The Big River Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance (BREADA) hosted its first annual Eat Local Week to celebrate the organization’s 28th anniversary and showcase local farmers. 
BREADA is known for operating the Red Stick Farmers Market, a local food hotspot for Baton Rouge residents. Determining whether the food on the dinner table is local has been a major concern for many Louisianians, especially with the increase of processed foods hitting the grocery shelves.
Eat Local Week ran from Nov. 2 to Nov. 8 and partnered local farmers with local restaurants, with each restaurant serving an exclusive dish including ingredients provided by the farmers. It also included information on where everything came from.
Participating restaurants included Eliza Restaurant and Bar, Gail’s Fine Ice Cream, The Gregory, The Overpass Merchant and Rocca Pizzeria. BREADA’s executive Darlene Adams Rowland said the goal was for local farmers and chefs to make meaningful connections. 

“We are grateful to our restaurants for showcasing the bounty of Louisiana agriculture during Eat Local Week,” Rowland said.

The 28th Red Stick Farmers Market Anniversary celebration took place on Nov. 2 in downtown Baton Rouge to kick off Eat Local Week. Guests had the opportunity to get satsuma mimosa’s from City Pork and enjoy food made by gourmet chef, Celeste Gill. 

Allie Schleter, BREADA’s community engagement director, said Eat Local Week will encourage the use of local products, rather than getting vegetables, meats and other foods from wholesale companies that ship them from thousands of miles away when producers are here in Louisiana. Through this initiative and the anniversary market, Schleter said they were spreading awareness of how eating local food benefits individual health, the environment and the economy. 

“Being aware of where your food comes from is something that I think is so important,” Schleter said. 

Schleter said Nov. 2 was one of the busiest days the market has ever had. Other than food demos and sales, there were activities for the little ones, like coloring a card to give to a farmer. One of Schleter’s coworkers went around the event in a corn costume to push the fact that BREADA is a nonprofit organization that relies on grant funding and individual donations. BREADA also provided the vendors with brunch to show gratitude for everything they do. 

“Without them, our markets wouldn’t exist,” Schleter said. “They are the ones who keep it going and they do a lot of hard work.” 

BREADA was founded in November 1996, and the first Red Stick Farmers Market was hosted in the parking lot of the Government building on St. Louis St. Since then, BREADA has been doing more than hosting markets, but advocating for food policy changes, providing economic opportunities for farmers, offering nutrition incentives to encourage healthy eating and so much more.

The “BR” in BREADA stands for Big River, representing the farmers and vendors that come from 14 parishes across South Louisiana. 

Through public markets, BREADA’s goal is to bring the community together to form connections that can be utilized in the future, such as these farmer-restaurant relationships. It brings in shoppers of all ages looking for an array of different items including seafood from Anna Marie Seafood, fresh hibiscus from Lena Farms or seasonal fruits and vegetables from Fekete Farms.  

Roccas Pizzeria, located at 3897 Government St., got involved with Eat Local Week to help push its cause of using local ingredients. Front of house manager Andrew Burgess has been working at the restaurant on and off for the past four years. He has seen the chefs at Roccas prioritize locally sourced ingredients. He said it is sometimes a hard task with its frequent ordering basis, but by building a close relationship with farmers they have been including as much local goods as they can. 

“Rocca’s ability to maintain using local ingredients and things like that have been enticing to us all,” Burgess said. 

After its inaugural year, Burgess hopes that other restaurants see the importance in Eat Local Week’s initiative by joining in on future events or by simply reaching out to vendors partnered with BREADA. Every chef has their own ideas of what they can do with these local products and Burgess said it would be nice to see how the cross utilization can go even further. 

“Really just see how creative Baton Rouge can get with these amazing products that they offer at the farmer’s market,” Burgess said. 

Some of the fruits and vegetables you find in your dish might be from Fekete Farms, one of BREADA’s recurring vendors. The farm is located in the heart of Hungarian Settlement, Louisiana with around 25 acres producing crops, everything done by hand labor. Frank Fekete has been farming since he was 16 years old and graduated from Louisiana State University with a vocational agriculture degree. Now, Fekete and his farm supports self-sustainable farms and local education programs. 

“A lot of people now want to know where their food comes from,” Fekete said. “Local has better taste and it’s going to have more nutrients.” 
Fekete Farms is not the only vendor present at the Red Stick Farmers market, dozens of other local producers attend. For more information on BREADA, their vendors and the Red Stick Farmers Market, you can visit their website.