Foodie Fridays: Mariano's Breaks Ground At Bright Farms And Meet The Host Of 'Try This Dish' - Sean Young

Contributed By: Desiree Sanders

Nestled in the quaint town of Rochelle, Illinois, (population 9600) will be the home of the “Farm of the Future” – Bright Farms.

Bright Farms, in partnership with Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc. (Mariano’s), will be building a 160,000. square foot state-of-the-art greenhouse farm that will be one of the most sustainable sources of baby greens and tomatoes in Illinois, and among one of the most productive salad green farms in the world.  

Upon arrival, guests were treated to refreshing infused waters and fresh squeezed juices. Paramount Events provided delicious passed breakfast  appetizers.  Attendees included the Mayor of Rochelle, Illinois, representatives from national elected offices including: Governor Bruce Rauner and U. S Senators Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk, as well as local officials.

Bright Farms is providing a cutting-edge scalable solution to America’s increasing demand for local and sustainable food. Their greenhouses will use 80 percent less water, 90 percent less land, and 95 percent less shipping fuel than conventional produce companies, and on average 64 percent less energy to grow its products than the items on supermarket shelves.  All produce will be pesticide-free.

Bob Mariano, CEO and Chairman of Roundy’s, says that, “Bright Farms is a model for the future of food and we look forward to exemplifying, together with them, what the future should look like.”

Because of its unique ability to provide sustainable, local produce at a profitable, commercial scale, Bright Farms is recognized as a thought leader in the local food movement.

Together with strategic partners such as Roundy’s, Bright Farms is improving the landscape of modern farming and providing permanent "green" collar jobs to improve the environmental impact of the local food supply chain.

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Try This Dish has taken over the national radio airwaves! Each week Sean C. Young (aka AAR SEANTO) co-hosts the program with Darie O'Connor, (Darie's Daily Dish). Sean and Darie give their international audience a look into the world of food, travel, gardening, and DIY kitchen tips. "We interview some of the biggest chef's, food bloggers, and travel news experts in the industry so you have an insider's view of what's going on in today's food industry." Young says.

Sean is actually not a chef - he's just an ordinary guy that loves to cook! His love for cooking was so strong that he wanted to show people that cooking can be easy if you just learn some simple techniques and try new things in the kitchen. 

As a media professional whose work involves dealing with the political arena,  he uses cooking as away to take a break from the political discourse in the country.  Sean's decision to marry earlier this year also made him realize that he needed to make some changes on how he was eating.  He started experimenting with new dishes, and that one change sparked the web series and led to the Try This Dish radio show being born.

Sean (whose mother made sure that he learned how to cook) believes that cooking can be categorized as a basic need that everyone should know how to do.

"I think a lot of the problems with obesity in our society is because people don't know how to cook well or don't know how to cook at all - we have to change that!"

You can catch Sean and Darie weekly. Try This Dish Radio is currently running on KGTK, KKITZ, KSBN, & KBNP in WA & Portland or every weekend you can download the show here: http://trythisdish.podomatic.com/.  

You can also visit the website at irfnews.com, on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/c/indyradio , and Twitter at https://twitter.com/BlackChefWebTv.


Photo credits:  Bright Farms photos courtesy of Desiree Sanders for C-Style Magazine
                           Sean Young photo courtesy of Sean C. Young