SVF Foundation

Iron Chef Jose Garces Visits The Farm

Iron Chef Jose Garces Visits The Farm

Iron Chef Jose Garces Visits The Farm

This was big news, at least to the foodies at SVF: Food Network’s Iron Chef Jose Garces was coming to Newport as a guest chef for a local restaurant, and had arranged for a tour of SVF.

Even more exciting than the tour, he was coming for breakfast! With three weeks to prep, Jacquie Borden, a resident at SVF and our Food Safety Manager, had accepted the challenge. Jacquie, an Australian born and trained chef, immediately began test dishes, which a few of us were fortunate enough to taste.

She quickly unveiled her plan: tapas-style menu—which features numerous small plates—very much in the style some of Garces’ Philadelphia restaurants. Due to his tremendous interest in pork, we decided to complement Jacquie’s breakfast with bacon and sausage from one of our Tamworths.

Breakfast, as predicted, was fantastic: Australian pork sausage rolls (Tamworth pork), Thai halibut ceviche with crushed peppercorns, beet and potato Spanish omelet, roasted tomatoes, egg and homemade bacon brochette, and to finish, pears in local yogurt and honey.  In a word, success!

Conversation started with talk of food and the inevitable question, “What’s it like to throwdown against Bobby Flay on the Food Network?” (The answer was, “Hard work, but fun.”)

Ultimately, we segued into farm talk. Garces had purchased a farm in Tinicum, Pennsylvania a year ago and is a spokesman for the National Pork Board. He is also a huge proponent of heritage breed pigs.  Every one of his eight restaurants features the Large Black pig (listed as critically endangered by ALBC), in some form or other.

The initial plan for his 40-acre farm was to provide produce for his restaurants and a place to raise Large Blacks. Eventually, he plans on adding additional species of livestock. Of course, we were anxious to weigh in and offer our thoughts on heritage breed cattle and sheep.

Surgery was our first stop, the team was collecting embryos from several Arapawa does. It’s not always easy transitioning from breakfast to embryo collection; nevertheless, as Jose pointed out, it’s inspiring to see a mission like this underway.

Twice a week, tours are particularly impressive, as Tufts veterinarians and 4th-year vet students are onsite for germplasm collection (collection of semen and embryos).

Finally, we made the trip to the barn. Nick Bowley, our head herdsman, was the first person to greet Jose with a “Nice to meet you, Chef!” For some reason, that brought smiles all around.

Maybe it's that our herd-staff know better than anyone: great chefs, and foodies, are essntial to saving our endangered breeds. 

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