SUSTAINABILITY
“Integrating local food into our menu can be challenging since we live in a region with such a short growing season. But over the years we have developed a close relationship with Plumas County farmers and do what we can to create a menu with as local and fresh ingredients as possible,” said Holly Callahan, owner of Pangaea Café & Pub. “Often times when we’re catering an event, I’ll call up Gary Romano from Sierra Valley Farms or Manuel Boehmer from Dawn Gardens and chat about what is available to shape our catering menu to incorporate what they are offering."
Local farmers have also called Pangaea when they have a surplus that they need to move, and even if it’s not a regular ingredient in their repertoire, Pangaea will work to incorporate it into a dish. "It takes a community to raise and sustain a local business, therefore Pangaea returns the belief and supports other local businesses," Holly commented.
Having enough supply to keep up Pangaea’s demand has also proven to be challenging at times. For instance, Pangaea goes through 50 pounds of carrots each week, and many weeks, it’s simply not possible to get that many carrots from Plumas County farms. For one catering event, Pangaea needed dozens of pounds of baby carrots and ended up calling nearly every farmer they could think of to have enough carrots for the event. In the end, both Skip Hansen and Sierra Valley Farm pulled some carrots a little early to fulfill the order.
Some of the local food Pangaea supports includes: radishes, blackberries, carrots, potatoes, collard greens, chard, kale, mustard, dandelions, spring mix, chives, basil and tomatoes.
Pangaea also changes the ingredients used in its restaurant menu according to what seasonal produce is available. For example, they use sun dried tomatoes when fresh, local tomatoes are not being harvested locally.
One farm that Pangaea does support year-round is Thompson Valley Ranch (TVR). Pangaea makes their burgers by hand using ground beef from TVR. They also purchase roasts for roast beef and nicer cuts of beef for their weekly specials from TVR. In letting nothing go to waste, Pangaea also uses the bones to make beef stock.
In addition to using as much local produce and meats as possible, we also compost our table scraps and prep scraps and give them to local people who have a farm or chickens to feed!
We hope that you appreciate and support our practices of supporting local farmers and families!
Local farmers have also called Pangaea when they have a surplus that they need to move, and even if it’s not a regular ingredient in their repertoire, Pangaea will work to incorporate it into a dish. "It takes a community to raise and sustain a local business, therefore Pangaea returns the belief and supports other local businesses," Holly commented.
Having enough supply to keep up Pangaea’s demand has also proven to be challenging at times. For instance, Pangaea goes through 50 pounds of carrots each week, and many weeks, it’s simply not possible to get that many carrots from Plumas County farms. For one catering event, Pangaea needed dozens of pounds of baby carrots and ended up calling nearly every farmer they could think of to have enough carrots for the event. In the end, both Skip Hansen and Sierra Valley Farm pulled some carrots a little early to fulfill the order.
Some of the local food Pangaea supports includes: radishes, blackberries, carrots, potatoes, collard greens, chard, kale, mustard, dandelions, spring mix, chives, basil and tomatoes.
Pangaea also changes the ingredients used in its restaurant menu according to what seasonal produce is available. For example, they use sun dried tomatoes when fresh, local tomatoes are not being harvested locally.
One farm that Pangaea does support year-round is Thompson Valley Ranch (TVR). Pangaea makes their burgers by hand using ground beef from TVR. They also purchase roasts for roast beef and nicer cuts of beef for their weekly specials from TVR. In letting nothing go to waste, Pangaea also uses the bones to make beef stock.
In addition to using as much local produce and meats as possible, we also compost our table scraps and prep scraps and give them to local people who have a farm or chickens to feed!
We hope that you appreciate and support our practices of supporting local farmers and families!
