July 12, 2007

Local Farms Part of Durham Culinary Recognition

North Durham’s Elodie Farms Sells Cheeses to Local Restaurants

Places like Elodie Farms are evolving to help fuel Durham’s culinary reputation. Culinary tourism is about more than restaurants. People want to explore local foods and food traditions.  Some say you can even taste differences in products grown locally.

A culinary reputation like Durham’s is a key ingredient wrapped by DCVB into the destination’s overall identity and involves not only noted chefs and restaurants, but food festivals, local coffee roasters, vineyards and wineries, bakeries, farms and markets, and locally and regionally grown foods.

In a recent survey of U.S. leisure travelers sponsored by Gourmet magazine, the Travel Industry Association, and the International Culinary Tourism Association, 60% say they are interested in participating in such food-related activities, with 46% traveling specifically for food and wine-related reasons, while another 26% were accidental tourists who enjoyed culinary activities available in the destination.

Elodie Farms, located in northern Durham County’s Rougemont community, produces a wide variety of farmstead goat’s milk cheeses such as chevre, feta, camembert, and hard cheeses. Founded in 2004, the 21-acre farm sells its cheeses to local restaurants and area farmers’ markets.

Additionally, Elodie Farms hosts monthly Dinners on the Porch from April through December, where noted area chefs such as Aaron Benjamin of Pop’s, A Durham Trattoria prepare a menu using cheeses produced there on the farm.

Elodie Farm cheeses are but a few of the locally grown items available at the weekly Durham Farmer’s Market, held in Downtown’s Durham Central Park each Saturday from 8-noon. Many of the items at the market make their ways onto the menus at Magnolia Grill, Rue Cler, and other local establishments.

Durham County Government has an active program, the Durham Farmland Protection Advisory Committee, to preserve Durham’s farm heritage. Durham recently won a grant of nearly $1 million from the federal Farm and Ranchlands Protection Program—the largest conservation easement ever granted to North Carolina--for protecting the 918-acre Little Mountain Farm from future development.

Though home to North Carolina’s 4^th-biggest city and with the 17^th-smallest square mileage among the state’s 100 counties, Durham still maintains many pastoral areas, such as the North Carolina Scenic By-Ways in north and western Durham, Eno River State Park, Rollingview State Recreational Area, and other rural or natural escapes.

On average, culinary travelers spend $1,194 per trip, with $425 going towards food-related activities, underscoring the economic importance of preserving Durham’s farms.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Vote for Durham in Food & Wine Survey [June 26, 2007]
Durham One of Five Towns Nominated for Love of Food

Digging Into Culinary Tourism in Durham [July 11, 2006]
New Farmers’ Market Pavilion Will Add Another Dimension to Culinary Tourism Product

Farmland Districts Add to Sense of Place [April 18, 2006]

Voluntary County Program Preserves County’s Character

Published by the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau. Copyright 2005 Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau,
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