Faces of Local Food

Having had the great fortune to spend the last 15 years exploring Idaho’s food scene, what impresses me even more than the memorable meals I’ve had is the people who’ve produced them: the farmers, ranchers, chef, bakers, brewers, winemakers and all the rest who’ve been brave enough, creative enough and committed enough to make Idaho’s food better.

Think about it: Where once there were frozen french fries and tater tots, we now have gnocchi, croquettes and fresh-ground polenta. Where once there was commodity beef, we’ve got locally raised, grass-fed lamb, goat, turkey and duck. And where once there were tired generic tomatoes, iceberg lettuce and not-so delicious apples, we now have a wild diversity of tasty, locally grown vegetables and fruit.

To help honor those who have so dramatically improved our food, I teamed up with the folks at Treefort to create 40-some producer portraits that will hang at this year’s brand-new Foodfort at Treefort, a sampling which can be found on the following pages of Edible Idaho.

Please have a look. These are just a few of the hardworking people we should be giving thanks to with every forkful of honest, homegrown food we eat.