Food Artisans and Farmers Speak Out For a Food Hero
Colleen Cruze – Cruze Farm
Talk about Cruze Dairy Farm in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Chef Fleer smiles. “Colleen is a second-generation farmer that believes in what the family has done for the last twenty years and wants to take the tradition further. She’s not a hobby farmer who wants to grow pretty vegetables. How many twenty-year-olds want to do this?” And she does it with great flair, delivering and sampling the farm’s dairy products in gussied up farm girl garb while introducing the next generation of chefs to their buttermilk.
Fleer’s relationship with Earl and Cheri Cruze (Colleen’s parents) goes back to his early years at Blackberry Farm. “There is a buttermilk culture in this region. The Breakfast of Champions, if you are daring, is a bowl of cornbread and raw onions with buttermilk poured over it. The combination of buttermilk and mushy cornbread is delicious, ” he told us. Could this be regional hangover food? Fleer says it probably wouldn’t hurt.
Fleer uses Cruze’s buttermilk in almost everything and features it as much as possible. Known as the king of buttermilk by friends and other chefs, he told us, “They have great products and if you use the heck out of them on the menu, they continue to get bigger.” On our recent visit to Cruze Farm, Yuki (one of the Japanese interns working on the dairy farm), saw a picture of John Fleer on the computer and shouted “Buttermilk!” I guess that says it all.
“John was finding and using local ingredients before it was trendy,” Colleen told us. “He took an interest in us and made my mother deliver to Blackberry Farm. It was a long distance. He kept pushing my mom to keep making it and to bring it. He was able to get chefs and others to realize that our buttermilk is different than what you purchase in the grocery store. He has a huge commitment to our local products.”
Fleer’s commitment to farmers and artisans goes beyond using their products. He shared this story about Cruze Farm: “Cruze had 400 extra gallons of buttermilk they had overproduced. Colleen called and said she was headed to Charleston to sell some of it. I told her I would make some connections in Asheville with the chefs. The next day, I helped her deliver around town.” Colleen told us, “John is such a nice guy. I told my boyfriend that he reminds me of him. I hope that he will be that kind of husband and father one day.” (Colleen and her boyfriend are now engaged as of New Year’s Eve, 2012.)
The buttermilk craze has expanded far beyond Appalachia. Cruze Farm was recently featured in publications such as Garden & Gun, The New York Times, and Southern Living, to name a few.
Mark Guenther – Muddy Pond Sorghum Mill
“I found Muddy Pond Sorghum in the same place I first discovered Cruze’s buttermilk,” Fleer told us. “It was a Farmstand grocery store called the Horn of Plenty in Maryville. I didn’t grow up with the tradition of sorghum, but then you get a little tickler of something that’s important to the culture and you begin to find out how vast the story is. So few people do it the right and the old-fashioned way.”
In the mid-1990s, Mark and Sherry Guenther of Muddy Pond Sorghum noticed that sales had been increasing over a period of time. Then Mark received a call from Chef Fleer asking if Blackberry Farm could buy sorghum directly from him. “It opened the doors for us with a tremendous audience using our product,” he told us. “I didn’t realize the reputation and the connections of Blackberry Farm. Business exploded for us and then other places started to contact us and use our sorghum.” Fleer shared, “Mark and Sherry are smart folks. They made small replicas of their one-gallon jugs.” These are the small bottles that went home with visiting chefs and guests at Blackberry Farm.
The Guenther family and Muddy Pond Sorghum were awarded one of the most prestigious culinary honors in the United States, a Made in America: President’s America Treasures Award in July 2012.
Tom Michaels – Tennessee Truffles
Domestically grown black périgord truffles were all but unheard of in the United States until Tom Michaels of Tennessee Truffles in Chuckey, Tennessee planted his truffière. Tom had contacted Fleer at Blackberry Farm several times asking him to try his truffles, but Fleer had used other domestic truffles and was disappointed. He told Tom, “If they can’t get it right in Oregon, how can it possibly be done in Tennessee?” However, one day Tom asked to stop by and Fleer agreed. That was the winter of 2004.
Tom told us, “I was just a little old farmer trying to grow these darn things (a humble comment, given that he has a Ph.D. in plant pathology and did his dissertation on truffles and mushrooms). I really didn’t give much thinking to the culinary end of marketing them. I had two chefs using them in Knoxville at the time. My third sale was to John Fleer who I thought was thinking, ‘Oh yeah, he’s some hick or hayseed from the woods growing truffles,’ but then I went in with my containers.”
- Fleer recalls, “Tom showed up one day with his little Tupperware containers filled with rice and black truffles. He had a dozen or so and asked if he could open them and let us smell and taste them. He opened them up and I knew, that was a truffle.” Joseph Lenn, who trained with Fleer and is now executive chef of The Barn at Blackberry Farm, also recalls the moment. “When Tom opened the containers, the kitchen came to a standstill.” The pungent aroma of black truffles consumed the kitchen and there was no denying that this Tennessee farmer had produced black gold.
Michaels and Tennessee Truffles were honored with a Made in America: President’s America Treasures Award in July 2011.
Beautiful story…and beautifully written. It’s fantastic to read the stories about these unsung food heroes and how one person really is able to make a difference.
Hi Pamela,
Thank you for your comment. This piece took some time to put together, but it truly was a pleasure to write. I am glad you enjoyed reading it. John Fleer has touched many lives through his food and I wanted to share that story.
Gwen
Gwen, what a lovely article and tribute to so many of the best! Thanks for such a great read and “local” tour!
Hi Rebecca,
Thank you so much and yes, that was quite the tour through parts not too far from you!
Gwen
Incredibly captured. This is an outstanding leader in our part of Appalachia- A ‘great’ chef starts with the foundation of a ‘good’ man. We are so fortunate to have Chef John Fleer among us!
Hi Mike,
Thank you. It was quite the story to write. Yes, you are fortunate to have John in Asheville now and it has been our pleasure to know him since he opened Canyon Kitchen. I remember hearing that John Fleer had opened a restaurant in Cashiers and I couldn’t believe it. The first thing we did was head over there for dinner!
Gwen
I am and will always be standing on the shoulders of Chef John Fleer. While its hard to say who started this movement in the South, its safe to say John was a pioneer. Certainly one of the first chefs to start combing the mountainsides in search of the cure masters and grit grinders. I first met John when I was 19 or 20 years old. I’ll never forget that experience. It was one of those life changing moments, one of those moments of clarity where everything starts to make sense. John was the chef at Blackberry Farm and I was there to help Chef Bob Carter with his cooking demo. Bob, if you are reading this, thanks again for taking me! The first night we were there we sat in the dining room and had dinner. Before each course John would come out and tell a brief story about an ingredient that we were eating, like a wash day pea or an old variety of corn. He would come out and tell the story of the artisans, the farmers and the producers. I can remember how these stories and connections changed the way I enjoyed the food. That obviously stuck with me and I owe a lot to John. Reading this article makes me want to drive to Canyon Kitchen and experience his food again. And I believe I just might. I owe Chef Fleer a couple of glasses of whiskey. Great job Gwen for shining the light on the original gangster of appalachian cooking.
Hi Sean,
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment and to help with your perspective for the article. I think John has been an inspiration to almost everyone he has met. The culinary scene in Cashiers, NC has certainly been blessed to have him at Canyon Kitchen and it has been a pleasure getting to know him since he has been there.
Do you know that before I started the blog, I asked John if I could work with him at Canyon Kitchen the next season? He said that was a possibility, but I never pursued it since I started on a different path and began writing Bunkycooks. I wonder what life might look like now if I had gone to work with him in the kitchen instead.
If you head up to Cashiers, let us know and we will have a whiskey with you and John!
Cheers,
Gwen
We only have a handful of restaurants that promote and use local ingredients here in the Charleston, WV area, but I frequent them constantly. Bravo to you Chef Fleer!
Thank you, Brenda.
There are a number of great restaurants and even some smaller places that focus on local ingredients in this area. It is also very important to me when grocery shopping to purchase as much as possible from small local farmers. It is particularly important (for me) when buying meats to buy from a smaller local producer that has raised their animals and harvested them humanely.
Happy New Year to you!
Gwen
Gwen, Thank you so much for this written celebration of amazing, southern pioneers in food. With the inspiration that Chef Fleer and the above-mentioned individuals have evoked on the nation’s food community; and myself, it makes me so proud to call the south home. As we move into a new year, a new dawn in food is upon us. As we move ahead in this exciting year it gives us a chance to pay respect to all these amazing chefs and individuals who are truly making food the best way possible, the right way. We are on the precipice of an extraordinary time in our nation’s food community and we have these passionate people and chefs to thank! Kudos to you all and to Gwen for helping to share their drive, passion, and hard work. Stay Hungry!
Hi Kevin,
Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I agree, it is a great time to live in the South. There are many impressive things happening here and we have so many incredible chefs in this region. I am happy to be a small part of it and look forward to 2013 as the best is yet to come!
Happy New Year and we hope to see you soon!
Gwen
John Fleer has created the ability to share not only the food, but the cultural connectivity that stems from it. His legacy allows many of us from Southern Appalachia to take pride in our heritage and appreciate all it has to offer. Not only do I consider John a friend, more importantly, I consider him a mentor. He has the innate ability to conquer crowds not only with his cuisine, but his warm & wonderful personality as well! Well deserved kudos and appreciation not only of his insight, but the wisdom he brings to our craft!! And a sincere shout out to both Gwen & Roger Pratesi as they capture these moments and share with many who would otherwise not be astute to our cultural culinary heritage!!
Hi Denny,
Thank you for your comments. As you know, we have thoroughly enjoyed sharing these stories with others. I think it is important to take them beyond this region and hopefully, in the process, people have learned something new and have been inspired by the work of other individuals.
John Fleer has been a real inspiration to us and so many people and as I spoke to these artisans and farmers, it became the real story.
Looking forward to seeing you soon and best wishes in the New Year!
Gwen
Gwen, what a great article and revelation about the vibrant food culture, growing in Southern Appalachia.
My congratulations to chef John Fleer for his sensibility and appreciation from whence true food comes from and the artisans that produce it in Southern Appalachia. As chefs we have empty hands without the right products. If we are blessed with the gift and sensibility to appreciate and understand the products that nature has gifted to us, then as chefs, we have the responsibility to respect them and exalt them and the artisans that make them.
With best wishes,
Lidia Bastianich
Hi Lidia,
I appreciate your thoughtful comments. While we have always enjoyed the foods in this region, it was not until we started traveling to visit these chefs, artisans, and farmers that we came to realize just how much heart and soul is behind so many of the dishes we enjoy. It has given us a whole new perspective on life, these people, and the foods we choose to eat.
I hope that by sharing these stories, it causes others to become more interested in the real story and for them to gain an appreciation and understanding of all the hard work and commitment of these artisans, farmer, and chefs who put incredible food on our table.
Wishing you a Happy and Healthy New Year!
Gwen
Always inspired by what you write Gwen! I’ve been honored to be included in some of your food stories and very proud to call you a friend. This is at the top though! Like Sean said, it’s cool to read about one of the OG’s in Southern food! Just awesome Gwen! Big love from KY!!!
Hi Anthony,
Thank you so much. I was excited to put this piece together to feature John Fleer. Once intended to be a different story, as you know, a more compelling story emerged.
We always enjoy working and spending time with you and feel privileged to have you as our friend. We look forward to getting together again in 2013! I know it will be a great year for you.
Feliz Año Nuevo!
Gwen
Great story! John Fleer hired me at Blackberry Farm almost nine years ago, and transformed me from a “west coast” chef, as he called me to an adopted Southerner, teaching me the glories of buttermilk and sorghum, while introducing me to new friends, like Colleen, and chefs from around the world. Thanks, Gwen!
Hi Maggie,
Thank you for commenting. What a great experience to be able to work with Chef Fleer while he was still at Blackberry Farm and to be introduced to the wonders of buttermilk and sorghum! I see that you are still there as the Pastry Chef, so I guess the South has captured your heart, as it is easy to do.
Best wishes for a Happy New Year!
Gwen
Great article!
Thank you, Cassidee. Happy New Year!
Gwen
Gwen – amazing article!
As a native of Appalachia (WV), I have always had a love for local food and traditional Appalachian ingredients, and living in Asheville I have the opportunity to work with some of the best farms and producers our country has to offer.
Chef John Fleer has been leading these traditional Southern efforts here in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina for years.
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to visit Allan Benton with John, and was educated about his desire to bring the best of our regional ingredients to the top of the culinary rankings. He has always taken these ingredients and made them effortlessly shine on the plate.
John – thanks for all you do to support local farms and artisan producers, you truly lead by example.
Hi William,
Thank you for your comment. I know that you have also made a commitment to to use local producers in your region at The Market Place and we have enjoyed your dishes as well with beautiful ingredients.
Asheville is just getting better and better with the great chefs you have in town and I know having John Fleer in the group will elevate the culinary scene in the city even more.
Happy New Year to you and we look forward to seeing you in 2013!
Gwen
Hi Gwen
What a heart warming story! Beautifully written and accompanied by Roger’s professional photos, it was a pleasure to read.
Having been to Blackberry Farm, Canyon Kitchen and meeting John with you this past summer I found the back story fascinating. I knew he was a special chef but did not know the extent to which he influenced so many important Southern farmers and other well respected chefs.
As they say it is always nice to know the rest of the story.
Anne
Hi Anne,
Thank you so much for your comment. It was a pleasure to share more of the story of John Fleer and the people that he has worked with and inspired over the years. I think it gives all of us who enjoy his work a greater appreciation for the dishes he creates and the man behind them.
Happy New Year and we look forward to seeing you at Canyon Kitchen next year!
Gwen
Hey Gwen,
YES! John Fleer is a national treasure… he is the founding member of a very exclusive cadre of American chefs able to cook a multi-course meal in which every ingredient owes its existence to, or is inspired by, his culinary vision and sense of place. John’s transcendent vision required courage when he moved away from prevailing food fashions early in his career to make his own way. Today, John leads all of us as we strive to recover the classic Southern larder and pantry.
On a personal note, John’s ability to scale barn timbers to the rafters effortlessly after preparing a smashing pop-up field dinner all the while holding forth on the obscure and compelling back road influences on modern cuisine to an audience of 200 rapt fans seems impossible, but I’ve been in that audience… and John did this one handed to be able to sip a delicious beverage with the other.
John Fleer’s presence seems to trump the idea of original thinking with regard to food. Simply an amazing chef and an even more amazing person.
Great show Gwen. Thank you.
Glenn Roberts, Anson Mills
Hi Glenn,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments. I was very happy to write this article and share with others a little bit more about what John Fleer has contributed over his years while being a great chef at both Blackberry Farm and Canyon Kitchen.
While his cooking has inspired me, so has the heart of this man. I learned so much while intending to write a different article.
I hope to have the opportunity to see him scale the barn timbers at an event in the future! That would certainly be a memorable moment!
Gwen
Gwen,
I’m admittedly biased on all fronts; however, I discovered new information about John and all of the artisans when I read your beautifully written article. How well I remember the first night Tom visited the cottage kitchen at Blackberry with an old Russo’s seafood container full of his freshly harvested truffles. As Joseph said, the kitchen stopped. All heads turned. And what a reception the chefs give Tom the minute he steps into the kitchen door. John Fleer was instrumental in sharing the news of the local bounty with his chef friends. In his subtle, professional manner, John quietly goes about his business and passion for serving up the finest provender of local artisans with his own special panache. He is definitely one of the true treasures of the Smoky Mountains. We thank him from the bottom of our hearts for his inspiration, enthusiasm, and continued friendship. Again, thank you, Gwen, for an article about John. THE TIME….HAD COME.
Hi Vicki,
Thank you for your comments.
I love hearing the story about the evening Tom went to Blackberry Farm for the first time. We heard John tell it when we first interviewed him and then Tom shared the story. Joseph Lenn also talked about that moment when we interviewed him. Tom’s truffles are truly an American Treasure and we are so happy that he won the Made in America Award two years ago.
I would not have had the pleasure of knowing you or Tom without John suggesting that we visit the man in Tennessee who was growing black périgord truffles, so I thank him for that introduction. He has made so many connections for farmers and artisans in this region and his reach goes far beyond the South; the number of lives he has touched is very impressive.
I hope we meet again soon.
Gwen
I’m a transplanted southerner in Japan, and often missing true Southern food. I feel that I’m missing out on a wonderful time for the culinary arts in the South right now. I’ll be home this next summer, and will just have to spend some time investigating (i.e. eating!)! 🙂
Thanks for the article. I’ve had the pleasure of both meeting John, and sampling his cooking.
You really had ought to make it up to the blue ridge around Blowing Rock and Banner Elk in the Northwest part of North Carolina. There are all kinds of great restaurants promoting local ingredients of Appalachia just as Chef John Fleer does. We even have a Relais & Chateaux resort whose cuisine is on par with the best.
Thank you for bringing this beautiful article to my attention. As you know, I am a Fleer fan having met him and shared many plates at Blackberry Farm on visits, 13 to be exact from 1999-2007. He was the pioneer of “Foothills Cuisine”, and did introduce my husband and I to Allan Benton back then. My husbands former wife is also named Allan Benton, and with our named being Benton, after many visits he would tell people we were distant relatives. Though I have not made it to NC to enjoy Fleers cuisine, I did meet up with him at a dinner in Allan Benton’s honor at the Grove Park Inn with Denny Trantham. With that, I found, Anson Mills, Muddy Pond, the Cruze family, and many other artisans due to Fleers way of bringing them to the forefront and his inspired dishes using their products. We enjoyed so many meals with Fleer standing by orally reciting the history of what was on our plates. Fleer has touched so many lives by being blessed with the gift of understanding food culture and staying true to his roots. An usung hero!
Gwen:
Kudos. I had known the name of Chef John Fleer before I had the opportunity to cook with him at the Seven Fires Dinner in Highlands, but did not have a full understanding of his contribution to the culinary world. As I researched the man, I came to realize that he embodied many of the ideals I had already begun to cultivate in my own mind as a budding culinarian. I am now blessed to work for John at Canyon Kitchen with MY mentor, friend, and kindred spirit Chef De Cuisine Mitch Sheppard, and wherever life may take me in the future I will forever be grateful for the experience. John has an amazing passion and a deeply philosophical nature which speaks to, and inspires people and I thank you for so eloquently highlighting the contributions and nature of Chef Fleer. Cheers to Chefs Fleer and Sheppard for the most comfortable work environment I have ever experienced; you make it easy.