CONSERVATION

FOREWORD
by Melissa Kogut,
Executive Director, Chefs Collaborative
THERE SHOULD be no doubt that we find ourselves in the midst of a critical
change in the way that Americans view food. The popularity and growth of farmers
markets, the active engagement of consumers who want to know whether their food
contains GMO’s, growth hormones or antibiotics, and the availability of local foods in
supermarkets are all evidence of a major shift in our collective thinking. It’s certainly a
different landscape than when Chefs Collaborative was founded in 1993, when diners
were lucky if the tomatoes on their plates were anything other than the two or three
firm, red, tasteless high producing industry standards. Nowadays, delicious varieties of
heirloom tomatoes are commonplace on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus.
Chefs – and consumers along with them – have turned to heritage foods for a
variety of reasons. Chief among them are taste and chefs’ incurable curiosity for new
ingredients and flavors. But it’s also recognition that cultural and biological diversity are
essential for the health of the earth and its inhabitants.
As a founding organization of Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) alliance
in 2004, Chefs Collaborative joined with Gary Nabhan, The Center for Sustainable
Environments, Slow Food USA, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, and Seed
Savers Exchange, to build awareness about the need for biodiversity in our food system
and to encourage action. Our work on the project culminated in a series of Growouts,
where more than 50 farmers and 50 chefs in New England joined forces – the farmers
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