Vermont Odyssey: The Farmers' Diner

"Eating is an agricultural act."
        -- Wendell Berry

Consuming our food is, of course, the final moment in the chain of events that brings comestibles to our tables.  Unless, as in the immortal short film "Toast", it all ends up in the trash anyway.  The vast majority of us are not involved in food production, and as a result probably feel somewhat isolated from all the other links in this chain, whether we live in cities, towns or rural areas.  But wherever we find ourselves on the continuum of food,  we are certainly consumers.  So perhaps what we can contribute is to be conscious consumers, who begin to give thought to where the food comes from, who makes it, how long it takes to get to us, and who benefits. 

Of all the eateries and other places we visited during our recent trip to Vermont, the one most worthy of mention is The Farmers' Diner in Barre.  I lifted the Wendell Berry quote above from the diner's placemats.  This diner is worth knowing about not just for the superior quality of its food, but for its philosophy as well.  The diner was started as the brainchild of Tod Murphy, who decided that a diner could be a way of supporting sustainable agriculture for local family farms.    Between 65 and 70 cents of every food dollar spent at the Farmers' Diner is for food raised within 70 miles of the diner.    Murphy knew that there were a number of  high-end, destination restaurants in Vermont that boasted the use of local produce, but none that had local food as their mission while serving high-quality yet affordable food to the community's working people (as well as lucky tourists like us).    The reason why the number remains stable at around 70% is because you can't really get orange juice or bananas grown in Vermont.  And if they tried to create their own brand of organic local ketchup instead of using Heinz, the price of a hamburger (made with natural beef from a local farm, served on organic bread) would have to jump at least 50 cents.  So a balance is struck between affordability and the diner's mission. 

But on to the food.  Unlike our other favorite Vermont diner, the Blue Benn in Bennington (where we stopped on our way up North), the menu at the Farmers' diner is quite simple.  It's a diner menu, with breakfast all day, soup, salads, burgers and sandwiches for lunch, and big old layer cakes and pies under plastic bells on the counter.  It's the quality of all the food that sets it apart. 

That's the notorious G, cutting into a platter of French toast made with organic cinnamon raisin bread, drenched in Vermont maple syrup, and sided with crisp bacon from the diner's own smokehouse, not a mile down the road.  When the diner's creators realized that it might became difficult to find enough ham, bacon and sausage to fill the diner's needs, they purchased Vermont Smoke and Cure, a little smokehouse that operates out of the back of a Shell Station in South Barre.  They also sell their products in markets and by mail order, and from our sampling, they are well worth purchasing. 

Our wonderful breakfast also included my less photogenic plate of hash, beautifully poached eggs, organic multigrain toast, and maple sausage.  But our newly-minted love affair with the Farmers' Diner didn't end there, because we returned the next day for lunch.  You see,  G's parents have recently moved to a town only about 20 miles from the diner.  And in Vermont, no-one thinks anything of going 20 miles for breakfast --- at least not on a weekend.   So we can look forward to future visits;  I have to try the burger, purely in the interest of research of course. 

This time, we did it as two legs of a trip -- we had breakfast there on our way to an overnight stay in Burlington, and lunch on our way back.  The lunch trip got factored into our return itinerary after we'd sampled the goodies at breakfast.   For lunch we both had the blackboard special, a barbecued tenderloin of pork sandwich, again from the smokehouse.  The sumptuous portion of meat was bathed in a spicy chipotle barbecue sauce and served on a wonderful fresh soft white roll.  It came with a side of fresh, crisply delicious fries.  I had a huge glass of the best chocolate milk ever, which the menu proudly announced was from the Strafford Creamery.  When G tasted that, he decided to get a shake, which was also better than just about any within living memory.  What dividends there are to eating locally!  You can cut down on fossil fuel emissions by not importing far-away food, AND have the best milkshake of your life.

We purchased bacon, small packages of boneless ham to give as gifts, and an 8 pound half-ham on the bone, all under the Farmers' Diner label.  These finds were from the remarkable food co-op in Lebanon, New Hampshire, a town which is a possible site for another Farmers' Diner.  We go to the food co-op whenever we're in the area for great deals on local cheddar cheese and our favorite grade B maple syrup -- but now the Farmers' Diner products give us a whole 'nother inducement to shop there.  Of course, you can buy the products at the diner and the smokehouse too, subject to availability.  I followed the culinary advice of one of the waitresses in the diner, and when I cooked my ham last night, I gave it only a slathering of   maple syrup before letting it cook slowly for a couple of hours.  It was without a doubt the finest ham I've ever made -- and the side dishes of roast vegetables and corn pudding with chilies and Vermont cheddar weren't too shabby either. 

Mr. Murphy and the rest of the diner's team plan to open a "pod" of satellite diners, first in Vermont, and eventually branching out with successive "pods" in other parts of the country.  We found this out by eavesdropping when a large group of adolescents, perhaps on a trip with a school group, came in to eat lunch and hear some of the diner's history from one of the partners.  It can only be hoped that they have great success, especially if the first Farmers' Diner is any indication of the quality of future branches.

Comments

[rowena]

Yum, yum, yum!!!! You know, I am so glad that I never got into vegetarianism... not that I don't like veggies, but man, how could anyone pass on bacon, and ham, and breakfast sausage?? {sigh} I only wish there were diners like that over here.

[Julie]

Me too, rowena -- I like being an omnivore. I really enjoy my vegetables, and meatless meals are fine with me, but not as a steady diet. As for diners in Italy, well -- you have all those great slow food restaurants you keep me tantalized with...

[Joe Bellacero]

Julie,
That's a diner the way a diner should be. I'm sitting here now, really craving bacon--especially since I had scrambled eggs this morning without, ah well.

By the way, if you happen to be downtown sometime there's a neat little restaurant I would like you to check out for lunch. It's Luzzo's--1st Ave. between 11th and 12th. It's one of the few places making pizza in a coal-fired oven. They serve wine in the same juice glasses grandpa used to drink his from (at those times when he allowed it a brief pause between the bottle and his lips). The Funghi Pizza made with bufala mozzarella is as good as anything you can get in Napoli, and the people could not possible be sweeter. Give it a try sometime and let me know what you think.

Joe

[Julie]

Joe -- if you want, the next time G and I go to Vermont, I'll bring you back some good bacon...and I'd love to try Luzzo's. That's the neighborhood I worked in years ago -- I wish I had known about it then! My favorite coal-fired pizza is Lombardy's on Spring Street -- I like it even better than East Harlem Patsy's, which is our neighborhood joint. Can't wait to give Luzzo's a try!

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