Chef JJ Johnson visits Jones Valley Teaching Farm in Birmingham, Alabama, and meets with student interns ahead of the annual Twilight Supper.
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[MUSIC] I feel like I should have been doing this
in my life. Like somebody should be doing this where
I'm from. To see a 16, 16? 17. Sorry. 17
year old young lady care about the food we're putting
in our body and knowing the way the food has
been fertilized and grown and when it's ready means that
We have a lot of work to do. [MUSIC] Twilight
supper for Jones Valley teaching farm is the biggest food
event of the year in Birmingham. This is a big
fund raiser It's an honor to have chef J.J. Johnson
down here for Food and Wine and for Jones Valley
Teaching Farm. J.J.'s star is on the rise. They just
opened up a restaurant in Manhattan. They've got another one
on the way this fall. It was important to think
about having a national chef of J.J.'s caliber come down
to Birmingham. Break bread with the students, harvest vegetables from
the farm and it's important that we're sharing good leadership,
it's important that we're sharing mentorship because that's a part
of the Joan Valley experience. This is Joan's valley teaching
farm, this is a two acre farm. How many iinterns
are here? Interns? It's about six or seven of us
right now. They grow their food, they harvested it, they
sell it to the community. It's more of. Actual knowledge,
this grows,we don't want it to grow, this is why
it grows, this is how it grows,and then they can
come out and apply certain skills they've learned to that
and actually you see them grow and develop. [UNKNOWN] that
red okra? Yeah. [LAUGH] We have our okra growing- In
New York, I ask always for red okra, and by
the time when the okra turns red, that's like the
best [UNKNOWN] Right. [LAUGH] These are sweet potato leaves, right?
Yeah, those are sweet potato leave, and- I'm doing a
tuna tartar tomorrow on these sweet potato leaves. [UNKNOWN] squash
is a delicate crop. Even when you scratch you fingernails
against this, it can easily scratch- What would you do
with this? How would you cook this? I would saut��
it, most likely. I would chop it up in slices
and Season it well. When you go through cutlinary school,
you're just taught cook, right? You're not really taught where
is product coming from? You're 10, 20 steps ahead of
some of my peers. My peer would get this squash
and they'd be like, ". It's just heirloom." Right? They
wouldn't be noticing, " my God this skin is so
delicate." Like you know those facts, because you work with
it, and your knowledge is very key to the chef.
I would utilize you for what I should be cooking
in the kitchen, because you are going to make me
better as a farmer. This is not just about bringing
a chef in. It's not just about this one big
dinner. It's really about the power of good food in
a community. What do we got here today? So this
is the okra from the farm which I think is
really crazy rifght. There was no other way for me
not to come here and use your okra. I think
I make the vest okra fries. Don't tell my grandmother
that OK. I own't tell my grandma. If I was
going to start my farm, I'm coming here and I'm
asking one of you to come running. That's what I'm
doing. Definitely proud to be out here, definitely proud to
be a part of my community in a bigger way.
It's just an experience that, it's just life changing. And
to think, like I would have never thought that I
would be this farm girl that I am now, and
I love it. What'd you think about the farm? It's
unbelievable. Yeah. She's schooling me on food. And that moment
made me say, did I get enough education when I
went to culinary school, or before? That's the thing, it's
like, when we started cooking with the students six years
ago. It's like, yeah, we can lend our culinary expertise,
and we can teach them some skills, and teach their
parents some skills. And that first night, the first dinner
we all cooked together, they turned the tables, and we
started learning more from them. This curriculum matters. Funding this
farm matters. And the work that's being done on this
farm, that's growing our future leaders in Birmingham. Being a
part of this, thinking about my future and how it
could benefit me. I can teach my kids how to
grow and I can carry on this, what I know
about farming. And to my children, they can pass it
down to their children. It was really good, just to
be a part of a establishment that feels like home.
It feels welcoming, it feels healthy, and it feels right.
[MUSIC]