Oral History Feature | Renee Boughman

Renee Boughman is the executive chef of F.A.R.M. Cafe in Boone, NC. A restaurant where community is on the menu. We asked her what makes F.A.R.M. so special, "F.A.R.M. stands for ‘Feed All Regardless of Means,’ and F.A.R.M. Café is a community café, with the goal of feeding people in a restaurant setting where they can enjoy a meal with dignity regardless of their economic status in society. For people with less means who are struggling, it’s that normalizing factor, that they get to come in, sit down, have a meal with everybody else, and they’re not stigmatized. We’re all the same, you know, we just don’t realize it until we reach out and start talking to each other.

There is a communal piece of cooking together. If you’re making the soups, someone else is making the entree, someone else is making the dessert, you’re all doing it at the same time, and there is an energy, like in any work, there can be a physical almost like an adrenaline rush that’s happening when it’s all clicking and it’s all coming together right, and the meals’ the way you want it to be."

Order takeout from F.A.R.M. Cafe today farmcafe.org

@farm.cafe.boone

You can read her full interview here: https://www.blowingrockmuseum.org/farmforagefeast

Photo Title: Farm Means Family
Photo by Ashely Warren @naturalcraftphoto