Fresh is best. I promise.

Published 8:00 am Friday, July 6, 2018

When I was growing up near Whitehouse, my parents had a large vegetable garden. My brother and I were called on to help plant seeds, keep the weeds and grass out (a never-ending and thankless job) and to harvest the crop. There always was something ready to be picked.

The garden produced many different vegetables: potatoes, squash, tomatoes, all kinds of beans and peas, okra, corn, onions, watermelon and, my favorite, cantaloupe.

I hated picking squash. They were itchy and you had to get in the dirt to make sure you got all of them. On the other hand, I loved picking corn. The stalks were higher than my head and provided shade. It took just a few minutes to get a basket full of corn.

In the summer, dinner typically consisted of four vegetables and fried chicken or four vegetables and meatloaf. Mother would give me a big plastic bucket and tell me what to go pick. The same vegetables that I picked or dug from the ground would be what we ate for dinner a few hours later.

It was the ultimate fresh-from-the-garden lifestyle. We were not trying to be trendy or to eat especially healthy. It was simply the way we lived. It was the easiest way to stretch a food dollar. My mother was an expert at turning all that fresh produce into delicious meals.

Nothing went to waste. We couldn’t eat it all the food the garden produced, so Mother would either freeze it, can it or share it with our friends and neighbors who in turn shared with us what was coming out of their own gardens.

It wasn’t until many years later that I realized how fortunate I was having grown up eating fresh food.

That is why I was so excited to interview three executive chefs at Tyler area restaurants who live by the motto that fresh is best and insist on whenever possible serving locallysourced food to their patrons.

Inside this edition of Lifestyles Magazine, you will learn more about Thomas Mattson of Roast Social Kitchen, Robinson Bravo of the Restaurant at Kiepersol and Ricardo Garnica of Cork Food & Drink. They have different backgrounds and approaches to making great meals but all share the same passion of serving the best — and freshest — food possible.

There is no excuse not to eat fresh fruits and vegetables. Many grocery stores make it a practice to sell produce from local suppliers. There are countless farmers markets and pop-up roadside stands in the area that sell just-picked produce. 

Thanks to that bountiful garden years ago and the great food my mom always put on the table, I still love vegetables.

Fresh is best. I promise. If you don’t believe me ask our featured executive chefs.