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Edwin Rimular

Professor Ludwig

English 101H

4 December 2017

Produce Over Protein

To an activist, sustainability is crucial. To a chef, flavorful food is vital. To Dan Barber,

both components are paramount for success. The New York chef owns Blue Hill, a restaurant

that prides itself on fresh organic ingredients. The restaurant differentiates itself from others with

the way it obtains its ingredients. Barber also owns Blue Hill Farm, the organic farm that

provides the restaurant with daily ingredients. Because of this, customers of Barbers restaurant

are not given a menu. Their meals depends on the type of produce picked that particular day. The

meals served also depend on the season, as Blue Hill rotates its crops throughout the year to

enrich its soil. Barbers goal is to serve customers with flavorful entres while at the same time

producing organic food to maintain the health of the environment. In his novel The Third Plate:

Field Notes on the Future of Food, Barber documents his visits around the world, gaining

knowledge from other farmers on how to raise flavorful food through ecological farming. Barber

does a sufficient job of informing the audience on ecological agriculture, but does not clarify

how expensive these farming techniques actually are.

Barber is a passionate chef who cares about the minute details of his food. He strives to

find ways to make his ingredients taste better. His curiosity has led him to visit farmers from

both the U.S. and Europe, wanting to learn from certain farmers about how to raise livestock and
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produce for flavor. By gaining this knowledge, Barber hopes to create a meal for the future, or

the third plate. Barber believes that humans have become so accustomed to protein-centric

meals that people do not appreciate the less noticeable ingredients. He hopes to be the chef to

change these norms by using environmentally friendly food. By the year 2050, the chef hopes

that the third plate will be a steak dinner with inverse proportions. Barber envisions, a carrot

steak dominating the plate, while beef is served as a small compliment to the vegetable (18).

With this mentality, he hopes to shift American culture.

The book is divided into four sections to separate the different places that Barber has

explored. The first part, Soil, guides the audience through Barbers experience with Klaas

Martens, a fellow organic farmer. He learns from Klaas that agriculture is about chemistry. Crop

rotation is crucial for soil because different plants provide different nutrients for the farm. Barber

learns that ecological farming is beneficial for both the environment and flavor.

The second part, Land, is set in Spain. Barber introduces the audience to Eduardo

Sousa, a geese farmer. Conventional goose farmers produce goose liver by force feeding the

birds. Eduardo takes an odd but more ethical approach to raising geese for their liver. He allows

the geese to roam freely in his land, claiming, were not raising geese they raise

themselves (194). Barber realizes from this visit that conventional farming is taking the flavor

away from food because the animals do not have freedom.

Barber learns about aquaculture in Sea, the third part. He visits Spanish seafood chef

ngel Len, who is known for cooking fish thought to be subpar. After tasting his cooking,

Barber realizes that even low quality fish have the potential to taste equally as great as others.
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The last part of the novel, Seed, focuses on the growing process of crops. Barber visits

Washington State University to learn how to breed vegetables for greater flavor. Breeder Glenn

Roberts explains to him that chemical fertilizers used by farmers are leaving crops with,

questionable nutrition and zero flavor (364). This visit strengthens Barbers against chemical

farming, proving his point that organic farming creates more flavorful and healthier food.

The Third Plate serves as an informative text about ecological agriculture through the

anecdotes of chef Dan Barber. What Barber does well is that he introduces a problem but does

not explicitly explain how to solve it. He lets the farmers and chefs of the book explain their

methods of farming or cooking, which not only establishes ethos but lets the reader understand

why a certain method is better from a credible individual. For example, in part two Land, he

lets Sousa fully explain his raising techniques, allowing the audience to learn as if they were

actually there at that moment in time. Barber does a sufficient job of proving that organic

farming benefits flavor and the environment by sharing these experiences. I also admire how at

the end of each part, Barber goes back to Blue Hill to implement what he has learned from his

visits back into his own kitchen. His passion to make his own cooking better shows that he really

is trying to shift American culture in order to reach the third plate. Another component of the

novel that was creative was how Barber created, A Menu for 2050, which is essentially a list of

meals containing concepts he has learned from the people he visited. For example, the menu

contains Rotation Risotto, an entre dedicated to Klaas crop rotation farming.

Barber did a nice job getting his point across, but could have done a better job letting the

audience know how expensive organic farming can be. Blue Hill is a high end restaurant; the

average American would not be able to afford its food on a regular basis. Barber believes that the
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third plate can be reached in the future, but his goal will not be met any time soon if he does not

make his food regularly available for the middle-class. Influencing people is what shifts culture.

American culture will not be shifted until Barbers makes his third plate meals cheaper.

Ecological farming is important in creating delicious food without sacrificing the health

of the environment. In The Third Plate, chef Dan Barber shares his personal experiences with

natural farmers to convey this idea. Barber does a substantial job informing his audience by

using anecdotes. His claim in shifting the culture is faulty due to the price of his envisioned food.

Nonetheless, his passion as a chef may allow him to reach his ultimate goal. Maybe somewhere

in the future may Americans view Barbers third plate as the backbone for restaurant entres.
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Works Cited

Barber, Dan. The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food. Abacus, 2014.