BETTER FOOD BETTER WORLD

THE THIRD PLATE: FIELD NOTES ON THE FUTURE OF FOOD

“The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food,” is a new book by Dan Barber that presents a  revolutionary new way of eating.

Barber, an award-winning chef and co-founder of the cutting-edge Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurants, is a passionate advocate for farm-to-table cuisine, takes that philosophy and practice one giant step further.

For many decades Americans have enjoyed a “first plate” diet, centered around a big mass of meat, with few vegetables. In the past decade, the farm-to-table movement has somewhat reversed the ratio, emphasizing locality and seasonality, along with the benefits of fresher, better tasting, more nutritious food and healthier land.

Exploring both ancient farming practices and new innovations in aquaculture and agriculture, Barber had a revelation.

Sustainability and ethics needed to include the whole biosystem. The“third plate” is a paradigm which celebrates and leverages the whole farm with an integrated system of vegetable, grain, and livestock production.

Barber proposes that we design our diets around, not just the season, but around crop rotations that maximize the fertility of the soil. That means eating food that requires a lot care and feeding as it grows, in rotation with crops and livestock that replenish the soil.

Penguin Press HC (2014)

AGRIHOODS

You’ve heard of golfing communities, skiing communities, and country clubs, of course. But there’s a relatively new idea in lifestyle-based community living: “Agrihoods.”

A growing trend, agrihoods are residential developments built around working farms.

People want to connect more with the food that they eat. They enjoy the lifestyle, the aesthetics, and the health benefits of the agrihood’s short distance between farm and table.

Agritopia was one of the first agrihoods, developed in 2000 just outside of Phoenix, AZ. It sits on 160 acres, with 16 acres certified as organic farmland.  People live in the 452 single-family homes dotting the landscape. It continues to grow. A 117-unit assisted- and independent-living center is set to open this summer.

The community square overlooks the farm, and includes a coffee house, a farm-to-table restaurant and honor-system farm stand. It also serves as the distribution hub for the Community Supported Agriculture program.

Many agrihoods, like Serenbe in Chattahoochee Hills, Ga.; Prairie Crossing in Grayslake, Ill.; South Village in South Burlington, Vt.; and Hidden Springs in Boise, Idaho, took advantage of the 2008 real estate market collapse and weak recovery.

Newer developments include Willowsford in Ashburn, Va., which was named the National Association of Homebuilders’ 2013 Suburban Community of the Year, and the Kukui’ula community in Kauai, Hawaii, includes a clubhouse, spa and golf course. There are dozens more underway.

Read more about Beautiful Reflections, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including Beautiful Quests & Send Offs and Beautiful Progress for Scientific Quests.

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Quests in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 06.01.14. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competion, and enter!

Photo Credit:

1. Photo: Courtesy of Four Magazine. Vegetable Fence from Blue Hill at Stone Barns.
2. Image: Courtesy of Penguin Press. The Third Plate.
3. Photo: Courtesy of Gastronomy Blog. Fresh vegetable “fence” from Blue Hill at Stone Barns.
4. Photo: Courtesy of Four Magazine. Blue Hill at Stone Barns.
5. Photo: Courtesy of Gastronomy Blog. Dorset Lamb from Blue Hill at Stone Barns.
6. Photo: Courtesy of Agritopia. Agritopia Orchard.
7. Photo: by Jody Halstead. Lettuce in an Agritopia garden.
8. Photo: Courtesy of Agritopia. Produce grown at Agritopia.
9. Photo: Courtesy of Agritopia. Produce grown at Agritopia.
10. Photo: Courtesy of Agritopia. Produce grown at Agritopia.
11. Photo: Courtesy of Add Organic Gardening. Organic Food.
12. Photo: Courtesy of Agritopia. Produce grown at Agritopia.