As an invited guest of this event, I am sharing my experience. This is not a compensated post.
What happens when I get an invitation to an event that includes food and farming? I RSVP with the quickness, of course. If you’ve been a reader of my blog, then you already know that I am slightly obsessed with farming and where our food comes from, and how that whole process works. I’ve been blessed to have been able to visit farms all over Missouri, as well as in Illinois, Florida, California, and even Hawaii, and these trips have given me an inside look at food. I’ve gotten to see the process from start to finish, and it’s given me an appreciation for farmers and what they do.
I’ve worked with Midwest Dairy in the past and was all types of excited when I was invited to their Midwest Dairy Bringing Dairy to Life dinner at Moulin. The soiree was touted as a “farm-to-fork dinner” and an opportunity to chat with dairy farmers and local chefs, and would include Midwest cheeses and Missouri wines.
Who can say no to that?
I brought along Will Dawson of Dawson Eats America to be my plus-one for the evening, and when we arrived, the event was already in full swing. After getting our badges and being led to a cocktail room with wine and cheese, we mixed and mingled and got to know some of the other attendees of the festivities. My girl Janice was in the house, too, and we got to chit-chatting it up like we always do. She wrote about her Midwest Dairy Bringing Dairy to Life experience HERE. You can also read her thoughts about National Farmers Day.
Cheese, please
We were given a tutorial of the wine and cheese pairings selected for the evening, and I was in my element. I am a true cheese-head through and through, so when I say the offerings were up my alley, I was all smiles. The cheeses featured milk from dairy farms right here in my home-state.
After the wine and cheese experience, we were escorted to another room where dinner would be served, and it was indeed a sight to behold. The organizers of the dinner paid a lot of attention to detail, and I felt like we were eating in a rustic environment in the middle of a farm. These touches made the dinner even more fantastic.
Chefs have it
The first course was an appetizer created by Chef Trevor Ploeger of Eleven Eleven Mississippi. The dish was an Artichoke Parmesan Custard over roasted tomato puree with toasted focaccia and basil pesto, and was super creamy and savory and delightful to my palette. Missouri farm Sheer’s Dairy Farm provided the dairy for this recipe, and I ate every bite.
The second course featured a Beef Chateaubrand with artichokes, asparagus, Gruyere potato pave and creme de champignon prepared by Chef Paris Dinkelmann of Vin de Set.
For dessert, we noshed on Palet breton with seasonal fruit, created by Chef Rob Lagerlof of Prairie Farms Dairy.
Farmers are people, too
To conclude the evening, we were given a nice gift to take home (cheese board!) and a subscription to Half & Half Magazine which is a beautiful publication to behold. I look forward to receiving more issues.
The dinner and its accompanied festivities reminded me of the importance of dairy farms to our everyday lives, and how so much of what we eat comes from milk. Dairy can be a healthy item for our diets—butter, cheese, milk, and other dairy items when used in moderation can be good for us!
For more information, check out the Midwest Dairy website HERE and learn more about what they do and how they support farmers in the region.
Special thanks to Megan, Amy, and Samantha for the Midwest Dairy Bringing Dairy to Life invite!
Looks like this was a good time. You always get to do some incredible things. Good job!