Moving from Farm to Table

By in CALIFun on

Sunday market in Paris: all organic food by smith (CC BY 2.0)

Have you heard about farm to table? I just love farm to table restaurants. It’s this great green idea that’s been gaining popularity. Farm to table essentially means that the food on your table came from a specific local farm. It’s the direct relationship between a farm and a restaurant that lets you know what’s on your table is not only organic but local! That’s great for the environment and for your taste buds!

The best part about farm to table is that it’s catching on! It’s easy to find a local restaurant near you that’s farm to table with Real Time Farms. It seems that restaurants in cities all over have starting implementing the farm to table method, but it’s not just restaurants! There are farm to table food trucks, farmer’s markets, and whole communities!

farm to table restaurant menu
Dinner at Muddy Leek, a farm to table restaurant in Culver City (Photo by cheeseslave)

Here’s just a few of my favorite farm to table places:

  • The Curious Palate in Santa Monica, CA is a great one stop shop! It’s a market, kitchen,  and cafe! Stop by the cheese counter or take a great farm to table meal home!
  • Gjelina in Venice, CA is a very popular farm to table restaurant with their small plates and  pizzas.
  • AR Valentien in La Jolla, CA gets their produce from the local Santa Monica farmer’s market. The menu changes upon what’s available at the time, but it’s all delicious farm to table food!
  • The Lazy Ox Canteen in Little Tokyo Los Angeles has delicious seasonal dishes. It’s casual dining with fantastic food.
  • Farm to table is so popular that it’s been taken to the streets. The Flatiron Truck (@Flatirontruck) travels around Los Angeles with a rotating menu of fresh local farmer’s markets greens, sustainable seafood and fresh meats. They call it farm to street. What a moving idea!

Moving from farm to table can be easy when you’ve got local Farmer’s Markets everywhere. Just check out this list of places from Los Angeles Magazine on where to buy locally in Los Angeles organic food.

Just within the Los Angeles area, it’s incredible how many people are moving to farm to table.

Farmer's Market
Head to farmer’s markets to support the farm to table movement! (Photo by: CBroders)

Did you know that there are communities you can participate in to get farm to table right to your dinner table? It’s even possible to start your own community with your neighbors. This is called a farm to table co-op. Now there are different ways of doing this.

  • Farm to Table Produce
    (photo by: la citta vita)

    Buy from an organic wholesaler, and organize and distribute it out among you and your neighbors. This plan takes a lot of time to organize the food out and to distribute it.

  • Create a local partnership. Sign up for community supported agriculture. A farmer offers a  number of “shares” to the public, and typically the shares consist of a box of vegetables. During farming season, consumers who bought a share will receive a box of fresh produce each week.
  • Some people opt for sharing one lot between households and growing their own organic vegetables and splitting the food.
There are plenty of ways to support this farm to table movement and keep things local and organic. If you can think of an interesting way to create a new farm to table co-op that works for you, I’d love to hear about it in the comments. If you’d like to find out more about farm to table restaurants and where to find one near you, check out American Farm to Table. If you want to learn more about why it’s important to support local sustainable organic produce, check out Sustainable Table.