A Live Food Performance
Costello, the head chef, describes their
new traveling kitchen concept as the food
version of being in a band.
“We travel to different venues through-
out the region to hold events, which gener-
ally sell out before we get there,” he says.
“We show up, perform for a night and
then pack up and head to another venue.”
Stimulating local economies, Lost Creek
Farm holds culinary workshops, pop-up
dinners and special events about once a
week both throughout West Virginia and
outside the state. The Appalachian dishes
created at each event vary depending on the
season and the recent local harvest. Overall,
the style of both events is the same, but
each venue and location garners a different
reaction from guests. For West Virginians
attending these events, it’s all about pride.
“We have a lot of people come up to us
after the events to talk about food tradi-
tions or the stories we share about those
foods because it reflects where we all came
from, our relationship to the land and the
way we connect to the landscape here,”
says Costello. “When we go outside the
state, we’re telling a different story about
West Virginia to a different audience.”
A Farming and Foraging Hybrid
With the farm not quite fully functional
yet, Costello describes Lost Creek Farm’s
current sourcing style as a farming and
foraging hybrid, which utilizes the wild-
lands surrounding their property.
“For every event we do, every menu item
has something wild that’s harvested from
our forests,” he says. “Foraging allows us
to adapt our menus. When sourcing from
loca