'Farmers are the real rock stars,' Mario Batali says
Mario Batali
If you want to cook like a chef, skip the gadgets and tools. Get to know a farmer.
That's Mario Batali's latest mantra and the focus of his 10th cookbook. Arriving in stores this week, "America Farm To Table: Simple, Delicious Recipes Celebrating Local Farmers" is co-authored by journalist Jim Webster (Grand Central Publishing, $35).
Harnessing the spotlight earned at the helm of an empire of 26 restaurants, Batali digs into the stories behind farm to table. Tapping 14 chef friends from around the country, he brings us the struggles and successes of these superheroes in his world.
Balancing his roles as restaurateur, chef and co-host of "The Chew" (noon weekdays on ABC), he's always thinking about his message.
Everyone asks him about what they should buy, which fancy tools they need. None of that matters without good ingredients, he says. Those come from farmers.
Batali, who lives in New York City, spends his summers in Michigan with his wife, Susi Cahn, and their sons Leo, 16, and Benno, 18, a student at the University of Michigan.
Batali's visits the Midwest for several events this month, including a book signing in Chicago at 1:45 p.m. Oct. 15 at Eataly Chicago, 43 E. Ohio St. On Oct. 24 a sold-out dinner featuring a menu of recipes from the cookbook will be held at Bartolotta's Downtown Kitchen, 777 E. Wisconsin Ave.
Q. "Farmers are the real rock stars." That's the first line of this new book. Are we idolizing the wrong people?
A. Well, it took a while to figure out it wasn't always the director or movie star that made a movie good, and not always the singer in a rock band that made things good. We're just figuring out where the adulation should happen, and the cooks are that and the restaurateurs and wine people, but the farmers are just as important.
At the end of the day, the farmer is such an intrinsic part of the American psyche it is natural for them to be rock stars next.
Q. Interestingly, almost all of the farmers in the book end up talking about the soil.
A. That's where the geospecificity comes from. Why is there phosphorous, is heavy clay or blacker soil going to give me delicious greens? It is the understanding of these things. They understand the soil and its remarkable gifts. This may just be at the end of the day, the soil is going to be considered heroic as well.
Q. You're on the cover and these are your recipes, but the focus really is 14 farmers and their work. What was the impetus for the book?
A. There is a clear and large picture message: Big farming is not necessarily doing good things for the American diet or ideology. Small farming is good but hard to do.... If we could find a way that the middle man could be cut out a bit, the farmer will have a longer sustainable life doing the things that are the real reason for the book.
People are always asking me what I have at home. I don't do any of the things people do at restaurants, but what I do is buy the ingredients at the same level. People think it is superior technique, and you're in a sexy environment that isn't your house, but chefs find superior ingredients.
If you want tastier food, it is about adjusting your ingredient shopping behavior. That will do a lot more than buying my knife. A tool is an important thing, but that is not as important as the ingredients.
Q. How did you find the farmers included?
A. I basically called my chef friends: Michael Symon, Jose Andres, Paul Kahan in Chicago, Melissa Kelly, Kelly Liken. All of them are just my friends, and I chose them geographically. I wrote them and said "Who are your farmers and what do they grow?"
If everybody grew strawberries, we wouldn't have a book. I looked at the ingredients, drew up recipes.... Then we sent Jim Webster around. He's a journalist who works for The Washington Post. He went and did these interviews to find their story.
Q. Your tour includes a sold-out dinner at Bartolotta's Downtown Kitchen. What can people expect?
A. I'm working in the kitchen. I describe the dishes, talk about what I think is important about this book, the Packers vs. the Bears vs. my world championship Seahawks. I am so fascinated by talking to like-minded individuals, anybody enthusiastic about anything. I think that is why "The Chew" is popular. We're not talking down at people, suggesting they need to spiritually attend to things to be a better person.
Q. What do you do for yourself?
A. I like to get up really early, exercise first thing. I'm in my gym at 5 a.m. then at 6 a.m. I'm making breakfast for my son, drive him to school. Then I head to "The Chew." Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays we have a baby sitter. We still call her a baby sitter, even though my oldest is in college.
Q. You spend your summers in northern Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula. What is the Midwestern appeal after all this time?
A. Going to Michigan for three months is the antidote for living in New York City. And after being in Michigan for three months, in the same sense the antidote is coming back to New York City. I love the balance. I love the calm pastoral life we have in Leelanau, but I love the international experience in New York. Having both has me appreciating them both. We also go to Michigan for Christmas and Thanksgiving. My wife goes mid-spring to plant things.
Q. Are you flying or driving to Milwaukee for this event?
A. I'm going to fly to Chicago, then drive to Milwaukee. I was in Kohler and Madison the last week of August. I didn't realize how beautiful it was. My son is looking at colleges. We decided to try Sardine (in Madison). We ate there, met the two guys (John Gadau and Phillip Hurley). It was fabulous. For me it was a hidden gem. I tweeted about it. Madison is a very unique place, but there are great things going on all over the place. I'm hoping this book can highlight that.
Q. What do you want people to know and take away from this book?
A. The best thing they could do to make their lives happier, go with your family to a farmers market, and everybody choose one ingredient you're not familiar with and do something with it. There will be failures. Not everything will work, but in that effort, in learning to work together, there is so much up side that even a burnt turnip is a plus.
There is a responsibility to trying to weave your ideology into the big picture. It is about becoming better planetary citizens, us making and thinking a little longer term in how we can make the Earth a better place to live. Supporting local farmers is the easiest way.
Q. Do people bring you things at these events?
A. Yeah, oh they bring me the cookie that brings them to tears.... They make it and bring it and we share it. The memory of it lives so long in their palates. It is kind of really cool.
