The first time I visited Urban Oasis Hydroponic Farm was about a month ago, right at the tail end of a tiring and grueling semester at culinary school. The class load had been light, but the "real life" load hadn't. The air was warm and already feeling like the first hints of summer. In Florida, it seems, we only have two seasons: summer or fall, maybe a week of winter occasionally. It was that unusual time of year when the nights are cold and the days are hot. Just a few more hours and it would be the weekend. My mind was thinking about other things, most certainly not a farm.
My classmates and I were going to the farm as part of a field trip for one of my culinary classes. The last one, technically. I am wrapping up my time at The Art Institute of Tampa and this was the final class in which I would be cooking in a lab setting. The instructor was Chef Paul Kennedy and the class was called "Art Culinare'," which focused on the finer points of executing presentation and the study of great chefs. We also discussed the value of insisting on fresh, quality ingredients. Each week, Chef Kennedy reminded us of these ideas as they were reflected in the theories of chefs such as Alice Waters, Charlie Trotter, and Thomas Keller, just to name a few. The theme was evident in each discussion, lecture, and suggestion the chef made to us.
This article appears in Apr 22-28, 2009.