Free Grazing Cows (photo by Emily Roesly, courtesy of morguefile.com)

Farsighted chefs were some of the first to embrace the use of local, seasonal foods as essential to the menus they offered their guests. That movement has been flourishing for years and spread throughout the country.

According to an article in USA Today, it is becoming increasingly common for chefs and farmers to work together to plan a growing season to produce ingredients desired by chefs, including “pesticide-free produce and hormone-free meat.”

High fuel prices have made turning to local farmers for produce that would otherwise have to be shipped in from afar an economical and eco-friendly choice. It also allows the chef to serve the produce when it is at its peak freshness, most flavorful, and most nutritious.

Kevin McCarthy, the chef at Lake Placid Lodge in New York, likes that the money he spends on local produce goes into his local economy. The USA Today article quotes him as saying, "We're driving down streets that are paved because the money stays in the community."

If you’d like to read the USA Today article cited above go to: Chefs, local farmers sow partnerships