Guests sat at long tables inside the Strite’s Orchard marketplace surrounded by pastoral scenes of fruit trees and fresh produce growing in the fields. The family-style meal showed off the seasonal flavors of PA’s local produce paired with local meats, cheeses, beer and wine.

“I like people to know where food coming from. It just tastes better. This is what a tomato should taste like. This is what beef should taste like,” commented Chef Jason Viscount, the Executive Chef at Bricco. He was charged with creating a custom menu for the event and the dinner did not disappoint.  Scroll down to watch the video.

Andrew Bockis with Saul Ewing was one of the guests who praised the food. He said, “The benefit of the local connection is that the food is so much fresher, and it’s coming back to the roots of a great community.”

Some of the menu highlights included the Sugar Hill Farm smoked brisket, a caponata made from fresh Strite’s produce, and dessert was a
Caputo Brothers Ricotta cake drizzled with PA blueberry wine. Each course was paired with wine from Waltz Vineyards and an array of scratch beers from Tröegs Brewery.

Louise Sukle’s hope for the event was that guests would leave with a better appreciation of where their food came from: “I hope guests will make a connection with their food that it doesn’t come in cellophane and that there are passionate people working hard, and that it also involves our health.”

We met breast cancer survivor Christiana Rau at the event. She turned to the American Cancer Society during her journey with cancer and now is giving back to others by being on the Farm to Table Committee. She said, “I hope people leave with a lasting impression of what it means to give back. Knowing we’re helping cancer patients, we are helping to really fight back.”

This second annual Farm to Table Dinner raised funds for cancer research and crucial support for cancer patients through the American Cancer Society. But a portion of the money earned will go directly to the Hope Lodge in Hershey which is a “home away from home” for cancer patients and their caregivers during treatment.

Do you share a common philosophy about how we eat and in a larger sense, and a passion to create a world with less cancer? Were you at the event? Please share your thoughts in a comment below.