Caterer is no flash in the pan

Portland chef Rob Leon provides locally grown, organic meals year-round

By Jo Ostgarden

LocalNewsDaily.com, Aug 8, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Sustainability has much to do with taking care of our farms and our livestock in a respectable manner, and understanding the interrelationship of the plants, animals and natural forces on the farm. These types of relationships also occur in everyday life.

Sustainability also is about understanding the importance of our community and the ability to share in the process of supporting each other in our lives and our businesses. In restaurant kitchens and with catering, we all rely on each other to get the job done, and in my mind there is not one job or position that is more important than another.

Even as the chef and owner of Phresh, I see my success as a collaborative effort. I work with people; they don’t work for me. Phresh is just one link in the chain, so to speak. Appreciating and supporting the relationship between the food, the people who farm it, those that prepare and serve it, and those that enjoy it is part of what will help maintain a sustainable community as well.

Tribune: Do you foresee a day when you’re in the majority (as an organic, sustainable foods caterer) rather than a minority?

Leon: Absolutely. I don’t believe the ideas of organic and naturally raised products are at all a fad. If anything, these practices have been around longer than the chemicals and additives being used in modern farming and ranching today. If people demand organic, responsibly raised foods, the market and price structure will fall in line.