For such an abundant, beautiful region, the East End suffers from a whole bunch of disconnect when it comes to food, drink, farming, fishing, culture, and the way those things are appreciated by both visitors and locals — and when those things are appreciated. But now, a burgeoning new crew of bi-forkal tastemakers are aiming to change palates and minds.
On Wednesday, June 24, the first official presentation and panel discussion of Savor East End was presented at Stony Brook University’s Southampton campus in the Duke Lecture Hall to an eager group of like-minded makers and shakers from both forks. Panelists included chef Tom Schaudel, Peter Stein of Peeko Oysters, New York Times columnist Florence Fabricant, Peter Trieber of Treiber Farm, Eddie Moan of Southampton Inn, Elise Herget of the Watermill Center and Long Island Wine Country president Kristen Curcie.
Moderated by Wölffer Estate Vineyard’s winemaker and partner Roman Roth, the morning kicked off with a presentation and Q&A about the newly formed organization, which is taking aim at a few issues plaguing East End growers and makers across multiple platforms that attract local and tourism interest: food, drink, farming, fishing, arts and culture.
“Come summer’s end, everyone drops likes flies right when we have the greatest oysters, wine and art to be seen – there’s lots to be done,” Roth said to the room of like-minded attendees from myriad businesses around the North and South forks. “This consortium is about combining the things that attract people here, and the key is not this fork or that fork; it’s the East End.”
The gist of Savor East End is to put forth a platform that presents the region as just that — a region, and one in which all of its many wonderful assets go hand in hand, all year round, and finding ways to support each other in a ‘rising tide floats all boats’ movement.
“The main thing for all of us that we keep bringing up is working together. We are all independent as business operators working to promote our independent businesses. The concept here is to bring us all together and amplify that and get the message further and not just in the summertime, but in other seasons,” said restauranteur Jesse Matsuoka.
Indeed, one of the many issues SEE is looking to tackle is altering the seasonality of the region, and finding ways to promote the notion that activities here are not sequestered to one-season. “Too many times people talk about the off-season and we’re really trying to change that mind set,” Matsuoka continued. “It’s a savor season!”
How to change that, as well as cementing the concept on the East End of “what grows together, goes together” — a continuously frustrating disconnect between locally grown, farmed and fished products and the beverages made here that naturally pair well with all of them — was a large, and sometimes fiery, part of the discussion. Panelists included
Fabricant in particular was impassioned on the topic — after all, it’s how her writing career began. Fifty years ago, Fabricant — whose new book Salty Not Sweet: A Life in the Food World hits bookstores in October — started noticing the cellophane wrapped mounds of anemic iceberg lettuce and sad pink-hued, barely ripe tomatoes “with the texture of tennis balls” in her local East Hampton supermarket and pitched a column she dubbed “In Season” to then East Hampton Star editor Everett Rattray, as a way to get locals to, well, buy local. It was so revelatory and well-received, within six months she had a column in the New York Times, reflecting the awakening connection occurring in places like Oakland where in 1971, Alice Waters opened the revelatory farm-to-table restaurant, Chez Panisse.
“What I was doing before it had a name was farm to table. That was my mantra. It’s what I was promoting, week after week, month after month, year after year,” she quipped. “What about the branzino shipped from abroad that people keep buying when fluke and weakfish and striped bass are here for the taking? It’s a scandal. It doesn’t compute in my view and that’s why I’m still at it – I think there are things that can be done.”
There are, of course, a multitude of issues to discuss and work on, but the new organization seems up to the task. Savor East End has already collected around 100 partners across both forks and has applied for 501c3 status, created a recognizable logo, has formed a steering committee headed by Roth and which includes local palate power brokers like Matsuoka, Valerie Mnuchin of Léon on Shelter Island, Rory and Graine McEvoy of Kidd Squid, Angelica Miceli of Discover Long Island, Kelly Piccinnini of Montauk’s Clam Bar and Sag Harbor’s Corner Bar, Amy Kirwin of Guild Hall and others.
“We’re all experiencing the same thing,” said Curcie, “but we need to do this together, and create the collaboration, connection and partnership.”
To learn more about Savor East End membership and events, click here.
