There’s not much cell service at McCabe Ranch in Old Snowmass — just sweeping views of the Elk Mountains and sprawling lands for cattle grazing.
Here, in a historical building that looks like an airplane hangar, hay covers the floor; birds nest and chirp overhead.
But come Friday night, the sounds of clinking glasses and dinner conversation will fill the space for an event that aims to connect people with each other and with the food on their plates.
“I really believe that what we are serving is not just food,” said Chef Mattia Agazzi, of Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura in Beverly Hills, is the guest chef at the helm for this particular dinner in Old Snowmass.
Agazzi hails from Italy, where he grew up surrounded by stories and history. Now, he uses cooking as his own method of storytelling to teach diners about the source of their meal.
“I want to ensure people understand that we are serving like hours and weeks and months of waiting,” Agazzi said in a Zoom interview.
His goal is to show off the “artwork” of produce that farmers provide, and his method is focused on simplicity: Follow the seasons, and let the produce speak for itself.
But he also sees the role that setting can play in a dining experience.
“You're enjoying your food in the middle of the nature and the green again, so you feel even more involved in all of this experience,” Agazzi said.
“Outstanding in the Field” founder Jim Denevan sees that too.
Denevan and his team produce “Outstanding in the Field” dinners all over the country, in vineyards, on beaches and at farms and ranches like McCabe.
He says there is purpose to the design of an event, but also a wildness in the proximity to nature that helps flavor the meal.
“Much of cooking and fine wine is perceiving the sort of ineffableness that comes with a meal and that extends the conversation at the table and maybe the potential for a little bit of a deeper experience,” Denevan said over Zoom.
Part of that experience is education: Denevan seeks out chefs like Agazzi who are passionate about the sustainability of their food, and ingredients are sourced from local producers.
This week’s dinner in Old Snowmass, for instance, features produce from Two Roots Farm in Emma, located just 10 miles down the road from McCabe Ranch.
Two Roots is a small operation, with about half a dozen full-time staff, a few part-timers, and a rather protective dog.
Harper Kaufman, the farm’s owner, said the practices here are centered on soil health, which means no herbicides or pesticides, minimum tillage and rotating the crops.
“I think it means everything for the flavor of the food,” Kaufman said in an interview on the farm. “Just like we are what we eat, the plants are what they eat from the soil that they grow in.”
And, like Denevan and Agazzi, she sees the role that surroundings can play in telling a bigger story about a meal.
“I think it's an opportunity to get people to think about the story of their food and to take a moment to be in a setting that has the sights and the sounds that bring to mind agriculture, and start putting more thought into the fact that every meal they've had is a form of agriculture,” Kaufman said. “They’re supporting a method of farming one way or another, every time you eat.”
Kaufman appreciates that this kind of slow-placed, out-in-nature dinner is part of a bonanza weekend at the Food and Wine Classic, but she also sees opportunities for even more connection between the festival and local farms.
“I'm so glad that it's part of it, and I wish it were a bigger part because I feel that great food can go hand in hand with local food,” Kaufman said.
Farm manager Ben Shaw agrees, and says he wishes visiting chefs would spend more time in town connecting with local farmers.
“Maybe we should be asking ourselves more often, what the story is of what's on our plate?” Shaw said in an interview on the farm. “I think a lot of times in this modern world that we live in, we take where our food comes for granted, … and thinking more about how we can reduce that distance from where it's grown to where it ends up on the plate is incredibly important, not only for the health of our local community, but for the environment as a whole.”
The “Outstanding in the Field” dinner at McCabe Ranch is sold out, but you can find more information about other dinners at outstanding in the field DOT com.
And Two Roots Farm offers a farm stand on Fridays from June to October.
