Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The farm networks with the local fishmonger. On Father's Day, for a set
fee to the public, the farm provides breakfast and then the guests go 'line'
fishing off the local wrecks on a boat. They are provided with lunch on board.
Back at the farm they have afternoon tea followed by fish preparation of the
caught fish and a cooking demonstration from the fisherman chef. The day
finishes with a three-course fish meal and wine.
The Farm as a Classroom
What could be a better classroom than the farm. More and more schools are
linking with local farmers to develop an outdoor classroom where children
can be taught firsthand about food, geography, language development,
maths and other subjects.
Erica Croce and Giovanni Perri in their book
Food and Wine Tourism
18
recommend that gastronomic activities for children need to be developed
remembering that children have a short attention span. They suggest:
•
Manual activities, such as painting a pumpkin or making a cake;
•
Ask the children questions to get them engaged;
•
Keep the language you use at the level of the child;
•
Use measuring devices, such as spoons, that children can use;
•
Provide a simple map of the farm;
•
Have paper and crayons at the ready as they are always useful;
•
Use all the child's senses whenever possible;
•
Keep the facility safe;
•
Make sure they have a take-home gift and praise the children.
Always work closely with the relevant school teacher when developing
the classroom on the farm. The big opportunity is to take the children out
into the fields and let them experience an outdoor classroom as well as an
indoor facility.
Polyface Farms in Swoope, Virginia (
www.polyfacefarms.com
) have
linked with schools and developed 'Grass Stain' school tours. They now
have over
60
school tours a year to the farm.
Cooking or Culinary Schools on the Farm
One of the biggest drivers to gain loyalty is consumer engagement and
one of the best ways of engaging the culinary tourist must be with cooking
schools.
Cooking schools and classes as a vacation are a growing tourist trend. It
may be a cooking school in Italy to make pasta, to Japan to make sushi, on a
cruise liner with a celebrity chef or at a local farm.
There is a lot of confusion around what the name should be for this
type of activity; publicity promotes Culinary Schools, Cooking School and
Cooking Classes.
