farm to table
Future Foods
by Jeff Walters
Where can you find a world-class gourmet chef with a conscience about the environment , eating healthy , and providing the freshest organic food and produce ? Not an easy task , but writer Jeff Walters has managed the feat . Meet chef
Adam Navidi of Future Foods Farms
With a large organic farm that raises fish along with produce by using aquaponics , Adam Navidi ’ s Future Foods Farm also utilizes fruit trees , soil beds , and chickens to supply both his popular restaurant and bakery and the local farmers ’ markets . Navidi ’ s large aquaponic system raises tilapia fish which , in turn , provides nutrient-rich water for thousands of pounds of organically grown produce sold to others or used in his own restaurant , Ocean & Earth , located in Yorba Linda , Orange County , CA . In 1998 , Chef Navidi toured the Culinary Institute of America with famous French chef Jean Louis Palladin and several other well-known chefs . “ Someday great chefs will be known for the relationships they build with farmers ,” Navidi remembers Palladin saying to him . This sentiment stuck with Navidi , and served to form the basis of inspiration for his own work . One of his early visions was to offer restaurant patrons the opportunity to dine inside a greenhouse which had grown all of the ingredients for the meal ; years later , and with countless obstacles overcome , he eventually made this idea a reality . The quest has branched outward ever since . In the beginning , Chef Navidi started out with a small catering service based from his home , and sold the soil-based produce he had grown in his backyard , front yard , rooftop , and any other place that would hold a planter . Soon , customer demand for more organic fresh produce prompted him to investigate the possibilities of hydroponics , and then aquaponics . In 2008 , he expanded ,
138 groundbreakers