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Spreading the Gospel of Fresh Food, Good Health at the Duke Farmer's Market

Famers Market Chef

Chef Cate Smith talks about food with a customer at the Duke Farmer's Market

The tabletop in front of Cate Smith was covered in little plastic cups featuring radishes three-ways: roasted, pickled and smashed in guacamole.

Smith, the executive chef at Duke Integrative Medicine's cafe, was Friday's guest chef at the Duke Farmer's Market outside of the Searle Center. Around her, dozens of people palmed over the fresh produce, baked goods and dairy products while picking up culinary advice and conversing with local farmers.

"Food is such an important part of our lives," Smith said. "[I like] to be able to share how simple it is, how easy it is, to introduce people to things that maybe they wouldn't have tried before (like radishes) and encourage them to live a healthier life."

She's one of a handful of guest chefs who appear at the weekly market to demonstrate creating tasty dishes from nutritious produce.

Hurrying through the market on his way to a meeting, six-year Duke Farmer's Market attendee Eric Lipp explained why he's passionate about the farmer's market.

"My kids love it, my family loves it, my wife loves it," Lipp said.

Lipp, a clinical research coordinator at Duke's Brain Tumor Center, also participates in Duke's Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program that allows him to pick up $20 worth of produce from a truck at the Duke Gardens every Tuesday.

Lipp said the market offers new ways to get his two girls eating healthy.

"They enjoy making the kale chips, they're new this year," Lipp said. "The zucchini and the squash, they grill it ... and they love the strawberries. When the heirloom tomatoes start coming out I make gazpacho from it. My kids love to eat it now. "

Louisiana native Kathy Jeter has been coming to Duke Farmer's Market since she moved to Durham with her young son in 2011. Her son said he enjoyed the farmer's market, presumably because of the purple LocoPop that was dripping down his chin.

"I like eating lunch here and looking around at everything," said Kathy Jeter, "especially the fresh produce. Love it. It's just fun to get out and walk around and see the local farmers and look at their produce and just talk to them."

Guest chef Smith came to North Carolina from Virginia seven and a half years ago. She had been working at a healthy restaurant in Lynchburg, NC, when the idea of working at Duke had first been brought to her attention.

"They (the team from Integrative Medicine) came and tried my food, they fell in love; I fell in love with integrative medicine, and here I am," she said.

Five years after the Integrative Medicine Center opened in November 2006, Smith received a call inviting her to do demonstrations at the market.

She participated in three demonstrations that year using foods like blueberries, peppers and smoothies. It has been three years since her first demonstration and Smith is still as amped as ever about local produce and creating delicious new recipes to add to her repertoire.

"It's just a great way to share what we do with people," said Smith.

farmers market

Roasted radishes served by Cate Smith at the Duke Farmers Market. Photo by Leah Montgomery.

Guest chefs presenting at the market are allowed to choose whatever featured item they wish, and Smith chose to feature radishes on Friday.

"It's different every day, even when I'm cooking," said Smith. "The universe gives you all of this to play with; every season is different so it's pretty awesome."

Smith said she got her black and watermelon radishes from Brinkley Farm at the Durham Farmer's Market while the French radishes were grown right here on Duke's campus in a small bed outside of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center.

Aside from menu development, nutritional analysis, consulting clients about their health needs and prepping the meals to be served at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center, Smith also meets with local farmers once a week to see what can be added to the menu.

Sometimes she even drives out to the farms herself to pick out produce, "whatever it takes to get the food out there."

The Duke Farmers Market is held every Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. near the Searle Center and the Greenway, Friday. There is also a farmers market at Duke Regional Hospital, Tuesdays from 3-6 p.m. at the employee entrance and Fridays from 12-4 p.m. at the Cancer Center entrance.

Leah Montgomery is a rising senior at N.C. Central University who is an intern this summer at the Duke Office of News and Communication.