Farmers ‘rock stars’ of food
Kiwi farmers might find their food stories mundane, but overseas consumers can’t get enough of them, says United States chef Mike Lee.
Lee told about 300 farmers and industry people that they needed to become story-tellers, during the Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Aginnovation conference in Palmerston North.
Lee carried out a video presentation from New York, where he is the founder of Studio Industries, a food design and innovation studio.
He said he had always been around food, as his grandfather emigrated to the United States and started a Chinese restaurant in Detroit. ‘‘There was no Chinatown there, but my grandfather went somewhere there weren’t any. That was my first taste of doing things differently.’’
Lee said that had always stayed with him.
He started serving food in warehouses and then he and others provided lunch for people on the subway .
‘‘It tells us we can provide popup food. It was illicit, but fun.’’
Then he worked for food maker Chobani and developed a bigger product range than the Greek yoghurt they were making.
Three years ago he started Studio Industries which designs and innovates foodstuffs.
Lee said people don’t trust the food system, with most people eating food from a long way away.
‘‘People are coming back to food stories and they create trust.’’
He said hipster butchers were popular, and they were learning the craft again.
‘‘Butchers become story-tellers. They provide the link between the farmer and the buyer.’’
New technology such a smart phones had given more power to consumers when it came to food origins, he said.
‘‘Story-telling is vital. People eat their values, what is important to them.’’
He said consumers wanted to hear the truth, and ‘‘88 per cent’’ of them were more likely to trust recommendations from other consumers.
Less important was what a food retailer might say, Lee said.
‘‘Chefs used to be rock stars, but they say they are just cooking what farmers and producers provide. The farmer and producers are becoming the rock stars now.’’
He said the US produced 19 per cent of the world’s beef, with most cattle finished in feedlots receiving testosterone and oestrogen implants.
Lee said consumers did not want to give hormone-grown beef or chicken to their children.
He said people want the ‘‘digital camp fire’’ when people were hunter/gatherer and could trust their food.
Lee said word travelled fast because of digital technology.
‘‘People want truth and they want real farms, not industrial agriculture.’’
He said a truck crash in the US put skittles (lollies) all over the road, and when the truck driver was asked where he was going, it was to a farm.
‘‘What causes distrust is skittles being fed to cattle. I doubt that has ever happened in New Zealand.’’
‘‘In New Zealand, your mundane, everyday farming for most of the rest of the world, is profound.’’
He said the story behind freerange beef and lamb in New Zealand was exactly what consumers wanted.
‘‘Something you are used to seeing everyday is something special. And when you see it all the time, you don’t see how special it is.’’
Lee said New Zealand farmers needed to tell their story.