‘Field to Feast,’ a film project with Spokane roots that takes chefs into the woods, launches first episode

Chefs know what to do with meat once it arrives in the kitchen. They don’t always know how to get it there.

That disconnect inspired “Field to Feast,” a new film project by Jed Conklin, a former Spokesman-Review photographer and avid hunter.

A pilot episode for the project launched online Thursday on the YouTube channel managed by hunting apparel company FirstLite.

In the 20-minute film, Conklin takes prominent Spokane chef Chad White hunting on Conklin’s family farm in Kentucky.

It tells the story of both White – a former Top Chef contestant and James Beard Award semifinalist – and Conklin – a lifelong hunter who loves to share his passion with others – and gets right to the hunting. There ups, downs and one odd looking buck that White passes on.

Eventually, the big one shows itself and White knocks it down. They process it and turn part of it into a feast for Conklin’s family and friends.

Conklin hopes it’s the first installment in a series about taking chefs into the woods and teaching them to procure their own protein.

“It’s basically taking these chefs that are up on a pedestal in the public eye and kind of knocking them down and introducing them to something they’ve never done before,” he said.

Conklin, who now lives near Sun Valley, Idaho, got to know White and other chefs when he was working to open his downtown Spokane restaurant Hunt, which closed earlier this year.

An informal dinner club emerged among some of them. Often, Conklin would bring them wild game to cook. Naturally, the conversation would turn toward hunting stories.

The chefs, and White in particular, eventually expressed interest in learning to hunt, and somehow those conversations turned into the idea for the show – Jed takes a chef hunting and a camera crew films the whole thing.

Those conversations were taking place around four or five years ago, and Conklin got to work on the project then. He filmed multiple trips with different chefs, including a turkey hunt and a bass fishing trip on the Grande Ronde River.

In each case, he took a chef out of their comfort zone, showed them something they’ve never done before and then put them in the kitchen or over a campfire with the meat they’ve just harvested.

“They’re able to close the food loop for really the first time in their lives,” Conklin said. “It’s a full-circle moment.”

Plenty of footage piled up, but none of it got turned into finished episodes. The pandemic and moving his family from Spokane to Idaho interfered with the rest, sort of pushing the project to the backburner.

About a year-and-a-half ago, Conklin got serious about getting the show out into the world. He hired a production company and found a home for the show online with FirstLite.

He and White went to Kentucky last fall and filmed the hunt that is shown in the episode released Thursday.

The story parallels a shift in White’s own life. His most recent restaurant, Zona Blanca, closed last year. Now he’s running a business called TrailFeast, which he refers to as an “outdoor dining concept.” He cook meals outside over campfires in the woods, often for private clients like Subaru or the Benchmade Knife Company.

Hunting with Conklin – both in 2024 and on previous trips – is part of what pushed him in that direction, he said.

“As a chef, we’re always very interested in understanding where our food sources are coming from,” White said. “It doesn’t get more sustainable than going out and harvesting your own meal.”

Conklin said he’s in talks with other companies that might be homes for Field to Feast long-term, but that it was important to get an episode out into the world to see how the audience responds.

“It’s not really a hunting show. It’s not really a cooking show. It kind of lives somewhere in between,” Conklin said.