Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Edwin Rimular
Professor Ludwig
English 101H
4 December 2017
both components are paramount for success. The New York chef owns Blue Hill, a restaurant
that prides itself on fresh organic ingredients. The restaurant differentiates itself from others with
the way it obtains its ingredients. Barber also owns Blue Hill Farm, the organic farm that
provides the restaurant with daily ingredients. Because of this, customers of Barbers restaurant
are not given a menu. Their meals depends on the type of produce picked that particular day. The
meals served also depend on the season, as Blue Hill rotates its crops throughout the year to
enrich its soil. Barbers goal is to serve customers with flavorful entres while at the same time
producing organic food to maintain the health of the environment. In his novel The Third Plate:
Field Notes on the Future of Food, Barber documents his visits around the world, gaining
knowledge from other farmers on how to raise flavorful food through ecological farming. Barber
does a sufficient job of informing the audience on ecological agriculture, but does not clarify
Barber is a passionate chef who cares about the minute details of his food. He strives to
find ways to make his ingredients taste better. His curiosity has led him to visit farmers from
both the U.S. and Europe, wanting to learn from certain farmers about how to raise livestock and
Rimular 2!
produce for flavor. By gaining this knowledge, Barber hopes to create a meal for the future, or
the third plate. Barber believes that humans have become so accustomed to protein-centric
meals that people do not appreciate the less noticeable ingredients. He hopes to be the chef to
change these norms by using environmentally friendly food. By the year 2050, the chef hopes
that the third plate will be a steak dinner with inverse proportions. Barber envisions, a carrot
steak dominating the plate, while beef is served as a small compliment to the vegetable (18).
The book is divided into four sections to separate the different places that Barber has
explored. The first part, Soil, guides the audience through Barbers experience with Klaas
Martens, a fellow organic farmer. He learns from Klaas that agriculture is about chemistry. Crop
rotation is crucial for soil because different plants provide different nutrients for the farm. Barber
learns that ecological farming is beneficial for both the environment and flavor.
The second part, Land, is set in Spain. Barber introduces the audience to Eduardo
Sousa, a geese farmer. Conventional goose farmers produce goose liver by force feeding the
birds. Eduardo takes an odd but more ethical approach to raising geese for their liver. He allows
the geese to roam freely in his land, claiming, were not raising geese they raise
themselves (194). Barber realizes from this visit that conventional farming is taking the flavor
Barber learns about aquaculture in Sea, the third part. He visits Spanish seafood chef
ngel Len, who is known for cooking fish thought to be subpar. After tasting his cooking,
Barber realizes that even low quality fish have the potential to taste equally as great as others.
Rimular 3!
The last part of the novel, Seed, focuses on the growing process of crops. Barber visits
Washington State University to learn how to breed vegetables for greater flavor. Breeder Glenn
Roberts explains to him that chemical fertilizers used by farmers are leaving crops with,
questionable nutrition and zero flavor (364). This visit strengthens Barbers against chemical
farming, proving his point that organic farming creates more flavorful and healthier food.
The Third Plate serves as an informative text about ecological agriculture through the
anecdotes of chef Dan Barber. What Barber does well is that he introduces a problem but does
not explicitly explain how to solve it. He lets the farmers and chefs of the book explain their
methods of farming or cooking, which not only establishes ethos but lets the reader understand
why a certain method is better from a credible individual. For example, in part two Land, he
lets Sousa fully explain his raising techniques, allowing the audience to learn as if they were
actually there at that moment in time. Barber does a sufficient job of proving that organic
farming benefits flavor and the environment by sharing these experiences. I also admire how at
the end of each part, Barber goes back to Blue Hill to implement what he has learned from his
visits back into his own kitchen. His passion to make his own cooking better shows that he really
is trying to shift American culture in order to reach the third plate. Another component of the
novel that was creative was how Barber created, A Menu for 2050, which is essentially a list of
meals containing concepts he has learned from the people he visited. For example, the menu
Barber did a nice job getting his point across, but could have done a better job letting the
audience know how expensive organic farming can be. Blue Hill is a high end restaurant; the
average American would not be able to afford its food on a regular basis. Barber believes that the
Rimular 4!
third plate can be reached in the future, but his goal will not be met any time soon if he does not
make his food regularly available for the middle-class. Influencing people is what shifts culture.
American culture will not be shifted until Barbers makes his third plate meals cheaper.
Ecological farming is important in creating delicious food without sacrificing the health
of the environment. In The Third Plate, chef Dan Barber shares his personal experiences with
natural farmers to convey this idea. Barber does a substantial job informing his audience by
using anecdotes. His claim in shifting the culture is faulty due to the price of his envisioned food.
Nonetheless, his passion as a chef may allow him to reach his ultimate goal. Maybe somewhere
in the future may Americans view Barbers third plate as the backbone for restaurant entres.
Rimular 5!
Works Cited
Barber, Dan. The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food. Abacus, 2014.