This is a word often used to describe wine in a “sophisticated” manner. If you look at the environment where the grapes were grown, you could observe elements such as climate, soil, temperature that year (both day and night), topography, farming practices and methods in which the wine is made. These elements make up what is summarized as “terroir” and give each wine its own essence or soul. Although it is present in most things that we eat or drink, the coffee industry seems to be the only other product that commonly refers to “terroir” when describing taste notes. But what might you find when you take this term and look closer to home.

In July 2021, Chef Rose and Oz Coffee Bar hosted a six-course dinner featuring intriguing ingredients from the Texas Hill Country interpreted with a South African flare. Each course was paired beautiful bottles from one of the oldest wineries of Stellenbosch, South Africa known for their stunning display of “terroir” and their farm-to-table approach. The opening course was an agricultural experience in itself with local farmer, Kent Walker of Grow the Greens, lining the tables with a colorful variety of live micro greens. (Micro greens are baby vegetable greens that have only developed their first set of leaves and are highly concentrated in flavor and nutrients.) Each guest was provided a pair of scissors to harvest and build their own salad as they pleased, along with all the salad fixin’s used to highlight taste notes of the rare sparkling Chardonnay, Babylonstoren Sprankel.

Ordering seafood, or any food, from a distributor or grocery store is definitely easier for a chef. Convenience, consistency, and cost are three major reasons why farm-to-table is not a common concept throughout the United States. Beyond that, it takes time and effort to build relationships with farmers. It requires flexibility in the menu and the skills of creativity to adjust dishes on the fly based on what products are available in the present bounty. Beyond everything else, it demands an understanding audience from guests for the imperfections and variations in flavor due to the “terroir” leading up to harvest. With that in mind, sourcing local fish to pair with rich Viognier for the second course was certainly the steepest challenge of the meal. After-all, there are not many fishermen of the Brazos advertising their catch of the day. Chef hit a gold mine when she found enough fat, glistening Crappie in a friend’s freezer from his first season of retirement fishing. Hours of cleaning, descaling, and gutting by her sous chef led to a memorable second course of stuffed whole fish cooked directly on the grill, South African style. Most of the guests had no idea such a flavorful fish lived in the river right in their backyard.

The United States discards an estimated 80 billion pounds of food per year, making us one of the most wasteful countries in the world. When you live in the land of plenty and have “seasonal” produce available at your fingertips, it is easy to lose touch with the roots of the food system. “Waste” is usually even lower on the priority totem pole. As we discussed before, something shifts when you grow your own food, and when you hatch, raise, and harvest your own birds, waste suddenly becomes a much more predominate subject. This was the case when Chef found herself with an abundance of poultry carcasses left over from carving for sausage. From what would appear as trash to most, came the most incredible base for a South African style curry to pair with a charming Shiraz. Chef infused an additional layer of love into the dish with goat meat from an animal that had been tenderly cared for by her own hands since before birth. Some guests gasped when they found the meat in their bowl had a name, but from the farmer’s perspective, they provide their animals the absolute best life with one bad day. And when you introduce a chef to farming, suddenly there is an art behind how the animals are fed as they now have the power to influence that element of the terroir. When a chef labors in the heat, building fence to protect those animals that will later be used to feed a crowd, waste is no longer an option. Creativity blossoms, and everyone invited to their table benefits from the holistic approach to the culinary art.

In the 1990’s Ostrich farming boomed in Texas as an alternate red meat during the Mad Cow Diseases care. Interest in ostrich eventually declined until avian flu hit South Africa in 2011, giving surviving ostrich farms a second chance. Since then, the continued popularity of lean, exotic meats has sustained farms such as Clark Ostrich Ranch, just a couple hours away from Granbury. Layers of connection to South Africa in this dish called for simplicity in preparation to allow the meat to speak for itself with just a dusting of smoked sea salt, a kiss of the grill, a side of garden-fresh zucchini, completed with a rustic chimichurri. To accompany this epic finale, it was only fitting to pair one of the oldest cultivated grapes in viticulture history, Cabernet Franc. Usually, this grape takes a supporting role in blends, but when grown in optimal“terroir” such as the old seabed of Helderberg, Stellenbosch, wine makers such as David Finlayson of Edgebaston Vineyard bottle nothing short of magic with 100% Cabernet Franc. A lesser-known fact about this grape varietal is that it is the parent grape of the top two most popular grapes in the world, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Do a little digging in ‘Wine From Neolithic Times to the 21st Century’ by Stefan K. Estreicher, and you will find a rich history of how these grapes were accidentally bred in southwestern France.

To end the night on a sweet note, braided donuts, known as koeksisters, dipped in local mesquite and wildflower honey, were served for dessert with the classic pairing of coffee, specifically a bright, fun bean sourced from Ethiopia and roasted by SuperGood Coffee Roasters in Austin. In the United States, a Central or South American coffee is more familiar and commonly consumed with a traditional nutty and chocolatey profile. In contrast, many nerds in the coffee fanatic realm anxiously await the season every year for bright, delicate African coffees such as the one that filled the air in closure of the culturally rich evening. Details continued with the offering of cream from a nearby dairy that offers low-temperature pasteurized products. Because of their processing method, the fluctuating nuances of milk can be detected by experienced baristas who handle the products daily as the “terroir” of the seasons change along with the pampered cows’ diet.

Food is estimated to travel an average of 1500 miles from farm to plate in the United States. The next time your neighbor offers farm-fresh eggs, take time to notice how much more flavor and color is packed into each little nugget. The closer you are to the source of what you consume, the more relevant“terroir” becomes.

Do you know any local farmers or ranchers? Do you know which chefs in your community go the extra mile to build those relationships and support local agriculture? Do you support the art of those chefs regardless of imperfections and higher prices for quality ingredients? When you travel, do you seek out chains that offer familiar, redundant cuisine or do you dig for those eateries who express a sense of place? It is the red pill worth choosing with an infinite positive ripple effect, and as the consumer, you hold the power in your own “terroir.”

“Customers joke about professionals like her having secret ingredients that make it impossible to reproduce their recipes at home, but the truth is, that secret ingredient is not secret at all. It is the result of their craft being rooted in love, and when they are connected to the ingredients from start to finish, you can taste the difference in every bite.”

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