic food is better than conventional.
Lunch went out on the second day and then all of our energies went to the banquet. 6 hours left and counting. Seems like a lot of time right. Well, actually it wasn’t when we had to continue prepping for 250. My main concern was the meatloaf. That was the star of the show and we didn’t have enough time to really put all the proper love and energy into it that this special dish deserved. This is normally one of my signatures dishes but I was a little disappointed with this meatloaf. It was dry and lacking in flavor. And it really all boiled down to running out of time. And losing our budget for dinner ingredients due to these darn unexpected lunches. Oh, in case you are wondering what the menu was for the long awaited dinner….here ya go:
TOFGA Banquet Menu 2012
Grass fed Meatloaf a jus with Genesis Beef and World’s Best Eggs (gluten free)
Crispy Herb Polenta Triangles with Greenling’s Portobello Mushrooms and Marinara Sauce Texas Worm Ranch and Texas AgriLife Extension fresh herbs
Paragon Reserve (3 yr aged cheese) from Veldhuizen Family Farm
(Vegetarian Entree)
Garlic Rosemary Mashed Potatoes with Texas Daily Harvest Dairy
Sage Mushroom Gravy with Homemade Chicken Stock from Slow Food Farms and Crimini Mushrooms from Greenling Organic
Roasted Root Vegetables from Johnson’s Backyard Garden, Greenling Organic, and Oak Cliff Organics
Green Beans Almandine – Whole Foods
Organic Green Salad with Shallot Herb Vinaigrette – Whole Foods, Barking Cat Farms and Cardo’s Farm Project
Homemade Rolls with Grass fed Butter (with gluten free options) – Whole Foods
Dessert: Orange Pecan Bread Pudding with Whiskey Bourbon Sauce and Veldhuizen Vanilla Whip Cream, Texas Daily Harvest, World’s Best Eggs and Whole Foods
Soothin’ Infusion Herbal Iced Tea by Amanda Love, The Barefoot Cook
Freshlife Organic Coffee and 365 Brand Whole Foods Organic Coffee
I have not officially announce it, but I am pretty darn sure this was my last conference to cook for. As I get older, I think maybe I am getting a little wiser too and realizing that just because I CAN do something doesn’t mean I have any business doing it. In fact, maybe it really isn’t even good for me. And that is where I have landed when it comes to conference cooking. Yes, I can do it. And…..it is extremely stressful, draining and depleting. It is also extremely rewarding and uplifting as well… but the other negatives outweigh the positives here. It makes no sense for me to live so unhealthily and unsustainably for a few days (and take weeks to recover) while I cook a healthy and sustainable meal for others. So, I am officially taking off this hat and leaving space for work that is more true to my heart, energizing, and keeps me in balance. And as I do that, I want to extend an extreme amount of gratitude for all the people and organizations whose conferences I have cooked for over the years. Two Weston A. Price conferences and 5 TOFGA conferences, these are life events I will look back on and know I am a richer soul because of.
For all the people I have ever cooked for, thank you for letting me touch your heart through my cooking and for touching my mine.
Much love,
Amanda Love
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