Agriculture + Lifestyle
Back to Her Roots
Posted on March 23, 2020 12:00 AM
安妮·夸特拉诺(Anne Quatrano)记得，在她家农场度过的夏天总是很热，而且要做很多家务. 成年后，她对农场生活的看法并没有太大改变.
“I have the utmost respect for farmers and what they do. I hope the next generations really embrace it. 农民们坚持他们的信仰，创造出我非常看重的令人惊叹的当地农产品,” she said.
A James Beard award-winning chef and Atlanta restaurateur, Quatrano lives at Summerland, 她家在卡特斯维尔的农场已经传了六代了. 搬到乔治亚州并拥有农场的所有权，这是她在康涅狄格州长大时无法预料的.
“My mom was born and raised on that farm, and growing up we’d spend a few weeks there in the summers,” she said. “我妈妈离开后，我上了大学，农场一直由别人照看. Most of us thought we’d never go back.”
Quatrano attended college at the University of Vermont, studying business and psychology, 但她坦率地承认，她不知道自己真正想要的是什么.
“大学期间，我在餐馆打工养活自己，我很喜欢这份工作. I loved the environment; it was like a team sport. I thought it suited me,” she said. “我开始读研究生，但又回去管理餐馆. 我想，‘我知道怎么经营这个，但我不知道怎么在餐厅里做饭.’”
然而，她知道如何在家做饭——这是她从祖母那里学来的天赋.
“My grandmother in the South was interesting. She grew from the land and was a health nut before her time. She ate mostly vegetables and drank wheat germ. 她也喜欢堆肥，尽管当时我们还不这么称呼它. 她意识到浪费和她留下的东西，”夸特拉诺说. “My Italian grandmother, on my father’s side, taught me a lot. I spent lot of time with them. 她会在水池里拔鸡，而且还是个美食家.”
当夸特拉诺意识到她想走自己的美食之路时, 她搬到全国各地，进入了旧金山的加州烹饪学院. There, she met her future husband, fellow culinary student Clifford Harrison, and her mentor, chef Judy Rogers.
“I learned so much from her. 她教会了我对食材的尊重，我牢记在心. 烹饪学校和她的结合给我的未来注入了活力,” Quatrano said.
1986年，哈里森和夸特拉诺搬到了南塔开特岛，开始了他们的餐馆事业. 在新英格兰和纽约的几家餐厅作为一个团队工作之后, by 1992, 夸特拉诺说，她和哈里森开始觉得长岛不适合他们开自己的餐馆. And so, they found themselves at Summerland.
“It was all really Cliff’s idea,” she said with a laugh. “My husband felt strongly about wanting to move back. 我们对纽约的昂贵生活感到失望，所以我们决定去农场干点活，找个地方开餐馆. 当时，亚特兰大是一个沉闷的餐馆之城，只有少数几家好餐馆. 我们觉得我们可以做得很好，足以在那个市场竞争.”
很简单，但有一件事:他们需要学习如何耕种.
“Cliff had a horse he brought with us, and we moved into a double-wide on the property, and taught ourselves with library books. 我们建了一个谷仓，它现在还在，这太棒了。. “我们养了几只小狗，开始挖掘和拖拽，并试图学习如何做到这一点. In the meantime, our goal was to open a restaurant.”
到那年年底，他们在巴克黑德找到了一个地方，开了酒神酒吧. 在农场里，他们开始种植一些他们知道可以在他们的餐馆里使用的东西, like radishes, carrots and turnips. 使用农场新鲜的食材对Quatrano和Harrison来说至关重要, and has been a focus from the very start.
“When we first got here in ’92, 如果我们想让餐厅本土化，我们必须自己种植农产品. Georgia is a big agriculture state, but at the time there were few farmers growing on a small scale,” she said. “Things have changed a lot since then, and that’s fantastic. 我们过去常常乞求人们为我们种植粮食——我们不可能种出我们需要的一切. 我们只有两个人试着做饭，每天工作18个小时，几乎没有时间耕种. Now, if we can’t grow it, 我可以看看供应商，实际上可以选择在离我们一小时内种植的农产品.”
Quatrano坚持购买当地种植的农产品，并不是出于某种无私的责任感, dairy, eggs and more.
“Honestly, it’s because the food tastes better. As a chef and restaurateur, 我的目标一直是用我们能买到的最好的食材，用最简单的准备，让这些食材发光,” she said. “放了三个小时的产品尝起来和放了三个星期的产品完全不同. 为了准备我们餐厅提供的食物，我想要得到最好、最新鲜的食材. I was aware that fresher tasted better.”
这种烹饪方法给哈里森和夸特拉诺带来了五倍的回报. 自从开了酒神酒吧(Bacchanalia)，两人又开了Star Provisions、Floataway咖啡馆、W.H. 斯泰尔斯鱼营和煎饼社交——所有这些都是住在夏日乐园的时候.
In the decades that have passed, Summerland has grown to include 20 horses, 300 chickens, eight dogs and a few donkeys. 他们最大的作物是草莓、黑莓以及果树和坚果树. Seasonally, they grow sweet onions, leeks, potatoes, sunchokes, tomatoes, greens, beets, turnips, radishes, carrots, peppers, eggplants and various squashes.
“我们有机会保护这片土地，为我们的餐厅种植所有这些食物，这真是太棒了. 这是1840年以来的一个家族农场，我认为我们永远无法摆脱它,” said Quatrano, now 60. “Having this farm is a luxury. It’s terribly expensive to run and makes no money. We are fortunate to have it. We have five businesses to help us support it. Everything we have goes into keeping that place going.”
夸特拉诺说，她希望其他厨师能效仿真正的从农场到餐桌的理念, 更多的食客会开始欣赏和重视乔治亚州种植的食物.
“I put all of my money where my mouth is,” she said. “如果我和其他餐馆继续这样做，这将促进农业的发展. 我们明白，我们从农场得到的每一分钱都值得我们多付出. 农业是我所见过或参与过的最令人钦佩的职业. 他们应该得到我们的尊重，我们的钱，以及我们能做的任何事情来帮助他们.”
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