Regions: South / Southwest

We last visited beautiful Bells Bend Farms in 2013, so we’re setting the table twice this year to make up for lost time. Eric and Tyler’s 40-acre farm is so close to Nashville you can almost hear the sound of banjos streaming out of honky tonks — but the abundant rows of fresh flowers and vegetables surrounded by lush woods makes it feel like a countryside oasis. Bells Bend is part of a community project to preserve the rural landscape of Davidson County and maintain its thriving foodshed. Farmer Eric has been there since the beginning, volunteering to build a deer fence around the farm in its infancy back in 2008. We’ll hear more from him and wife Tyler on the farm tour before we settle into our early autumn meal in their fields.

Our community table events create a unique platform to celebrate the local talent of an area and truly tell the story of a place. For this event, we’ll transform a bustling Oxford street into a communal table that showcases local handicraft alongside the city’s hottest culinary talent, inviting an opportunity to dine alongside makers who can speak to how their work has been influenced by the area. In the street kitchen, we are thrilled to welcome chef John Currence of City Grocery—a celebrated Oxford landmark for more than 30 years. John first moved to Oxford from New Orleans in 1992 and has since opened some of the most celebrated restaurants in the city while picking up a host of culinary accolades including a James Beard award for Best Chef: South. He’ll be joined by an all-star team of chefs, including City Grocery’s head chef Nic Swogger and pastry chef Austin Agent, alongside past and present members of City Grocery hospitality group. Chef Vishwesh Bhatt is the Executive Chef of Snackbar and a fellow recipient of the lauded Best Chef: South award. Tyler Edwards is an Oxford native who worked with Vishwesh at Snackbar before taking the reins at Elsewhere Brewing in Atlanta. And Greg Peters is the culinary mastermind behind celebrated Houston steakhouse Georgia James. They’ll put their talents together to craft a fabulous Fall feast sourced from local farms via Oxford Community Market—and Betsy Chapman, the market’s director, will be at the table to tell us all about her important work connecting small-scale farmers to the Oxford community. This is one for the books!

We always get a warm welcome here. Since our first visit to Bartlett Farm in 2014, Farmer John and his Mom, Nancy, have become like family. We usually come to NOLA on OITF’s Winter Tour. This will be our first visit in the fall, and we expect it to be a glorious season in the Big Easy! When it comes to great chefs, New Orleans offers an embarrassment of riches. We’ve had some great ones cross the long causeway to Lake Pontchartrain to come out in the field with us, and this event is no exception. Guest Chef Michael Stoltzfus of Coquette will join us in the field kitchen to cook up a beautiful feast comprised of Bartlett Farm’s rich fall harvest and the area’s Gulf Coast seafood.

Not too long ago, this South Dallas neighborhood was a food desert. Now it’s home to several urban gardens, a food market, café and coffee house — plus a 40-acre farm that supplies the local community with fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, milk, honey and eggs. Host farmer Daron Babcock built this place from scratch with a goal of increasing food security, economic stability, health and wellness for his neighbors in need. Guest chefs Tiffany Derry and Tom Foley run Roots Southern Table and Roots Chicken Shak, two beloved Dallas restaurants rooted in Southern flavors and food traditions. Among their delicious offerings is Tiffany’s famous duck-fat fried chicken. Perhaps she’ll fry some up for us alongside our meal featuring Bonton’s bounty of autumn vegetables and herbs.