Great cooking relies on great growing

The fostering of a close working relationship between top chefs and farmers has been a key feature in the development of American fine dining, according to the chefs speaking at the festival.

Chefs such as Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Charlie Trotter have vegetables grown to their own detailed specifications by farmers such as Lee Jones of the Chef's Garden on his family farm in Huron, Ohio.

Jones grows 800 different varieties of vegetables and herbs on his farm using organic, labour-intensive and sustainable practices. He has a further 500 types under research and development, including some old varieties brought to him by his customers that would probably not be grown commercially otherwise.

Speaking during a discussion on produce, he explained: "We'll harvest our produce at whatever point the chefs want - things have a different quality and taste at different stages of their growth - and then courier it direct to them. We don't have a middle-man."

The method ensures ingredients are fresh and have unique quality that transfers to the plate, Keller agreed. He said: "Farmer Jones has input from 80 or 90 chefs - each chef gets to see what everybody else is doing and it just adds to the availability and diversity of produce on offer. There isn't any competition between chefs to get something someone else hasn't got. The process is much more collaborative."

He added: "The biggest fear in America is of produce becoming more mainstream and losing its integrity. So that always makes you search for the next new thing."

Keller is one of 17 American chefs who sit on an advisory board of the Culinary Vegetable Institute (CVI), which was set up by Jones in Ohio to further education and research into vegetable varieties and sustainable methods of growing produce. The CVI has a state-of-the-art kitchen at which visiting chefs can test new produce.