<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  Today in New York City Wine &amp;amp;amp; Food Festival ponderings: Has the word &amp;quot;local&amp;quot; lost all meaning? To figure this out, chefs Tom Colicchio, Dan Barber, Alex Guarnaschelli, Daniel Humm, and Heritage Foods founder Patrick Martins gathered at the iconic Keens Steakhouse and debated the difference between biodynamic and sustainable, and waxed philosophic on why they&amp;#039;d rather spill caviar than farmers-market beans. The discussion was moderated by our own articles editor Ryan D&amp;#039;Agostino. Herein, a few excerpted insights and anecdotes from their conversation. &amp;quot;I was in an existential state of despair, so I went to the farmers market to buy five pounds of beets that I was going to blanche in an attempt to cleanse my Chakras. I wound up with hundreds of pounds of vegetables in my taxi. It just completely changed my approach to cooking. I love picking up a potato and feeling like they are still warm from the soil they came from.&amp;quot; \u2014Alex Guarnaschelli, Butter &amp;quot;New York has fourteen or fifteen seasons and you can&amp;#039;t keep your menu the same through all of them. The dishes on our menu change every day, depending on what&amp;#039;s available.&amp;quot; \u2014Daniel Humm, Eleven Madison Park &amp;quot;Niman Ranch started as a family farm and now they&amp;#039;re selling to Chipotle, and that&amp;#039;s a good thing. What&amp;#039;s happened to food on the coasts will make its way to the middle of the country.&amp;quot; \u2014Patrick Martins, Heritage Foods USA &amp;quot;The way that Applebee&amp;#039;s can get away with saying they are local is by buying one tomato locally. But we&amp;#039;re not innocent. I use limes and lemons. I buy wine from Italy and Spain. I cook with olive oil.&amp;quot; \u2014Tom Colicchio, Craft &amp;quot;The reason why we&amp;#039;re still talking about local five years after the word took on its current meaning is that it can&amp;#039;t be co-opted by Wal-Mart the way organic was. Organic used to mean more than just a farming method. You just can&amp;#039;t reduce local in the same way. It&amp;#039;s like trying to define justice or a happy marriage.&amp;quot; \u2014Dan Barber, Blue Hill Tomorrow&amp;#039;s Panel: &amp;quot;How Many Restaurants Are Too Many for One Chef?&amp;quot; and Check Out the Rest of Our Festival Coverage &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/a32942/local-food-discussion-100810/>