Lox Farms' Fresh Rx Dinner Series Is a Luxurious Farm-to-Table Experience

You won't need to sacrifice luxury to get an authentic farm-to-table experience at Loxahatchee's Lox Farms dinners. Guests who make the trek to the rural, unincorporated Palm Beach town are greeted with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at the farm's entrance. Inside the greenhouse, the dining area is lined with long, wooden tables surrounded by tomato vines and green fields.

The three-course menu is comprised entirely of organic fare including kimchi and pear hand rolled bao buns as appetizers, eggplant and tomato tartines for the first course, and pumpkin and tahini sour bread pudding and carrot and ginger tres leches for dessert.

A cross between supper, fundraiser, and statement about sustainability, the communal meal is part of a dinner series to benefit the Fresh Rx initiative launched by Lox Farms owner Margaret Duriez in partnership with the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. Low-income oncology, cardiac, and pediatric patients at Jupiter Medical Center will be given prescriptions to eat more fruits and vegetables by their physicians and Lox Farms will provide them with a free weekly bag of produce and a recipe once the program is enacted.

"There's no question that what you put in your mouth is your best medicine," said Dr. Marshall Stone, medical director of pediatric surgery at Jupiter Medical Center, who worked with Duriez for two years to develop Fresh Rx. Funds from the farm-to-table dinner series will support the construction of an on-site garden at the hospital, built in conjunction with a pavilion where nutrition education and health coaching courses will be held as part of the program's holistic approach. The shaded outdoor dining area will also help connect patients with the land and its natural beauty. "Dealing with sickness creates a lot of emotional stress and anxiety," said Stone. "Being around something colorful that is growing produces a much better result than sitting in a dark room watching TV."
A Palm Beach resident who grew up spending time on a family farm, Duriez says that the notion that diet can influence good health is very close to her heart. After her mother and uncle battled cancer, Duriez purchased the farm with her husband so they could grow organic food for their family's personal consumption. She developed a passion for farming and decided to sell fresh produce to the community. When the idea for Fresh Rx eventually came about, she found it easy to team up with local chefs.

In addition to the three-course meal, each dinner includes a private tour of the farm. For this Saturday's installment, the kitchen will be helmed by chef Michael Hackman of Aioli, who will serve a vegan menu. Chef Jimmy Everett from Driftwood will host a dinner on March 24. And in April, chef Javier Sanchez from Renato’s will craft the seasonal offerings in a private home. Cocktails for the series will be mixed by Jules Aron, author of Zen and Tonic: Savory and Fresh Cocktails for the Enlightened Drinker.

Fresh Rx Dinners. Lox Farms at 1442 E. Road, Loxahatchee; loxfarms.com  Dinner is priced at $175 per person. For donations, contact the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties at 561-659-6800.