Putnam Family Farms "grows green" and sells to Chef and the Farmer. Here they show us some proud photos of plump, naturally grown tomatoes.
Kinston, North Carolina, sits on the far eastern perimeter of Lenoir County, a region replete with big agricultural farms growing enormous amounts of cotton, tobacco and soybeans.
Chef Vivian Howard grew up in nearby Deep Run surrounded by the industry. Her parents farmed tobacco; now they raise hogs.
Vivian and husband Ben Knight own Chef and the Farmer, a cozy, upscale eatery in Kinston celebrated for its inventive take on real Southern fare coupled with the mission to source locally and responsibly. The restaurant opened in 2006, earning accolades like a nod as a James Beard semifinalist and praise from around the South and country. But a fire set them back a year. They’ve now reopened to a town with newfangled approach to agriculture, as we learned on our Barn Storm Tour stop.
Chef Vivian Howard at the Lenoir County Farmers Market. Photo taken from the market's weekly newsletter.
At first glance, Kinston’s main strip seems a desolate downtown center, but it’s definitely on the verge of becoming lively again with a bit of elbow grease and smart investments. The Lenoir County Farmer’s Market, open Tuesday through Saturday, provides a central location for exposing the community to locally-sourced, responsibly-raised ingredients.
That was part of Vivian’s vision moving back home. She worked years cooking in New York City kitchens of “the high-end, ridiculous restaurant world.” Moving back home became an attractive dream-turned-reality for the native and her new husband, also a chef.
“When we moved back here, we were living on 150th and Broadway, a four-story walkup, we had a catering business out of our apartment and we were both working in restaurants. We were paying $1500 a month for a one-bedroom in a terrible neighborhood. Moving back to bucolic Deep Run sounded great.”
Inspired by Dan Barber, New York’s iconic, farm-to-fork chef and small farm policy advocate, the couple wanted to help push Kinston into the direction of its roots, at a time when people ate the chickens they raised in their backyards. Her parents grew tobacco as work, and tended to pigs, chickens and produce in their backyard as a means to feed their family.
“It made a lot of sense to me because this is an agricultural community and I felt that, if there were not, there could be a lot of resources for a restaurant like this,” Vivian says. “The first two years we were open we had very limited resources. And now, honestly, we have to turn people away trying to give us produce and actually give us produce because they want us to sell it.”
“Our goal was to get young people involved in agriculture here,” she continues. “All these older folks no longer grow tobacco. And their kids are here. So a perfect scenario would be to have these kids start growing things that we would then buy.”
Caroline discussed her first chicken slaughter with us. She wants to be a farmer, and has already won local awards as a 4-H chef.
This mentality has translated over to Lenoir County Cooperative Extension, who supports both the farmer’s market and the Kinston-Lenoir County Children’s Garden, a serene respite in what can be considered a rough neighborhood run by extension horticulturist Peg Godwin and her elementary students. And the local 4-H chapter allows budding farmers like nine-year-old Caroline to learn firsthand how to grow and raise food. We met this spunky little one at the market, where she enthusiastically described her first chicken slaughter in heavy detail. Her parents are hoping to raise free-range hens soon.
Nature’s Touch already does. That farm is one main source of protein for the restaurant. Inspired by popular chicken farmer Joel Salatin and discouraged by the chicken industry he previously worked in, N.C. State grad Daniel Sutton now raises free-range chicken and turkey to Vivian. “And whatever leftover stuff they have from a market,” says Vivian, “they have a place for it so that they can keep doing it. That’s what we do.”
“When we first opened, we had unrealistic expectations for what people would accept from us,” she says, highlighting the overstuffed birds and bloated cuts of steak available at chain restaurants. “People have come to expect and enjoy different things, and they’re willing to pay more money for vegetable-based entrees. This restaurant has opened a lot of people’s palates and changed their expectations for value.”
Chef and the Farmer’s website looks like any gourmet restaurant website should – drenched in accolades and snippets of rave reviews, with a flood of delicious, perfectly-plated images to swoon over. But featured in the mix is a hefty tribute to the farmers that make it all possible.
“This whole farm-to-fork restaurant is really out of control in my opinion,” says Vivian. “I think a lot of people abuse the term and abuse the idea behind it. But for us, being in this community is about trying to better our community and trying to create real economic situations.”
A honkin' skillet from Chef and the Farmer's ever-changing 'Pimp My Grits' menu. This one features smoked tomato butter and Old Guilford Mill grits.