Thanks to the efforts of its communities, Tampa’s farm-to-table scene is flourishing. Driving the Mazda CX-50 Hybrid, Mazda Stories teams up with a local chef to take a closer look.
It’s a few minutes after dawn on a January morning in Tampa, Florida, and the sun lingers low in the sky, casting long shadows over McKay Bay. As commuter traffic surges toward the heart of the city, where the skyline gleams in the early light, the deep rumble of fishing boats cuts through the air, signalling the end of another long night at sea for the crews now coming ashore—some for the first time in weeks. The bay, once still, now hums with the promise of a bountiful catch as the docks burst into life.
The bounties coming ashore are boatloads of shrimp, caught under the cover of darkness in Florida’s Key West and destined for menus across restaurants within Tampa’s pulsating food scene— thanks to the teamwork of the crews aboard Good News IV, Blind Faith II, and Miss Katelyn.
Stood at the docks and watching the morning work unfold, I’m in Tampa to discover how the city’s food scene has had a recent spike in popularity. On every corner, there’s a new cuisine to tempt you inside, whether that’s a newly-minted Michelin-starred Japanese hotspot or a freewheeling Mexican-inspired bolthole. Frankly, getting a taste of it all would be a substantial task for any gourmand.
Thankfully, I have a local expert to guide me, in restaurateur and executive chef Ferrell Alvarez. He’s been shaking up the city’s gastronomic scene for years and has the accolades to back it up: his flagship restaurant, Rooster and the Till, was named Tampa Bay Times’ top restaurant two years in a row, earning a Michelin Bib Gourmand Award in the process. “We try our best to be as local as possible,” he says of his success, when we meet. “I want the most fresh, delicious product I can possibly find.”
Ferrell explains that our time together will culminate in the creation of two dishes that embody the city’s community spirit and selfless hospitality—important aspects that reflect the Japanese philosophy of omotenashi. For our journey, we’ll be driving the new Mazda CX-50 Hybrid, a vehicle engineered for limitless exploration; with a range of over 500 miles, it’s the ideal companion for our inter-city adventure. What’s more, with the same meticulous eye as Mazda’s highly-skilled Takumi craftspeople, Chef Ferrell will guide me through Tampa’s most exciting culinary upstarts as we drive, each showcasing a fresh approach to food.
Ferrell’s vision starts here on the dock, where the Versaggi family have been shrimping since 1912. “There’s a lot of pride in it for our family,” explains Justin Versaggi, as I catch him helping a crew disembark after a month-long voyage. “The community gets to benefit from a sustainable and domestically-sourced shrimp.” Providing ingredients for Tampa’s restaurants, including Chef Alvarez’s Rooster and the Till, Versaggi explains, is not just a source of pride, but vital work for the city’s communities. “It’s a culture worth saving, and we’re going to try to do that.”
“I want the most fresh, delicious product I can possibly find.”
We grab a box of shrimp from the Versaggi fish house and head back to the CX-50 Hybrid, as Ferrell shares his plan for the tomorrow’s menu. “We’re going to infuse the shrimp shells with fermented chilies,” he explains, which means our next stop is Tampa’s Le Roots farm. I ask Alexa to set up the navigation, touch a button to fire up the 2.5-litre hybrid engine, and we are away.
As we drive, Ferrell walks me through Tampa’s food revolution, and what makes it so important to his community. “We’re definitely blossoming, as everybody is young, hungry and experiencing new things,” he enthuses. “With that comes a lot of experimentation in a positive way.” This shift towards more organic produce, he explains, also highlights “the importance of locality, of nutrition, of raising things and growing things yourselves.
“It’s a culture worth saving, and we’re going to try to do that.”
Continuing south, the light floods through the CX-50’s expansive moonroof and helps the colours of the outside world blend with the thoughtful details in the interior. It’s a merging of two worlds, something that Christina and Zack Alvarez, the founders of Le Roots, know all about. Today, they run Tampa’s first premium indoor farm specialising in leafy greens, herbs and microgreens. Technologically advanced, the farm uses over 100 vertical aeroponic towers (allowing them to grow produce without soil) and provides environment-friendly greens to the regions’ local restaurants.
The appeal, Ferrell explains, is the quality of the product, and knowing it was grown locally with zero pesticides. “It’s an incredible facility, and technology is at the forefront,” he says. “What they’re producing is nothing short of amazing.” Picking up some a handful of Fresno chili peppers, a pinch of green basil — which will be dehydrated and ground to powder — marjoram, parsley and petite basil, Ferrell maps out the next stages of the meal. There’s also plenty of room in the cargo space to stow away all our hyperlocal ingredients, a task made easier with the CX-50’s Rear Power Liftgate.
“We’re blossoming; everybody is young, hungry and experiencing new things.”
Before we head to the kitchen, there’s one final stop: Meacham Urban Farm, at the heart of Tampa. As we close in, I flick the CX-50 Hybrid into EV mode, traversing the city streets quietly and confidently. Meacham Urban Farm uses urban regenerative agriculture as a way to both feed and educate the community of Tampa Bay, producing over thirty varieties of organic fruits and vegetables in the heart of the city. It’s here Joe Dalessio, with his team, transformed an empty two-acre lot, once peppered with scrub trees and little else, into a thriving oasis of regenerative farming. “To me, food is culture,” Joe says. “It’s the foundation of what culture is. I love growing good food and doing that for my community.”
Joe picks the perfect Chioggia beets for our recipe and helps us pack away our final set of ingredients into the CX-50, before we head back to the kitchen and park up. The beets, Ferrell explains, will be paired with whipped ricotta cheese, pickled gooseberries and edible flowers. I rifle through our ingredients, while Ferrell sharpens his set of Japanese knives. Behind him, machines click and whirr into life.
The stage is set. “The menu starts with the roasted Chioggia beets, which I’m serving with goat’s milk ricotta, and some pickled gooseberries,” he says, as he uses a pair of chopsticks to carefully place the garnish. To accompany the dish, Ferrell serves two slices of sourdough from local Tampa bakery Jamison B. Breadhouse.
Just as Mazda is constantly evolving with new technologies and design philosophies—as I witness first-hand driving the CX-50 Hybrid — so too is Ferrell experimenting with flavours, techniques, and local ingredients. The final dish is the epitome of this. “We’re using the local grilled shrimp, served with salmoriglio, made from marjoram and parsley from Le Roots,” he explains, without dropping focus as he plates. “The shells from the shrimp have been steeped with some fermented chili, also from the farm.” It’s spicy, he says, but has a counter-balancing richness that comes with a butter and cognac finish. “We finish that off with some aerated polenta, petite basil and dehydrated green basil powder.”
Ferrell has created much more than a perfect meal. To me, it’s a reflection of Tampa’s thriving food scene, where grassroots efforts have helped the city become one of the fastest growing in the U.S. From the hardworking fishermen who bring in their catch at dawn to the modernist farmers growing sustainable produce, it’s these innovative approaches that are helping chefs like Ferrell put Tampa back on the gastronomic map one plate at a time. This is a story of craftsmanship executed to perfection—something Mazda, with its skilled engineers 7,000 miles away in Hiroshima, knows all too well. The result, you’ll agree, makes a winning recipe for a city where comfort and inspiration can be found on every corner.
