Feb 24 2020 26 mins 1
We continue the second half of our food adventure in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Cherie Montoya, owner of the Farm & Table restaurant. Her life and career path supporting the importance of local, healthy, community-based food might be genetic, or it could be environmental. There’s no way of knowing which, in this instance, as both influences could factor heavily. Her family has a history in the Rio Grande Valley for over 300 years. Her grandparents and their garden and orchard heavily influenced her appreciation for fresh foods straight from the back door (as well as for the joys of tamales and empanadas made from scratch and hot from the oven – yum!). Her father’s passion for the traditions of land stewardship, water management, history, and farming in a regenerative manner gives a fresh and local supply source that supports the mission and goals of the Farm & Table restaurant. It doesn’t get more local than a greenhouse and farm you could step out and touch from the dining area in the restaurant. Edible New Mexico agrees with the results, and has recognized Farm & Table with the Local Hero Best Restaurant Lifetime Achievement Award. If that weren’t enough kudos, Cherie is also the recipient of the Olla Local Hero Award for “her work in creating innovative, vibrant, and resilient local food systems in New Mexico.” That’s really important, as this area is considered a “food desert.” No, it’s not just about the landscape, and yes, we will talk about what that concept means in the future. If you follow our links to the Farm & Table website, you can venture into their “About” section, which says it all. “What We Value” lists their priorities, and they are good ones: Local food. People. Land and Water. Hospitality. We would say that this is our kind of place, but it’s more than that – it’s everyone’s kind of place. Cherie and her staff do their best to make their restaurant a community – from the dirt to the dining room – for everyone who is a part of the experience. That’s community, in the most delicious manner. Links: https://farmandtablenm.com/about/ https://farmandtablenm.com/menus/ http://www.ediblenm.com/ https://chefscollaborative.org/ http://butchersmanifesto.com/ https://quiviracoalition.org/butcher/
