Posted by Jennifer Heigl

Yesterday’s presentation of the ‘Farm to Table’ panel, as part of the Vegas Uncork’d festivities, was outstanding! Four top Las Vegas chefs – Edmund Wong, Bradley Ogden, Rick Moonen, and recent James Beard Award winner Paul Bartolotta – sat side by side to discuss the importance of sustainability and the support of local food production, with Barbara Fairchild, Editor-in-Chief of Bon Appetit, Andrew Knowlton, BA’s BA Foodist, and Vegas’s top restaurant reviewer, John Curtas.

The panel discussed everything from fishing to farm production, even out here in the dry region of Vegas. Surprisingly, there are a number of farms within the local area who are utilized to provide menu ingredients. All of the chefs encouraged their consumers, and restaurant guests, to continue their education on organics and local food availability, noting how important it is as chefs to develop sustainable menus themselves.

“As a definite, you shouldn’t ever have [the outrageously over-fished] Chilean Sea Bass on your menu,” noted chef Rick Moonen.

All four chefs thanked their ‘foragers’, or staff members who are dedicated to finding local produce, and building relationships with farmers and producers. Wong, the Executive Chef of the Bellagio, with over twenty members in his food purchasing team, mentioned having a staff member who’s sole responsibility is to check ripeness of his produce inventory.

Moonen, with a long history of sustainable interest and support, noted that his restaurants even require questionnaires for their wine producers to ensure proper, sustainable production of their wines.

“I never thought I’d see this tipping point [of restaurants/consumers going green and sustainable],” Moonen commented.

On the importance of consumer education of food production:
“Let’s get people to buy fresh first, and then we’ll try to get them to buy organic…consumers have a bigger pull with what’s going on in their grocery stores [than they realize].” – Barbara Fairchild, Bon Appetit

On understanding the cost of local/organic vs. traditionally harvested food items:
“As a consumer, you must realize that the cost to produce unique food is not cheap.” – Paul Bartolotta

Paul Bartolotta, John Curtas, Andrew Knowlton, Barbara Fairchild, Bradley Ogden, Edmund Wong, Rick Moonen