March 25, 2014 – Tickets are now on sale for the 2014 season of Outstanding in the Field dinners and they’re going fast. Founder Jim Denevan says 70% of the tickets for their 80 destination North American tour sold since last Thursday. “These dinners highlight the value and importance of people and places that have a role in our food,” says Denevan, a chef/artist who started his self-proclaimed culinary circus in Santa Cruz 15 years ago. By this fall, OITF will have organized more than 600 dinners in every state in the union and Denevan is setting his sights on exotic new locations.
The 2015 season will include dates in Africa, Australia and Asia–including one of his signature long tables set up at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan. “It’s a wonderful way to travel and see a country through the lens of local farms,” he says, adding that the concept translates well across the globe. OITF has already held dinners in nine countries in previous years, mainly in Europe.
Back here at home, the tour kicks off May 18 with a dinner at Jim Cochran’s Swanton Berry Farm north of Santa Cruz. According to tradition, Denevan cooks that one himself. For subsequent events he enlists the help of well-known local chefs. “I like to begin there because strawberries are in season and their vegetables are big enough to cook with,” he explains. Other local spring events include one at Everett Family Farm in Soquel with chef Ravi Kapur, another at winemaker Randall Grahm’s Popelouchum Ranch in San Juan Bautista featuring chef Josh Even of San Francisco’s Tosca Café and four at a “secret sea cave” in the Santa Cruz area.
“We thrive on ordeals,” he says. “We want weather. Not rain, but heat, cold, wind–people remember those ones.”
In addition to OITF events, the local farm-to-table dinner calendar is now packed with similar events nearly every weekend throughout the summer and Denevan says, “It’s all good. People in this area tend to think we are innovators here, but truthfully the farm-to-table food movement is happening all over the country.”
This year for the first time, Outstanding in the Field will organize six pre-season dinners at the Coachella Music Festival from April 11-20, featuring Los Angeles area chefs and farms.
At the end of the season, Denevan and his bus full of assistants return to our area for a few final dates, including a “secret location” in Big Sur, a dinner a Jacob’s Farm in Pescadero and two closing nights at Pie Ranch on December 6 and 7th. Chef Carlo Espina of the newly-opened Assembly restaurant in Santa Cruz will man the stoves for that one.
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At Edible Monterey Bay, our mission is to celebrate the local food culture of Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey Counties, season by season. We believe in sustainability, and we believe everyone has a right to healthful, clean and affordable food. We think knowing where our food comes from is powerful, and we hope our magazine, website and newsletters inspire readers to get to know and support our local growers, fishers, chefs, vintners and food artisans.
