A Single Step

Dear President-Elect Obama

A coalition of farmers, writers, chefs, eaters and policy advocates have combined their voices under the grassroots organization called Farm Democracy Now! to highlight the importance of President-elect Obama's appointment of the next Secretary of Agriculture.  This follows a growing concern that while the President-elect has moved swiftly to announce other cabinet appointments, the fact that a Secretary of Agriculture has not yet been nominated signals a diminished importance on the need for changes in food and farm policy.

You can join this group by signing a petition here.

In recommending 6 candidates for the position, the group wants to highlight the urgent need to create a new food system, one that "advocates for policies that encourage sustainable, humane, organic and natural food systems" and that reminds the President-elect of his commitment to family farmers and the promotion of regional food systems.

The list of candidates includes:

• Gus Schumacher - Former Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Former Massachusetts Commissioner of Agriculture;
• Chuck Hassebrook - Executive Director, Center for Rural Affairs, Lyons, NE;
• Sarah Vogel - former two-term Commissioner of Agriculture for the State of North Dakota, attorney, Bismarck, ND;
• Fred Kirschenmann - organic farmer, Distinguished Fellow, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Ames, IA and President, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Pocantico Hills, NY;
• Mark Ritchie - current Minnesota Secretary of State, former policy analyst in Minnesota's Department of Agriculture under Governor Rudy Perpich, co-founder of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy;
• Neil Hamilton - attorney, Dwight D. Opperman Chair of Law and Professor of Law and Director, Agricultural Law Center, Drake University, Des Moines, IA.

Food For Thought

My friend Tena Rubio is an award winning radio journalist who currently produces a weekly show out of Oakland called Making Contact.  Today she aired a show entitled Food For Thought where she presents three stories about unconventional solutions that touch upon community gardening and towards bringing food production closer to urban residents, in some cases, to those who are low income or otherwise disadvantaged.  The stories are:

• Urban gardens in the heart of San Francisco;
• food production in a skyscraper;
• a food bank turned farmers' market in Portland Maine.

You can stream the show here.

On this day before we traditionally give thanks, I am reminded that there are amazing people around us who are taking action and advocating aspirational ideas, all in the name of ensuring that great, nutritious, and in these examples, local food is accessible to all.  There are Trevor Pacque, and Tree, and Dr. Dickson Despommier and Joel Reed.  Thank you for your entrepreneurship, your vision, your sense of community and your hard work.

Some of the more intriguing ideas to me are:

• Allowing My Farm in San Francisco (who I've mentioned in the past) to plant gardens in currently vacant San Francisco lots to support local food banks;
• Individuals such as Tree in San Francisco who operates a Free Farm Stand to distribute vegetables grown from his own urban garden & from donations from other urban gardners and leftovers from farmers' markets;
• Vertical farming (farms in and on high rise buildings) in a truly sustainable ecosystem.  While it's not addressed in the story, I can envision bringing this concept to life in San Francisco by asking real estate developers to include it into their building plans, just as we've done with retail developments that add housing above the street level;
• Free farmers' market to feed the homeless in Portland Maine run by Preble Street, a concept not too different than another group that I've mentioned in Oakland, City Slicker Farms.

These are but a few sustainable ideas that creatively use local food production as a solution to larger challenges such as a growing global urban populations and economically challenging times.  It makes me wonder how we can realize these dreams sooner rather than later.

Fraiche Yogurt: A Retailer Making It Local

Where should I draw the line in my exploration to Eat Local when it comes to small, independent food companies that may not source its food ingredients from within my 150-mile self-defined area?

One of the great benefits of living in the Bay Area is what I consider to be the intersection between great food and entrepreneurship.  Great food is expressed through entrepreneurship in the forms of new food products, new restaurants, cafes or other retail businesses.  Heck, add school programs and gardens to that list and you've only just begun.  And I suspect that rather than applying a literal definition to my exploration, I should recognize that one of the aspects of supporting a local food movement is that I am supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs, many of whom elevate food by applying artisan traditions to their craft.

One such business that I had been meaning to visit for quite some time is Fraiche Yogurt.  I first read of Fraiche back in January in the San Francisco Chronicle.  To my knowledge, it is the only retailer in Northern California (and possibly California) that makes its own yogurt on premise.

These days, Palo Alto is a long journey for me to make in search of yogurt.  But I recall reading Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle back in October and how she declared that it's probably against the law for her to make cheese for her own consumption in the state of Virginia.  This is the result of health laws being written strictly with large scale producers in mind.  Having gone through my own protracted battle with the Marin County Health Department back in 2005 to receive permit approval for a new food concept (new to the county, not to the world), I became interested in seeing a small scale yogurt factory, to taste the difference in the product, and to learn how another Bay Area entrepreneur was able to buck the system to get approval for dairy product production.

Fraiche is a simple concept that appears to be doing extremely well with the only difference between it and any of the thousands of existing frozen yogurt stores being in the quality of its product by virtue of how it is made on site.  I had a chance to speak with one of the owners, Jessica, after she approached me wanting to know why I was taking pictures inside of the store.  I mumbled something about yelp (damnit, I should have mumbled something about being a blogger!), but then spent the next 15 minutes peppering her with questions.  Some of what I learned is:

• It uses Clover organic milk which is based in Petaluma as well as its own proprietary blend of "probiotic-focused culture."  I didn't have the nerve to ask whether the cultures are from the Bay Area or not;
• It produces whole, 2% and non-fat fresh yogurt varieties that it also uses to freeze and flavor for its fro-yo fans;
• It offers complimentary maple syrup, or any of three honeys (wildflower, sage, and clover) as a topping.  It also sells additional toppings from shaved chocolate (shaved from a huge block right there in front of you) to fruits and nuts and other commonly found yogurt toppings;
• It serves a limited variety of baked goods that are made locally (and as Jessica emphasized, in small batches - just as any artisan would proclaim).  The muffins are made with yogurt and applesauces as a butter substitute, and the other baked goods such as the Lavender Sea Salt biscotti sounded wonderful;
• It serves Blue Bottle Coffee from Oakland (who she reported is no longer signing up wholesale accounts - with its soon to open Ferry Building location, I'm guessing that Blue Bottle is finally getting serious about expanding its own retail footprint).

And the yogurt itself?  I ordered a small size of the whole fresh yogurt with no toppings for $2.95.  I wanted to taste the fresh stuff unadultured and pure.  All I can say is that it is NOT the yogurt I made last week.  Nope, no way!  First of all, it's much thicker, a texture I can only describe as like a smooth ricotta cheese, I suppose more in the style of Greek yogurt.  And the taste is very clean, with only the slightest hint of tang.  Basically, it's a thick and creamy bowl of milk.

From the volume of yelp reviews (532 as of tonight) and the constant comings and goings of customers from students to internet professionals during the 30 minutes I was there, I think Fraiche has a successful concept.  But since it's unlikely that I'll make the drive back to Palo Alto JUST for more yogurt, I picked up another pint for $6.95.  Like many artisanal or small batch foods, it's not the least expensive option.  But like the Juice Club was when I was a student at Stanford in the early 90's, it's a concept that is different enough to justify the higher prices.  I suspect that like the Juice Club (now Jamba Juice), we'll be seeing more stores sometime in the future.

I only hope they keep using Bay Area milk!

What Egg-zactly Will Be the Impact of My Vote?

These are three eggs I had in my home at the same time

• The white egg was bought from Safeway under the Becky brand.  It was grown by NuCal Foods who claims to be "one of the largest distributors of shelled eggs in the Western United States."  I assume it's a prototypical industrial farm variety produced from cage stacked hens;
• The darkest egg at the bottom was bought from the Real Food Company under the Rock Island brand which is produced by Petaluma Farms.  Petaluma Farms produces eggs under the Rock Island, Uncle Eddie's, Judy's Family Farm and Golden Circle brands.  From what I can tell, Petaluma Farms has a combination of farming practices that include both cage stacked hens and free range hens;
• The egg on the right was bought from Eatwell Farms at the Farmers' Market.  It is from a free range raised pullet.

All three of these eggs are produced within my 150-mile Eat Local radius.  But as I started to research California Proposition 2 (the Prevention of Farm Cruelty Act), my mind started boggling at how to weigh the impact my vote on this issue would have.  In many ways, this one issue is a litmus test into this exploration and ultimately my beliefs in the value of eating locally produced foods.

Now let me state emphatically upfront that I am willing to pay a little more for eggs produced from humanely treated hens.  But as with many food policies and food decisions, there could be unintended consequences of a single decision.  Some of the issues I've research and weighed extend beyond the simple desire to see farm animals given humane treatment.  They include:

• What happens if Prop. 2 passes and a $300 million industry that employs 3,000 Californians does pick up its roots and relocate to another state, or to Mexico?  Will locally produced eggs become harder to find?
• If California lost it's egg industry, would more urban and suburban residents turn to unique alternatives such as raising their own backyard chickens and egg-laying hens?
• If Prop. 2 passes, will it serve as a trend that other states adopt leading changes in industrial farming practices for the better?
• Why do the owners of Petaluma Farms really oppose Prop. 2, and why do they feel they will be out of business if it passes?  It bothers me that a so-called small farmer feels this initiative is completely bad for business.

Two examples have led me to believe that the negative consequences that the opponents of Prop. 2 have expressed are unlikely to materialize:

1. A similar law was passed in Europe, and producers developed creative, cost-effective solutions that achieved the goals of rights advocates without producers having to invest in more space;
2. Similar laws have been passed in U.S. states that did not result in the loss or closure of existing operations as a result of the changes; 

Forced changes led to innovative solutions.  Ultimately, I believe in the ingenuity of American companies and that solutions will be discovered to allow existing California operators to remain in California.  Consumer demand always leads to business solutions.  Whether that demand comes in the form of protests against retailers, changes in purchase behavior, or from voter initiative process, it really doesn't matter. 

I'm voting 'Yes' on Proposition 2 tomorrow!

Being passionate about a cause

Just as Jen Maiser, Jessica Prentice, Sage Van Wing, and DeDe Sampson have a passion for a locavore lifestyle that considers their food choices in terms of their political, environmental, economic, and health impacts, there are plenty of amazing people who are leading changes in food policies, both domestically and globally, due to their passions around various causes.

I don't pretend to have a complete grasp of all the food issues that exist.  And truth be told, I probably do not have a well founded point-of-view on many of the more complex food policy issues.  But becoming better informed and more aware of the impact my choices have is part of this journey I've embarked on.  Part of this education, I believe, is in learning from the lead of others.

Along those lines, last week the New York Times highlighted "Young leaders who are changing the way we eat (and drink)."   I found most of these stories to be inspiring and provacative, and while I know there are more people out there like them, I figured I'd start by introducing this group and their causes to you:

• Severine von Tscharner Fleming - food policy and farming advocate & film documentarian who is highlighting organic entrepreneurs under the age of 40 in her film The Greenhorns;
• Anna Lappe' & Bryant Terry - Co-authors of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen. Anna is also a public speaker talking about the connections between the food system and climate change, while Bryant is a policy fellow who is also writing a book called Vegan Soul Kitchen to reframe African-American cuisine;
• Cruz Salucio, Romeo Ramirez, Silvia Perez, Geraldo Reyes & Leonel Perez - Florida farmworker advocates leading the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to help Latino, Haitian and Mayan Indian workers negotiate a 'sustainable wage' with Fortune 500 corporate customers;
• Scott Harrison - founder of Charity Water, a nonprofit that creates projects to bring clean, safe drinking water to the world's poorest peoples in Asia, Africa and Central America;
• Hillary Wilson, Alice Brooke Wilson, Tom Phillpot & Leo Gaev - owners of Maverick Farms, who seek to "build a sustainable-but-accessible and socially just food system" by expanding theirfocus beyond growing and selling produce to include a nonprofit incubator program teaching teens to farm, a bed and breakfast, a restaurant-supply business, and a produce delivery network;
• Patrick Martins - founder of Heritage Foods that is helping to rescue vanishing turkey breeds such as the Bourbon Red (and other livestock) and the farms that raise them by creating consumer demand for their meat.

These profiles and photo galleries can be read in full here.

Also, there are short podcasts from five of these people where they answer "What's inside your 'fridge.'"  I like to see how passionate people implement their passions via everyday choices.  These can be found here.

Do you have any food heroes or heroines?