Not in Kansas Anymore: Letters from the Mainstream Food World
Living back in the mainstream reminds me of the Goliath-size reality of our food system. The majority of Americans today has never been to a farm or have any idea where their food comes from. I am living inside one of Michael Pollan’s books, the bleak food landscape.
I’m not in Kansas anymore, no longer in the Bay Area where most farms are within 200 miles, where there are farmers markets everyday of the week, and where there is a general culture of “Buy Local” and “Eat Healthy”.
The Answers Exist, You Just Have to Dig
This is not to say that farms do not exist down here, they do. And, it’s not to say that there aren’t CSAs or locavores or green and healthy-minded folks. They do exist. However, you’ve got to look much harder. Down here in North Carolina there are loads of hog, tobacco (not as much as in the past), sweet potato, Christmas trees and cotton farms. There are farms that grow “specialty crops” (aka: veggies), though the percentage per capita is quite small. Like most states in the US, North Carolina imports food from other states (namely, California, Vermont, New York) as well from Central and South America.
As I walk into a massive big box store to grab a few things, I feel like I’m in Andreas Gursky’s photo “99 Cent”. Every food aisles is jam packed with hundreds of processed and canned goods. They’re all in brightly colored packages, many marketed with familiar cartoon characters aimed to tempt the kids, and some with the image of a farm. The majority packed with salt or MSG, high fructose corn syrup, and some “natural” (aka: unnatural) flavoring. All I wanted was some lettuce and other green veggies. It’s almost the New Year, so luckily I found some collards. They weren’t local though. Why not? My frustration is starting to build.
Is Whole Foods as Good as It Gets?
It’s easy to not be a foodie here. The state of produce down here is incredibly poor, compared to the vibrant, glorious produce found in California. Of course, the droopiness and fading colors of the mediocre produce here is a sign of the many miles traveled from farm to this grocery store. For those that don’t realize this, I wonder if they think cilantro, lettuce, etc naturally look that way. Oy! Food education is in high demand here. No question. Also, more small farms (but I will touch on this in later letters).
My best bet for local produce in a store is at Whole Foods, but even then that’s pretty minimal in wintertime. The majority of Whole Foods’ produce comes from California, which sends a serious dose of nostalgia through my blood. Sighing, I think of the wonderful farmers markets I left behind, the 20-plus varieties of summer peaches and the inviting winter kale varieties.
Snapping back to my present reality, I understand that the best option for local good food is straight from the farm, naturally. So, currently, I’m hunting for a stellar CSA and I’ve been meeting other foodies, farmers and advocates in the local food scene. There is hope, I’m happy to report.
My Adopted Task
The real question that plagues my mind after figuring out my own survival here in the trenches is ‘how do I effect change in the food scene here?’ How can I alter the conversation so people see that the Gursky photo, the sad excuse for produce in the big box stores, and the minimal local produce is limiting their freedom, hurting their health and weakening their economic profiles? Or, do I go straight to the companies and work within them to create change? (This is why I went to business school at the GreenMBA in California anyway)
There’s a lot on my mind these days. I’m working on mapping the local food system. I’m meeting and connecting with as many people in the food scene as possible. I imagine I’ll have a few strategies soon. I’ll report more next week.
Happy New Year! Enjoy your collards and black eyed peas! Over and out from the south,
Sarah
Plant a vegetable garden and encourage others to do the same. No matter where you live, your own (or a community) garden is always options. Even if it’s a container on your fire-escape, it’s a start. Once someone eats a vegetable that they have grown themselves, they become the best promoters of local produce. No matter what it is – a cherry tomato, a lettuce leave . . . it’s as though a light-bulb goes off in their head. Now they know what real vegetables look and taste like – and there is no going back.
Yikes – and sorry for the lousy spelling – lettuce leave?? A little too much “New Years Eve” last night I think!!
Great article. When I first moved to Oklahoma I struggled with finding fresh local anything. I have seen that change over the last 10 years as the farmers I now know and trust shifted from factory farming to organic. I have seen our Farmers Markets grow to include more farmers and the addition of some great CSA’s too.
I found that the key to this change was for people to demand it. The best way for that to happen, is to request what you want from your grocer, when you find it is unavailable. Your (local please) grocer won’t know to carry these things otherwise and believe me, they want to sell to you. The local grocery I go to has even stopped using factory farmed meat and buys organically raised beef from local ranchers. I was excited when that happened and can’t wait to see them do more.
Good luck with your mapping project, I’m looking forward to see what you find. I grew up in South Carolina and now live in the SF Bay Area – definitely two different food cultures!
.-= Esperanza´s last blog ..Food Re-education 550 =-.
Sarah,
Welcome to the Triangle. Sounds like you’re not getting out enough, though. You can’t judge the local food scene from inside one of those big-box supermarkets.
There are about 250 small-scale sustainable farms in the greater Triangle area, all easily within 50 miles of Raleigh. They grow outstanding sustainable food (fruit, veggies, meats and cheese), sell fresh food at about 30 Farmer’s Markets (including several in Raleigh) and through more than two dozen CSAs. There’s an award-winning restaurant in Raleigh co-owned by a farmer and a chef, and many throughout the region that promote locally grown food. There’s even an annual Tour D’Coop of urban chickens being tended in backyards all over town, and the region has the largest single sustainable farm tour in the entire United States, sponsored by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. The Center for Environmental Farming Systems is based at NC State in Raleigh.
The sustainable farm and food scene in Raleigh isn’t as large as it is in the western part of the Triangle (spanning Hillsborough, Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Pittsboro, a region that last year Bon Appetit named the “foodiest small town” in America), but there are many places to find outstanding, locally produced food on farms, at markets and in local eateries, if you know where to look. We need many more to be sure, but don’t dismiss Raleigh as a food backwater.
You can learn about the region on my blog, Sustainable Grub, and specifically about the Raleigh food scene on local blogs including Eating in Raleigh and Mouthful at the News and Observer.
Best wishes,
Dee
.-= Dee´s last blog ..Can local food jump-start the economy? =-.
Hi Dee,
Thanks for all of this great information and local insight. I really appreciate your post. My focus for the letter series is about the mainstream of NC, which sadly does shop at big box stores. I love all the wonderful local NC food offerings via CSA, markets, restaurants, etc. And you’re right, CEFS and even Carolina Farm Stewardship association are doing great work! My intention for this letter series is to focus on the mainstream food culture, which I feel is outside the SustAg and (often) educated bubble. There are so many people in the mainstream that don’t know about Weaver Street Market, local CSAs, Zely and Ritz, etc. I would like to help local entrepreneurs launch such businesses so there are more. And, I would love to help with food/ag/farming education (like SEEDs in Durham and a few Farm-to-School projects) so more folks are gaining the education, growing tools, taste, and appreciation for high quality food grown near by. Educating the consumer and the community is a big factor.
I’m excited to write in future letters about the existing foodie scene, highlighting great small farmers, markets, etc. I’ll also talk with entrepreneurs, students, business-owners and mainstream consumers about the possibility of expanding the food scene and what they think is needed.
Thank you again for your post and highlighting all the good that does exist in this beautiful region.
Happy New Year!
-Sarah
Thanks Esperanza!
I’ll be sure to post a picture of the food map.
Enjoy the winter season in SF!
That’s really exciting Vivian, and very encouraging! Thanks for the info.
Have a wonderful New Year!
Janet, you are absolutely right that “once someone eats a vegetable that they have grown themselves, they become the best promoters of local produce”
Thanks for the encouragement and advice.
Happy New Year!
Hi Sara,
I totally understand your feelings about how produce from big box stores looks and taste around here this time of the year, however, I just came back from South Estes Farmers Market at University Mall in Chapel Hill, we are vendors there and customers of our friends farmers, we were amazed the crowd we had after the holidays and with 30F degrees outside in the wind, and there they were, a legion of supporters to see what we have at this time of the year.
We are from Argentina originally we were fortunate enough to live in a region where we have a lot of veggies year around except for watermelos, peaches, cucumbers, squash, grapes and field grown tomatoes (actually the summer vegetables were missing). Eating with the seasons was in our lifestyle, there was not other way.
Here is different, having the chance of every kind of produce year around at the supermakets some people think that it is the way it should be.
But to take an optimistic view of our reality here in the South, there is plenty out there to see, small farmers are flourishing all over the triad and triangle area. We are beekeepers and my husband is an artisan baker (we sell local honey and artisan breads: sourdough, fougasse, focaccias, bialys, cinnamon rolls, etc.).
There are very interesting publications about local food and Edible Piedmont is one of them with a very complete listing of the farmers markets and CSAs of the area, and Local Harvest is a good source too.
We would love to have you visit our farmers market in Chapel Hill on a Saturday morning, we are there from 10:00 to 12:00 on winter time. Today we were around 10 vendors not very many but with all the varieties you could find during this time of the year, goat cheese, grass fed meats (chicken, lamb, beef) eggs, and the produce that can be produce in this area during winter like: carrots, collards, beets, brussel sprouts, pac choi,turnips, mesclun mix, kale, dried herbs and tomatoes, jellies, pies, and artisan breads ) Please, feel free to visit the farmers market website: http://www.southestesfarmersmarket.com
Happy New Year Sarah, and hope we can get to meet you soon!
Check this out!
http://www.bakingmyway@blogspot.com
http://www.everydaylocal@blogspot.com
Warmly,
Sandra Sarlinga, Elon NC
Hi Sandra,
Thanks for providing such valuable information about your experience and the places to find like-minded foodies, farmers, and quality local food.
I would love to meet you and learn more from you.
Feel free to email me, sarahw06@gmail.com or message along your email address and I’ll get in touch with you. Lets set something up.
Looking forward to it.
Happy New Year!
-Sarah
Great post Sarah. My parents live in the San Joaquin Valley of California and even in the “salad bowl of the nation” the food in the big boxes is part of the “bleak food landscape”
The marketing power of the big food corporations, especially the fast food industry, combined with their manipulation of nutrition science is accelerating the rise of health conditions associated with diet.
Good luck with your mapping project. We need more people like you to change our food landscape. To get a scare of what you are up against check out these maps of McDonald’s locations across the US http://bit.ly/7cKbwQ
It is nice to hear positive views about the Triangle and especially Durham ( there was a time when there was much negativity going around about the Bull City). Durham is a hidden gem in regards to the sustainability movement and is getting some heads to turn our way.
Enjoyed your post very much.
Denise Baker
aroundtheworldin365.wordpress.com