Move Over, Celebrity Chef;
Your Farmer Is Ready for His Close-up
Have we entered the era of the celebrity farmer?

by Mitchell Davis

Frank Reese raises chickens in Lindsborg, Kansas. Glenn Roberts grows corn in Columbia, South Carolina. Eliot Coleman farms vegetables year- round in Harborside, Maine. Lee Jones harvests tiny shoots in Huron, Ohio.

These names may not be as familiar to you as Mario, Emeril, Morimoto, or Nigella, but they will be. If produce pundits are right, we have entered the era of the Celebrity Farmer.

Now that the pages of People are peppered with sexy chefs and millions of viewers tune in weekly to see which chef is stronger than “Iron” or who will be crowned “Top,” the celebrity spotlight is saturated with men and women in whites. Ever hungry for the next big thing, starmakers are casting their nets further afield—into the field, in fact, to draw in the overall-clad men and women who grow and harvest the food we eat.

Celebrity farmers? “It’s a fabulous idea. I am 100 percent for it,” said Shauna Minoprio, executive producer of Bravo’s Top Chef.

“The phenomenon is exemplified in books by Michael Pollan and Adam Gollner, and in the Slow Food movement,” said University of Illinois sociologist Gary Fine, who has studied chefs working in professional kitchens. “As with chefs, what the advent of the celebrity farmer brings up is the question of authenticity. The ideal farmer is the self-taught farmer, the naive farmer, the man of the soil,” Fine explained. “Are we going to see in 10 or 15 years farmers who, like Jean-Georges [Vongerichten] and other celebrity chefs, have 20 different farms that specialize in different produce? I think that is altogether possible.”

Already, among a certain echelon of chefs, you can say the names Frank, Glenn, Eliot, and Lee—the farmers mentioned at the beginning of this piece—and everyone knows whom you are talking about. Theirs are not ordinary chickens or corn or seasonal produce or sprouts. They grow heirloom varieties in unexpected colors and unusual shapes and sizes with distinct, profound flavor. Chefs looking for the best-tasting, most interesting produce need to know where to get it. It may be only a matter of time before the farmers’ circle of influence extends into the general public.

What’s in a Face?
Walk into the produce section of Whole Foods and you’ll see atmospheric black-and-white photos of farmers working in the fields. But are these the farmers destined for celebrity?

“If we are talking about celebrity, then appearance and personality are fundamental,” said Minoprio. “You want to watch someone on TV if they have some kind of charisma or x-factor. That may be how they look, how they behave, how they talk, whether you want to sleep with them, whether you want to adopt them, or whether you want to throw a dart at them.” 

That’s not to say that who they are isn’t important. “The other crucial factor,” Minoprio continued, “is the motivation behind what they do, the story, the backgound. Did they grow up on a family farm they are trying to save? Did they change careers to follow a passion? When you see someone who’s passionate about what they do, that’s obviously compelling in any area.”

From Menu Copy to Calendar Pin-up?
Of the many unexpected ways the “California” style of cooking that gained popularity in the 1970s changed the way we eat, perhaps one of the most enduring and prescient was that it drew attention to farmers. The simple, minimally manipulated style of cooking championed by Alice Waters at Chez Panisse and her acolytes required the finest ingredients.

The Chino family’s farm in San Diego, with which Waters worked closely and which remains one of the most respected boutique farms in the country, became a seal of excellence on Waters’s menu. Today we take for granted that the provenance of ingredients will be included in the description of dishes on restaurant menus. But this early recognition laid the foundation for what may one day result in a new hit series. Top Farmer, anyone?

Few would deny the important role that local, artisanal farmers have in the food chain. They also help strengthen local communities. At the recent James Beard Foundation Awards gala reception, the 35-plus participating chefs were selected because of their commitment to artisanal producers, and each was asked to highlight a local farmer or culinary artisan in the dish he or she prepared. When we asked the chefs why they supported artisanal producers, their answers consistently underscored the importance of the people and the stories behind the ingredients they used.

JBF Award–winning chef Sam Hayward of Fore Street in Portland, Maine, expressed a common sentiment: “Keeping Maine’s artisanal farmers and producers healthy and prosperous protects our health, environment, and Maine’s incomparable landscape.”

“The food provides a story better than any seasoning I could provide,” said JBF Award winner Dan Barber, who co-chaired the reception with JBF Award winner Odessa Piper. Piper reflected on the artisan’s approach, “It connects farmers and cooks to culture, and culture to its environment. It is love in action and one of the best ways I know to be useful.”

The Price of Fame
Of course, celebrity brings good things and bad. As with chefs, it would be a happy day when talented, caring, smart, conscientious farmers were recognized and rewarded for their hard work and commitment to the land. And certainly with fame comes the potential for financial success. But the television camera doesn’t evenhandedly reward people who work hard at what they do. As Minoprio reminds us, what works on TV depends in large measure on qualities that have nothing to do with growing vegetables or raising animals.

If Fine’s prediction is correct, and celebrity farmers beget large, national farming empires, will something have been lost? The advent of commercial organic farming has already raised related questions about the spirit of the movement vis-à-vis adherence to the guidelines. Farmers would do well to learn from their celebrity-chef supporters and work to maintain the ever-elusive but important aura of authenticity.

“I don’t think it would take much work to interest people in a television series about farmers,” said Minoprio. “In the U.K. there are already several shows about people setting up their own sort of home farms, part of the good-life movement of growing and making your own food. I would certainly get behind it.”

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2008 issue of JBF Notes, the James Beard Foundation member newsletter. Don’t miss out on future articles; become a member today!