Missouri Born and Raised: University Club connects culinarians, local farmers

At the University Club, predictability is not on the menu.
“We try to push the envelope when it comes to food,” said John LaRocca, general manager of the club located inside MU’s alumni center. “We’re always trying different things, using different foods, different ingredients… The status quo isn’t acceptable.”
This year’s Farm to Table summit is a perfect example of their ingenuity.
The idea was born last year when LaRocca and Daniel Pliska, executive chef and assistant general manager of University Club, were critiquing 2009’s Latin Foods Summit. The summit included a seminar on sustainability and the farm-to-table movement, which was “wildly successful,” LaRocca said. Based on the popularity of that seminar, LaRocca and Pliska decided to do a farm-to-table summit the following year.
The goal of the event, which will take place June 12 and 13 at the University Club and the adjacent quadrangle, is to connect culinarians with local growers and producers.
The Columbia Farmers Market was quick to jump on board. Through this partnership, LaRocca and Pliska landed on the event’s tagline: “Where the culinary world meets the Farmer’s Market.”
Farm to Table 2010 will feature demonstrations, workshops, presentations and master-classes by local, regional and national chefs and farmers. An outdoor farmers market, or the market stroll, will be on the MU quad from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. For a $10 admission fee, visitors can shop at the market, which will include 30 to 40 farmers selling their wares. (Half of the proceeds from the admission fees will go to the Columbia Farmers Market, the other half to the American Culinary Federation Mid-Missouri Scholarship Fund.)
The market stroll will include educational aspects as well. An educational stage will house seminars every 25 to 30 minutes and will cover topics such as composting, herb gardening and canning and preserving.
A Saturday evening reception, sponsored by Missouri Wine, will feature a sampling of wines along with different chefs preparing food at cooking stations on the quad. On Sunday night it’s beer and BBQ, with BBQ teams coming in from across the state and local microbreweries offering samples of their products. “Everything we’re doing is Missouri,” LaRocca said. “Whether it’s Fitz’s root beer, Ozark bottled water; it’s all Missouri.”
Other notable features of the event include presentations and book signings by former White House Chef Walter Scheib and an invite-only panel discussion with California-based chef Ann Cooper, known as the Renegade Lunch Lady, which will address children’s nutrition.
LaRocca said he expects thousands to attend the festival. A similar event in St. Louis brought in more than 13,000 people, he said, and already, more than 4,000 people have shown up at the Columbia Farmers Market in a single weekend this year.
“This is really so unlike anything that has ever been done here in Columbia and mid-Missouri,” LaRocca said. “Bringing these two groups together, talking about sustainability, educating each other on issues that are out there right now. … I really think we’re putting our stamp on something that’s going to be here for years to come.”
For more information about the event, including costs for seminars and receptions, visit www.F2Tuclubmissouri.com.