FARMER Carol Maddick

"No antibiotics and they can run around outside free-range — I think you can taste the difference..."

FARMER Kevin Mellor

"Big stores sell you flavorless tomatoes because they are picked a month before they get ripe and sit in trucks for the rest of the time...we harvest things when they are ripe and that makes all the difference..."

FOOD HISTORY
As the first Europeans arrived, Kansas became know as the great American desert. Today it is known as America's breadbasket.

SEASONALITY
Tomatoes are at their best in August.

LOCAL FLAVOR
Kansas City is known for beef, but Campo Lindo eggs and chickens are some of the best found anywhere.

FOOD FACTS
Hens like to lay an egg a day.

VOCABULARY
CUMIN: also called cumino, this spice dates back to the Old Testament. Shaped like a caraway seed, cumin is the dried fruit of a plant in the parsley family.

TEMPURA: a Japanese specialty of batter-dipped, deep-fried pieces of fish and vegetables.

JULIENNE: food that has been cut into thin, matchstick strips.

CHEF Chefs Debbie Gold & Michael Smith This husband and wife team is Kansas City's best cooking duo. They say the wide variety of local ingredients in their region makes their work easy. They named the restaurant "40 Sardines" because Debbie bet Michael he couldn't eat more than 20 sardines in one sitting...he ate 40.

DISH 1
Campo Lindo Chicken Breast with Farm Vegetable Salad and Sour Cherries
RECIPE (pdf) >>

"Knowing where food comes from makes the meal more special..." (Debbie Gold)

DISH 2
Summer Farm Vegetable Stew with Poached Egg & Zucchini Flowers
RECIPE (pdf) >>

"When you support local people, restaurants, farmers, bookstores — that's how we will all survive..." (Michael Smith)