It is estimated that meals travel an average of 1500 miles to get from the farm to the average American’s plate.  To combat this wasteful use of resources transporting products, the locally sourced food movement is gaining momentum across the country and the Kentucky Commonwealth.  In order to qualify as locally sourced food, generally it is not transported over 100 miles. With the growing trends toward resource conservation, reduced CO2 emissions and increased nutritional value of fresh farm products, Farm to Table meals are gaining in popularity.  They serve as a positive exemplar of how procuring local is the sustainable solution to food security.  June 15, 2018  marked once such event on the grassy front lawn of the Hart County Courthouse in historic Munfordville.  

Working cooperatively with a diverse group of community leaders including leadership of the Hart County Cattleman’s Association, Kentucky State University’s (KSU) mobile Nutrition Kitchen provided the base of operations for the multicourse meal that was prepared on site.  A thirty foot enclosed trailer equipped with a full complement of commercial grade appliances, the “Thorobred” kitchen, so named after the mascot of the Frankfort based land grant college from which it emanates, was pivotal in the success of the day.  Products used in the preparation of kabobs came from minority and a KSU small farms grant recipient while one of the main courses, baked heritage breed half chickens, were from a producer trained in the KSU Mobile Processing Unit.  The ten rack convection oven was used to prepare the fifty pounds of oven roasted potatoes and thirty-six pans of delectable side dishes.  

During the meal, the ensuing program comprised of selected speakers educated the 250 attendees that enjoyed the beautiful summer evening beneath mature shade while sipping sweet tea from the commemoratively printed mason jars.  KSU Community Outreach Coordinator Mason Crawford was among the keynote guests and shared of the historically black college/university’s (HBCU) commitment to increasing food accessibility and improving nutrition.   The Hart County Cattleman Association president commented “having access to the food trailer made this event so much more manageable and contributed greatly to our overall success.  We look forward to working with KSU next year.”  The potential impact of involvement in farm to table meals like Hart County’s is increased consumption of locally grown farm products. This results in better nutritional opportunities for families and increased market exposure for small farmers. 100 or less can become the new 1500 when it describes miles used for meal transportation.