Imagine a meal that kicks off with a soup of puréed Iowa sweet corn with caramelized onions, pico de gallo, and chicharrón (fried pork rinds).
Served next is a buffalo-style pig tail, followed by a pork wrap with Asian pear kimchee and scallion purée on butter lettuce. Slow-braised pork shank with a ragout of beets, carrots, potatoes, and squash makes up the main course, and cheesecake topped with candied bacon brings the feast to a finish.
Sounds adventurous yet intriguing, right? That’s exactly the type of menu that Sarah Willis coordinates for the Niman Ranch Hog Farmers Appreciation Dinner held each August in Des Moines. The event honors the 500-plus independent pig farmers who supply Niman Ranch, a company that processes and distributes all-natural pork, beef, and lamb across the country.
Chefs come to Iowa to celebrate pig farmers
At the 15th Annual Hog Farmer Appreciation Dinner on Aug. 17 at the Embassy Suites in Des Moines, seven renowned chefs with a passion for humanely and sustainably raised pork will prepare a meal in honor of the Niman Ranch Pork Company farmers who employ such methods.
This year’s chefs include David Bull of Congress in Austin, Texas; Anne Quatrano of Bacchanalia in Atlanta; Jack Riebel of Butcher & the Boar in Minneapolis; Jodie Rogers and Clark Norris of Deer Valley Resort in Deer Valley, Utah; Kevin Sbraga of Sbraga in Philadelphia; and Alex Yellan of Pok Pok in Brooklyn, N.Y. Each chef prepares up to two dishes that reflect their culinary perspective.
“Our farmers take pride in raising hogs traditionally but often do not get to see how chefs use the pork on their menus, so we bring the restaurants to them,” explains Paul Willis, founder and manager of the Niman Ranch Pork Company and 1966 University of Iowa graduate.
Unfortunately for most of us, attendance is by invitation only.
Willis is a sustainable agriculture and family-farming advocate for Niman Ranch, and one of her chief responsibilities is organizing the annual dinner, now in its 15th year. She invites some of the nation’s top chefs to collaborate on a multicourse meal for the farmers, with each chef contributing a dish or two using Niman Ranch pork.
“The dinner is like a family reunion for the farmers, who might otherwise not see each other for a long time,” says Willis, who earned an art degree from the UI in 1992 and now resides in Clear Lake, Iowa. “They also get a chance to see and taste how chefs prepare their product.”
In addition to thanking the farmers for their efforts, the celebration has another aim: to foster a connection between premier chefs and family farms that are raising pigs naturally—outdoors on pasture or deeply bedded pens, and without the use of antibiotics, growth hormones, or gestation crates. The day before the dinner, the chefs are bused 100 miles north of the state’s capital to Thornton, Iowa, where they tour the company’s original free-range pig farm. (The farm happens to be the property where Willis grew up and where she now assists her father, Paul, a 1966 Iowa graduate.)
Willis says the farm tour is one of the chefs’ most anticipated events on their Iowa itinerary.
“They appreciate seeing how the pigs are raised, and because these chefs have influence over other chefs, it’s important for us to get them thinking about where their ingredients are coming from,” she says. “Before we send them back, we treat them to a traditional hog roast.”
Though she revered her rural upbringing, Willis hadn’t planned on pursuing farm work. She came to Iowa to study art and worked at several art galleries in Minnesota after graduation. It was during a 1990s stint as a flight attendant for a Minneapolis-based airline that offered charter services to sports teams that her interest in food and food production was ignited.
“A huge part of my job at the airline was catering meals in accordance with the teams’ tastes, so I connected with restaurants across the country and really enjoyed working with different chefs,” she says.
A longing to return to her Iowa roots took hold, however, and she moved back with her young daughter. She helped on the family farm and volunteered as an advocate for Niman Ranch for 10 years before accepting a paid position with the company in 2007. She says her job is a perfect fit for her background and her passions.
“I have long been fascinated by farmers in the field and chefs in the kitchen, and I realized while volunteering that this was the work I wanted to do,” says Willis, who travels nationwide to restaurants and retail venues to promote the Niman Ranch brand and coordinate product sampling for consumers. In May, she was invited to present at the Google campus in Seattle as part of the Internet giant’s participation in Food Revolution Day, an initiative started by TV chef Jamie Oliver to promote healthy eating.
“I love feeling like I am part of a really positive company doing really positive things,” she says, noting that Niman Ranch recently established a scholarship program for rural students who want to study sustainable and environmental farming practices. “There is a disconnect between the majority of people and their food source—even in Iowa. Farmers make up less than 2 percent of the population. We want to open up opportunities for farmers, reverse urban migration, and get a more thriving rural landscape.”
Although promoting the family farm and orchestrating a large celebration meal for hundreds of farmers and their guests may seem a far cry from expressing oneself through art, Willis insists otherwise.
“There’s definitely a connection between art and farming—both require that you use your hands to create something from raw materials,” says Willis, who treasures her time at Iowa and still paints in her free time. “My education has had an impact on my perspective and on my values. The things I learned have enriched my life, and that will last forever.”