Setting the Table with Local Foods
“By buying and eating food grown and raised by sustainable local farmers, we literally transform our landscape and enrich the land; we support our neighboring farmers and bolster our local economy; we’re building community; and we reap the amazing health benefits and simple, deep pleasure of eating this real food.”
--Tara Bower, Foodshed Alliance
Most of us expect to be able to pick-up our favorite produce at the grocery store any time of the year, but few of us are conscious of the food miles it takes for us to put fresh strawberries on our cereal in the dead of winter. If you are like most Americans, the miles from farm to kitchen table for the ingredients in the average meal is typically 1,550 to 2,500 miles. The average American meal also uses up to 17 times more petroleum products, and increases carbon dioxide emissions by the same amount compared to ingredients that come from local sources. Not surprisingly, food miles are also on the rise, and have increased 25 percent since 1980.
If the worldwide crisscrossing of food being trucked, flown, warehoused, and distributed thousands of miles from point A to point B strikes you as something we might want to change, we at Dodge are with you. To better live our values, we set out to coordinate a local foods luncheon for staff. We found that committing to local foods (and, therefore, reducing our environmental footprint) is no small task.
Dodge is fortunate to be located in an area with several caterers who use locally grown foods, but our staff lunch was scheduled for early December, which conflicted with the rush of the holiday season. As a result, we were unable to find anyone who had time to prepare the local foods lunch for us. So we turned to our friend Tara Bower at the Foodshed Alliance for help.
The Foodshed Alliance is a nonprofit in northwest New Jersey which grew out of a dream to nurture and sustain a rural economy based on locally-grown foods; they focus on working directly with farmers to find profitable and sustainable ways to grow, market and distribute their products while simultaneously raising public awareness about the benefits of locally-grown food.
“The movement towards local is very powerful,” explains Tara. “By buying and eating food grown and raised by sustainable local farmers, we literally transform our landscape and enrich the land; we support our neighboring farmers and bolster our local economy; we’re building community; and we reap the amazing health benefits and simple, deep pleasure of eating this real food.”
Tara knew that she could get the ingredients she needed through her extensive farm connections, but who would actually prepare the lunch? Enter Marshall Keener at Whole Foods Market in Madison, New Jersey. “While public debate surrounds Whole Foods Market’s national commitment to local farmers, we have been very impressed with individual WFM stores’ enthusiasm and dedication to connecting with local farmers,” notes Tara. “WFM is also helping to build the capacity for a vibrant local food system by supporting efforts like our BUY FRESH BUY LOCAL Campaign and by bringing sustainability to the front of their shoppers’ consciousness.”
Tara, who had worked with Whole Foods Market in Millburn, New Jersey, struck a deal with Marshall that she would deliver the ingredients to Whole Foods herself, and then Marshall and his staff would prepare the lunch for Dodge.
Based on the foods that Tara provided from two farms, Race Farm in Blairstown and Howling Wolf Farm in Hope, Marshall and his staff prepared an outstanding lunch which included roasted brussel sprouts, a fresh green salad, a sweet potato and apple dish, veggie wrap sandwiches, mashed potatoes and an apple crisp.
Making this lunch happen was a lesson in perseverance and creativity. Without Tara, who was able to use her expertise in local foods and connect us with Marshall Keener at Whole Foods, the luncheon would have been impossible.
In this case of “What does it look like to live our values?” we are reminded that the only way to ensure access to locally-grown foods is to stand firm in our support of local farmers, so that they can continue to thrive and provide us with fresh, healthy food.
Top images (from left): Radishes from Race Farm; Howling Wolf Farm; Mixed greens in the field at Howling Wolf Farm.
Central images (from top left to bottom right): The Race Farm Family; Matt Pearson from Howling Wolf Farm.
Photographs courtesy of Foodshed Alliance, Race Farm and Howling Wolf Farm.