Slow Food article

I read a great article in the SF Chronicle about the owner of the Monterey Market, a grocery store in Berkeley, CA.  Below is an excerpt or read the full article.

Fujimoto buys from local growers – even those with just one or two prized rangpur lime or ‘Hachiya’ persimmon trees growing in the backyard. ‘There is no minimum,’ Fujimoto said.

But local sourcing happens as much by default as by intent at Monterey Market. “I focus on seasonality and quality, and in doing so end up being very local.

‘Bill (Fujimoto) has a marketing theory that you buy high and pay as much as you can to your vendors, then sell at the lowest possible price,’ said David Eichorn, a Kensington gardener and wild-mushroom forager. ‘If he’s selling my wild chanterelle mushrooms for $11 per pound, he’s going to give me $8 per pound.’

If they are open for Labor Day, I am going to pick up a few bags of produce tomorrow and scare up a feast for some friends who are coming in town for the Slow Food Conference.  I’m thinkin’ about garlic cheese grits, avocado and goat cheese salad, roasted root crops, and pork chops with mustard.  Some homebrew (cherry ale) and sake too!

Food packaging is corporate foil

Sunday is grocery day in my house, and it is always a struggle to decide where to go. Over the last few weeks I have been a regular visitor to the Shattuck and El Cerrito farmers markets and a produce only grocery store, the Monterey Market. Today, Wendy and I were lookin’ for some non-farmers market essentials like toilet paper, soap, and mouthwash. We talked of Trader Joe’s or Safeway but I hate that everything comes prepackaged. Do I need a box inside a package inside a container? When did food packaging become so esoteric? Does it really help prevent spoilage or is it just more surface area for advertising!! This is a real turn-off. Just because I can recycle the packaging doesn’t mean I want to have to do that in the first place. I think the whole food industry is missing the boat.

Sara Fuller has a nice blog post on food packaging as part of a group locavore experience called Eating Alabama. Here is a snipett:

I realized this when my parents came for a visit and I bought “conventional” groceries. We had to throw away bags from potato chips, paper from cereal boxes, milk containers from soy milk. It adds up. Even if you think that how you are eating is ethical- the organic potato chips or the antibiotic free milk, there is still the issue of waste to consider. How we make decisions about food should not exclude this concern.

Thanks Sara for bringing up this great point. I am going to do my part and try to buy food that doesn’t come prepackaged or have advertising on it. When I get produce, grains, nuts, and dried fruit in bulk I’ll try to reuse the plastic bag. Bringing cloth bags to the store also helps. When I eat out, I have a nifty little tin for leftovers a-la Sigg, a Swiss-based company. If all this works I’ll know because the trash can will need emptying much less.

For more on food and food packaging:

• an article about what you can do from the Univ. of Florida
• an article on the differences between the EU and US
• a new book by Barbara Kingsolver :: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
• image from another good resource, Californians Against Waste