“Field-to-fork” is a popular food industry expression, referring to the entire process from when food is made (“field”) to when food is consumed (“fork”). The term “field-to-fork” has been cited in print since at least 1989.
There are other similar terms. “Gate-to-plate” (“from farm gate to dinner plate”) has been cited in print since at least 1973. “Farm-to-table” has been cited since at least 1911, but became popular in the 1980s. “Roof(top)-to-table” has been cited in print since at least 2009 and refers to food grown on the roof of a building.
Google Books
The Human Food Chain
Edited by C. R. W. Spedding
New York, NY: Elsevier Applied Science
1989
Pg. 7:
Its approach is a unique attempt to bring together all those involved in ‘food systems’, including representatives of all sectors of the food chain from ‘field to fork’.
14 October 1993, Atlanta (GA) Journal-Constitution, “Must do better’ on feeding students: School meals don’t always make the grade, nutritionists contend,” pg. B4:
A Florida produce broker told frustrated school nutritionists the key to getting fresh produce “from field to fork” without being faced with tons of ...
OCLC WorldCat record
From field to Fork in a Localized Context
Author: M Hamm
Edition/Format: Article : English
Publication: WHY MAGAZINE, no. 23, (1996): 12-13
Database: British Library Serials
OCLC WorldCat record
From Field to Fork, Food-Borne Pathogens Find a Way
Edition/Format: Article : English
Publication: UTAH SCIENCE, 58, no. 3, (1997): 14-16
Database: British Library Serials
OCLC WorldCat record
From field to fork : a history of Texas Grain and Feed Association, 1898-1998
Author: Henry C Dethloff
Publisher: Fort Worth, Tex. : Texas Grain & Feed Association, ©1998.
Edition/Format: Book : English
OCLC WorldCat record
Editorial: From field to fork
Author: Rodney Dowdell; David S Reid; Jennifer Bolgar
Edition/Format: Article
Publication: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, v81 n1 (20010101): 1-2
Database: CrossRef
5 December 2001, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “Books make good gifts—if you can part with them” by Cathy Barber:
The magazine is known for following a cuisine from field to fork.
OCLC WorldCat record
The Acorn House cookbook : good food from field to fork
Author: Arthur Potts Dawson; Susan Fleming
Publisher: London : Hodder & Stoughton, 2008.
Edition/Format: Book : English
Summary: Foreword by Jamie Oliver, this flagship green publication is the first book to combine cookery, nutrition and green issues.
Gastronomica (2012)
Magnolia 610, Louisville, Kentucky
Edward Lee
(...)
We kill over thirty pigs in one day. By comparison, a company like Swift can do over a thousand pigs an hour. The difference between the two is like a small artisan cheese dairy and Kraft, except of course for the killing part. I sometimes feel discouraged by easy taglines like “Farm to Table, Field to Fork.” It’s a marketing tool—I get it. My farmers use these phrases to sell meat, and I’m sure I’m guilty of using them myself. But marketing overlooks a process between the farm and the table that deserves as much attention as the nurturing and the cooking. You can’t think precisely about a Farm-to-Table movement and not acknowledge the transport, welfare, killing, and packaging that all happen in or around the abattoir.