Now living in Fort Worth, Texas, the sources of struggling to eat local and healthy have changed. How spoiled was I to have an entire market (open all year!) but a few miles from my house which sourced produce, eggs and other fresh foods only from Texas?
Here we have Farmer's Markets and CSA's such as Cold Spring's Farm. Yes, you can go to these weekly to pick up your local and/or organic produce and other items, but as far as I know this is mostly a weekend activity. I was going to the Benbrook Traffic Circle farmer's market fairly regularly, tagging along knitting while Garold sold Avoca Coffee.
We have a Central Market and Sprouts here. I am lucky to have these great stores surrounding me, carrying organic, semi-local (mostly USA sourced) produce, some local produce when in season, and other gourmet and specialty items. Central Market however is located off I-30; Sprouts is off I-20. I live and dwell in between.
I currently work at Oliver's Fine Foods, which besides a great breakfast place/lunch deli and other things, is an urban grocery. We focus on providing a wide range of items (including produce) for people living downtown.
What I haven't found is what I had in Tyler with East Texas Produce. I miss it. I miss the prices I paid for produce. I miss the challenge of coming back with only sweet potatoes, tomatoes, onions and squash for several weeks in a row and coming up with creative, exciting dishes with the same-ol' same ol' because that was what's in season and that's what I could afford.
There was something about working more with what was available that I miss about my culinary life then. Though now I eat mostly at local restaurants, such as this evening's Caribbean Jerk vegan sandwich from Spiral, my grocery bill seems to be coming from more corporate places such as mentioned above, and not from Texas-local sources. Though my last resorts on non-produce are Kroger and SuperTarget, a lot of my groceries come from Sprouts, Central Market or Fiesta.
I spend a fair amount of time in the Fairmont (...ha) neighborhood, and I feel like something is missing. For an upcoming place such as Magnolia, I feel a calling. My main "calling" is towards justice in the food & farming industry- dealing with the issues of responsibly farming (working with season, towards organics, fair wages and conditions for workers, etc.) and financial availability (there are lots available at markets... but who can afford to source everything from boutique farms?). Dealing with "food wasted" or rather "wasted food" and re-sourcing this is also in the mix.
Something must be done. I'm thinking about being the person who does it. This blog will probably be logging all sorts of things I am considering for the future, and I would love*love*love comments.
(As always, I should probably work on editing.)
sounds awesome, i think this focus on food availability is very important around here!
ReplyDeleteAre you able to have a garden where you are? Does your manfriend's coffee company repurpose their used coffee grounds for compost or make it available for others to take? I bet there is a food foraging group out there! There are so many things!
ReplyDeletethanks for the comment christina! agreed.
ReplyDeleteally, i can have a very small garden, but not enough space to grow everything i would need. yes, they compost their grounds. i will have to look into the foraging thing...
You might consider planting the space you can densely - Kyle did that and it shaded the soil, the plants protected each other and produced a ton even during the crazy drought and heat last summer!
ReplyDeleteThe foraging thing I was semi - joking... it's not like we live in California, lol! But.. it would be cool if there was a group that did that where you are.