Eco-Dining? Not on Cape Cod.

This is part 2 of a 4-part series on tourism’s impact on Cape Cod. Read about death & carnage in the shell shop, or continue on…

I’ve never met her before, but Raina Stefani treats me like a good friend. I’ve been in Provincetown a couple of days, and have been hard pressed to find the local green scene. Raina’s restaurant, Terra Luna, is the only place in the northern Cape with sustainably-harvested fare. When I email Terra Luna for more information, Raina herself replies, and before I know it she’s picking me up on Commercial Street for a personal tour of some local farms.

Why the warm welcome? I soon come to realize that we nature-minded types are few and far between out here. Raina is a Provincetown native, and has watched the Cape change throughout her lifetime; what was once a forward-thinking counterculture enclave has become something else entirely.

Provincetown, a picturesque fishing village at the very tip of the Cape, has long been a summer getaway for city-weary Northeasterners. In the 60s and 70s, it was colonized by hippies and gays, and soon became known as a freak’s home-away-from-home. By the 1980s, “P-town” was a hot spot on the gay circuit, and these days it’s one of the top regional destinations for fags and dykes, bois & grrls alike.

But let’s be honest: this is a set that is prone to profligacy. Six million tourists come to stroll these rainbow-strewn streets each summer, dropping their hard-won cash at lobster bisqueries, techno-thumping scene bars, overpriced B&Bs and gaudy gift shops. Peanut-butter doggie lollipops go for $4 apiece; “I Love My Mommies” t-shirts will cost you $25. From every corner rises the smell of deep-fried seafood, sold at obscene prices and in even-more-obscene quantities.

Almost noplace in the tourist area can you find a sustainable, local-grown or organic meal.

Raina aimed to remedy that glaring oversight by founding Terra Luna in nearby Truro. Her restaurant and catering service focus on local, organic, sustainably farmed and harvested foods. Dishes are top-tier (e.g. grass-fed filet of beef with a gorgonzola crust and port wine reduction glaze, Israeli couscous with toasted almonds, yellow raisins, basil, mint) and described by Frommer’s as “outstanding”—yet business is slow compared to Provincetown’s less-responsible locations.

Terra Luna is a ten-minute drive from Commercial Street. So why aren’t more people leaving the P-town bubble in search of better food?

First problem: Cape tourists don’t seem to care what they eat. Raina knows the local restaurateurs, and can say with certainty that popular restaurants are serving Sysco beef*. Many people are aware that lobsters are overharvested, and that lobster traps and ropes snag everything from seabirds to whales—yet they still mow crustacean like it’s going out of style. And don’t get Raina started on other questionable delicacies, such as foie gras.

The solution to this problem lies in a question: “where did your food come from?“. Raina wants to influence Cape locals and tourists alike to ask—and answer—that question. But so far, the response has been less than enthusiastic. People come here for a worry-free vacation, and they pretty much just stay on the tourist strip, gorging on fried shrimp without thinking of where it originated. Because there’s no pressure on restaurants to be eco-friendly, they focus on raking in as much cash as possible during the high season—which means cutting corners in quality and sourcing.

I know it’s true, because I do it too: sometimes you just want to eat delicious food without worrying about the consequences. But for Raina and other locals, watching millions of tourists rampage irresponsibly over a fragile landscape can be torturous.

There’s another, bigger problem with sustainably feeding a summer population of six million: this little sandbar isn’t capable of producing much food. Come back tomorrow for the hard truths of farming on sand, and the next day we can talk about tourism’s impact on the Cape ecosystem. And then you can tell me how to save Cape Cod.

 
 
*NOTE: Sysco is making a strong effort to serve more organic and sustainable meat; however, mass-produced and cold-shipped beef is ultimately unsustainable.