Mary Poehnelt and 3 other Whole Foods chefs with their own claims to culinary fame served the meal buffet-style.
WHATELY — Mary Poehnelt, the fresh-faced 27-year-old from Belchertown who placed second on this season’s “Hell’s Kitchen” TV competition, was among the chefs when Whole Foods sponsored a gourmet “Farm Dinner” Saturday evening in Whately to promote local food production and raise awareness of the food needs of low-income people. Poehnelt is a butcher at Whole Foods.
The feast, attended by about 115 diners, was a collaboration among Whole Foods, Enterprise Farm in Whately, and CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture), whose programs include distributing local produce to low-income elders in three counties and helping local farmers in times of disaster.
“This event represents the overlapping of all our missions,” said Philip Korman, director of CISA, referring to the Farm Dinner. Enterprise is one of 200 local farms that belong to CISA, and Whole Foods in Hadley has been buying organic produce from Enterprise Farm for more than two decades.
Tickets to the Farm Dinner were $60 to $150, with proceeds going to CISA and Enterprise Farm programs that promote access to locally grown food. For example, Enterprise Farm has a “Mobile Market” bus that visits Springfield three days a week to make fresh, organic produce available to underserved populations.
Guests at the Farm Dinner were seated at round tables under a giant tent and treated to a cornucopia of gourmet dishes made from local foods. Poehnelt and three other Whole Foods chefs with their own claims to culinary fame served the meal buffet-style.
Among the choices were grilled corn from Warner Farm in Sunderland, a slaw made of beet, mint and fennel from Enterprise Farm, and marinated swordfish from Gloucester with summer squash, zucchini and peppers from Enterprise. The beer was brewed in Greenfield and the wine was made in Florence.
Flatbread was topped with garlicky chard, carmelized onions and chef Julie Garren’s award-winning arugula pesto. The other chefs were Sarah Kanabay and Joan Eckert.
Poehnelt served beef grilled with ginger and onions in a Korean style called Bulgogi. Her husband, Tom, is part Korean.
Tom Poehnelt is the reason Mary, a California native, is living in the area. They moved here in 2012 so he could pursue a doctorate in English literature at the University of Massachusetts. The couple married in 2010.
Previously Mary Poehnelt had food-related jobs in California and New York. She had barely begun working at Whole Foods when she learned that she had been accepted to compete in “Hell’s Kitchen.” As a result, the folks at Whole Foods didn’t really get to know her until she got back from the show, she said.
The show was filmed last summer, and contestants had to keep the results secret for months, until the finale aired this month. Mary Poehnelt was not even allowed to communicate with her husband during the filming. “He’s been really supportive all through this,” she said.
The best part of the experience for her was working with chef Gordon Ramsay. “He’s awesome,” she said. “I respect him.”
Poehnelt has been “crazy busy” since the show aired. She flew in from Las Vegas Friday night, and the next day was turning meat on the grill at the Farm Dinner.
The event was also made possible with the support of the People’s Pint in Greenfield, Mineral Hills Winery in Florence, Pineland Farms in Maine, Spindrift soda in Charlestown, Maple Valley Creamery in Hadley and Northampton Rental.
The blueberries on a giant cake came from Kosinski Farm in Hadley.