Welcome to

You could call Patrick Martins a mover and a shaker and you would be right.

After working in Italy to help launch Slow Food USA, he moved back to helm
its national office. Mr. Martins was everywhere — founding the magazine for
Slow Food, writing the Slow Food Guide to New York Restaurants, Markets
and Bars, and still finds time to be the series’ editor for both Chicago and
Northern California Slow Food Guides. Patrick currently sits on the advisory
board for Slow Food USA with the title of Founder.

Taking slow food a step further, Patrick founded Heritage Foods USA with his
business partner, Todd Wickstrom. Their goal is to help farmers market their
artisan foods and to provide an alternative to industrial agriculture.

They are doing a great job.

The Heritage Turkey Project, which helped double the population of heritage
turkeys in the United States and upgraded the Bourbon Red turkey from “rare”
to “watch” status on conservation lists, was Heritage Foods USA’s first foray
into saving American food traditions.

In 2004 it became an independent company (from Slow Food) dedicated to
saving not only turkeys but also Native American foods, pigs, sheep, bison,
cows, reef-net salmon, goats and all breeds of food livestock.

And, if that wasn’t enough, Patrick started the Heritage Radio Network.

The studio is in a recycled shipping container in Bushwick, Brooklyn behind
Roberta’s. (this restaurant is quickly moving to the head of the “best pizza”
line — you have to check them out) On the radio one can hear people like
Zak Pelaccio, (Fatty Crab) and Anne Saxelby (Saxelby Cheesemongers)
talk about their current food obsessions.

Patrick is all about fighting the good fight, and it looks like he’s winning.

Joseph Wrede is as farm-centric as they come. If it’s grown (the right way) in
the ground, on pasture, or pulled from the water, he wants it in his restaurant
and on his plates.

Since the early days (when his restaurant was only slightly less well-known)
and located down the road in Ranchos de Taos, Joseph has turned out com-
pletely original, yet somehow classic plates. Now located on the historic Taos
Plaza, inside the Hotel la Fonda de Taos, Joseph’s Table has become what
The New York Times described as, “unmissable”.

Joseph has worked with the notion that to use anything other than the very
best ingredients was not an option. Forging an alliance with his local sources,
he gets vegetables from up the road at  Morning Star Farm of Taos, wild things
(like chanterelles) foraged by a few of the area’s in-the-know folks, lamb from
over the mountain, impeccably fresh fish and beef from pastured cows.

Joseph is doing more than cooking. His devotion to ‘local’ extends to helping
to build Taos (and its local farmers) into a stronger, better community.

Special thanks to Putnam Murdock for the brilliant music you hear.

In Chimayo, New Mexico the chile represents deep, fundamental family values.
Here, Chimayo chiles are grown like they have been for approximately four
hundred years. They’re planted (usually with seeds passed down through the
family), weeded and harvested by hand — on small plots, where more than likely
the ditch irrigation system was dug by the farmers’ grandparents or great-grand-
parents. This means there are profound connections to the past and to the earth.

When chiles and seeds are sold in Chimayo it’s not simply an exchange of
money; it’s “a communal act” as author Deborah Madison wrote in Saveur
magazine. There are rituals and niceties surrounding the culture of the chile.

Working with local farmers, The Native Hispanic Institute is helping to preserve
local family traditions by replenishing native seed stock. In recent years, the
number of farmers growing the Chimayo had dwindled. Institute founder,
Marie Campos, took up the challenge and with a generous donation of seed
from Victoria and Jose Martinez, she has worked to enlist more farmers to grow
the legendary chile.

Local food culture is alive and well in Chimayo, New Mexico thanks to the hard
work of a dedicated group of farmers growing the Capsicum annuum “Chimayo”
chile. Quoting from Ms. Madison’s article once again, “They’re not just a spice;
they’re part of an old culture, an ancient way of life.

We wish to express our most sincere thanks to Victoria and Jose from Chimayo
for sharing their family’s story with us and to Juan Lucero and Los Primos from
Santa Fe for their fabulosa música.