This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Small nuggets of pleasure anchored in our terroir and postcard landscapes, the rural and farm tables take us out of our daily lives, mark out the route of our holidays and bring us back to our roots. Each year, there are more of them across the province, more creative, more inspiring and more unusual. So, let’s discover these models that reinvent the joy of eating out in the countryside.
By definition, a country or farm table is a restaurant on the farm, with meals concocted “from the field to the plate”. In recent years, it has taken different forms. We are sometimes received there by the last generation of a farming family, sometimes by people who have chosen to return to the land or to venture into the void, in order to live in harmony with their values.
This colorful succession, which mixes genres and formats, is fascinating to follow. She made us discover tasting menus, producer weddings, ephemeral culinary events with chefs or artisans, luxury lunches. Just think of the Bika farm of the market gardener Fisun Ercan, the country picnics at the Cabane next door, the large epicurean tables organized at La Ferme des Quatre-Temps, or even the Festin in the field of the Fromagerie des Grondines. These few examples prove that country gastronomy can be rethought, dusted off, defolklorized. And this great wind of freshness has only just begun.
Les Cocagnes, or event agrotourism
Let’s take the direction of Frelighsburg, in the Eastern Townships. In the heart of this landscape formed by green hills dotted with orchards, very close to one of the most beautiful villages in Quebec, a surprising project was born in 2020: Les Cocagnes.
“Les Cocagnes is a collective and agro-ecological farm created in response to the speculation of agricultural land and the obsolescence of agricultural laws. It helps young farmers get established,” explains Stéphanie Hinton, founder and manager of this initiative.
The 40 acres of Cocagnes now house, at a low price, two small agricultural businesses: Les Siffleux (diversified market gardening) and Le Rizen (production and processing of Asian vegetables), which has just won the Laurier for Producer of the Year 2023 The NPO is also supporting four other start-ups, including an orchard and a maple project.
However, for this new agricultural model to be viable in the long term, it must focus on agrotourism. “We thought of several formulas, to finally come up with that of guest chefs, says Stéphanie. And it worked! We convinced them to get out of their kitchen and work with products from our farm. »
“Worked” is an understatement, since for this first summer of rural dining, Les Cocagnes brought together… 19 chefs! Between June 17 and September 24, for 15 weekends, gourmets will be able to enjoy a five-course menu concocted by well-known faces such as Marie-Fleur St-Pierre (Tapeo and Mesón in Montreal, and Jardin du Bedeau in Kamouraska) and Joe Thottungal (Thali and Coconut Lagoon, in Ottawa), as well as talents to watch like Francis Moreau (Sardines in Quebec) and Xavier Larivière (Flowers and Gifts, in Montreal).
“As we only receive 20 guests at a time, these are intimate, warm and authentic experiences,” says the director. Plus a dream setting, since the pergola where you eat faces a pond on one side and fields on the other. When we see the happiness that people feel to connect with our farm and our products, our project makes sense. »
Maison de Soma: exploratory agro-gastronomy
Let’s change scenery and head to Mont-Tremblant, a major tourist center in the Laurentians. Or rather about ten minutes away in a quieter rural area. In this place, on a huge virgin land of 600 acres, two former advertising and marketing professionals, Edith Foliot and Didier Lortie, founded the Maison de Soma in 2020.
“Since we met, we dreamed of living and raising our children in the countryside, surrounded by chickens and fields”, says Edith, before Didier adds: “After years in advertising promoting companies with values very different from mine, I wanted to invest my creativity in a different way, on land. »
Even if he took a leap of faith by embarking on this great adventure, the couple did not do things by halves. Didier went to seek training as an agronomist, which convinced him even more of the importance of carrying out quality and local organic farming.
As for Edith, she refined the business model of the Maison de Soma, based on exploratory agrotourism and gastronomy. There are already fields and greenhouses on site with 60 types of vegetables and 125 cultivars of all kinds, about ten hives, 500 young apple trees, laying hens and grain-fed chickens, a laboratory for culinary experiments, a bar, a shop. “We also plan this year to plant 6,000 berry bushes (haskap, elderberry, blackcurrant, currant, etc.) to develop cider and to launch a farm table”, explains Edith.
Why so many varieties? “Because we have the luxury of producing in a logic of gourmet discoveries, and not of baskets to be provided each week. We can therefore give free rein to our culinary imagination”, says Didier, passionate about Japanese and Mexican cuisine, as well as lactofermentation.
1er July, the farm will officially open its doors with a first gourmet offer, from Wednesday to Sunday during the day, in the form of lunch boxes that can be enjoyed on shaded picnic tables in a field of wild flowers, or well inside, in the bar. “According to our production, the boxes will contain pickled vegetables, cold soups, homemade smoked cheese, Japanese-style cabbage pancakes, smoked chicken bao, apple butter fritters, and more,” promises the couple, who will also offer a fine list of natural wines, farm ciders and microbrewed beers to accompany the meal. An original concept to discover!
Other innovative concepts
This content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.