FarmShare Folks: Meet Doug Katz
You may be nodding your head in agreement as similar memories of Fire meals flash through your mind—perhaps you are still savoring the seared diver scallops or, one of Doug’s favorites, the Portobello mushroom pizza—but what you may not be aware of is the friendship between Doug and FarmShare founder, Kari Moore.
Doug and Kari have known each other for about six years, sharing a mission of supporting local food producers and collaborating on initiatives such as last year’s RIPE! Food and Garden Festival at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. Doug credits Kari with introducing him to the local food scene in Cleveland many years ago, and, as of this summer, he is a FarmShare subscriber.
This summer will also mark the first year of Fire serving as a FarmShare pick up location (east side subscribers can pick up their weekly FarmShare deliveries at Fire on Thursdays from 5:5:30pm).
Doug plans to enjoy his subscription with his family, and he looks forward to the variety it will introduce into meals. “I trust Kari to pick interesting, fresh products. And maybe [the subscription] will introduce me to a new farm I can buy food from for Fire,” he said as we chatted over coffee. Doug likes to make dinner preparation a family affair, and he described a brick pizza oven in his backyard, along with a garden where he grows tomatoes, peppers, and sugar snap peas.
Personally, I would love to see how one of Cleveland’s top chefs uses the treats in his FarmShare tote! The ways in which he plans to use the food, however, are less elaborate than one might think. He likes to stick with simple preparation in order to enhance a food’s natural taste and enjoys eating fresh vegetables raw. He listed sugar snap peas, tomatoes, and watermelon radishes as some of his favorites.
For years, Doug has focused on local food sourcing for Fire, a practice he said allows him to connect with local farmers. He estimates that during the summer, up to eighty-percent of the food he serves is local. Rather than placing an order over the phone and having a truck driver drop off the food, he has genuine ties with the families from whom he buys his food, and by serving the local food, he passes these connections on to his customers at Fire. “Having a ten-year history with farmers is so different from making a distant order—it really is life-changing,” he said.
His involvement in the community is not limited to Fire, which supports not only farmers but has also helped to revive Shaker Square. Doug was President and is now Vice President of Cleveland Independents, a group of locally-owned restaurants, and he has been on the board of Positively Cleveland, an organization that promotes the region to travelers.
Doug discovered the difference in taste and freshness of local food after culinary school, and once he tasted the flavor, there was no looking back. He cares deeply about his farmers, customers, and ingredients: “Local ingredients taste amazing and look beautiful. My passion for cooking makes me want to buy local food.”
Posted by Elizabeth Bruml, FarmShare 2011 Intern