Farm-to-Table Dinners Feature Top Chefs from Metro

For 54 years Upland Hills Farm (UHF) has provided a natural environment that fosters creativity, self-understanding, life-long friendships and empathy for other living beings. On Sept. 14, farm co-owners Steve and Leslie Webster and Les and Elizabeth Roggenbuck are joining the national farm-to-table movement to raise funds for the Knight & Dorothy Webster Camp Scholarship Fund.

UHF has partnered with Orion Area Youth Assistance, connecting the farm with kids to receive a Summer Day Camp experience who might not otherwise be able to have one.

As second-generation farmers, Steve and Leslie Webster have carried the tradition that was created by Knight and Dorothy Webster – showing the role of a working family farm and educating thousands of children about the connection of farm and food through school programs and tours, summer camps and harvest festivals.

Les and Elizabeth Roggenbuck, originally from East River Organic Farm in Snover, Mi, have been providing local organic produce and grass-fed meats to families for over 25 years. Their passion is rooted deeply in growing high quality food and fostering the understanding of where your food comes from.

Farm-to-table feasts are happening all over the country as a way to reconnect diners to the land and origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers who cultivate it.

“More and more people are paying attention to their food choices; how their food is being grown and how it gets to their table” Elizabeth Roggenbuck said.

Locally published edible WOW magazine is co-producing the event and has watched consumer demand grow for education and connection to local food. Organizers believe that the whole point of this September’s Farm-to-Table Feast is education – and - showcasing it with linens, china and stemware just makes it fun.

The meal will be prepared with care and skill by some of Metro Detroit’s top chefs and will include Upland Hills own organic vegetables and organic grass-fed meats.

Featured chefs:

• Nick Janutol of the Forest Grill in Birmingham: He hails from Detroit originally, but spent his relative “culinary youth” in New York at the Culinary Institute of America, and then in the kitchen of 11 Madison Park. He spent two years as second in command at the renowned L2O in Chicago, and has put his roots back in his home town at the Forest Grill ~ the 2009 Hour Detroit Restaurant of the Year and the 2010 Detroit Free Press Restaurant of the Year.
• Amber Poupore of the Cacao Tree Café in Royal Oak and The Clean Plate in Shelby Townships: She was with Inn Season Café in Royal Oak 10 years when she opened her first restaurant The Cacao Tree Café, also in Royal Oak, in 2010. Perfecting a vegan menu with mostly uncooked raw food, she then opened The Clean Plate in December 2013, a vegan-vegetarian restaurant in Shelby. Poupore’s passion is to feed people healthy food and create food anyone can enjoy.
• Aaron Cozadd of the Union Joints (Union Woodshop & Clarkston Union in Clarkston, Vinsetta Garage in Royal Oak and the Fenton Fire Hall in Fenton): He cut his teeth at the Clarkston Union as a line cook while still in high school. Upon graduating, he followed his heart to the Culinary Institute of American in New York. Graduating with honors, he returned to Michigan armed with this formidable one-two punch. He put his skills to work at Coach Insignia, spending time in both the front of the house and the discriminating kitchen. A finalist for casting of “Top Chef” season 5, Cozadd has that rare combination of being able to deliver food that projects his passion and passionately share it in any multitude of mediums. Serving as Executive Chef to the expanding Union Joints’ group, Cozadd creates and oversees all regular menu and specialty items for the Clarkston Union Bar and Kitchen, Union Woodshop BBQ joint, Vinsetta Garage Custom Eatery and most recently the Fenton Fire Hall Bar and Kitchen.

Diners will enjoy more than a meal:

• Gazebo concert with nationally known Josh White Jr. & Ron Coden
• Hayride & pony rides
• An Upland Hills Farmer in the barn introducing animals and helping guests milk a cow

Tickets are $100 for adults and $25 for children. Go to www.UplandHillsFarm.com for more informtion.

The feast takes place at the farm at 481 Lake George Road in Oxford.