local

As those who have lived in The Big Apple know, you can get just about anything delivered right to your door. Soon, that ever-growing proliferation of convenience will include local, sustainable baby food. That’s thanks to a new company called Farm to Baby, which will soon offer a subscription-based service in Brooklyn and Manhattan. As far as we know, the menu will not include pureed pizza. A recent interview on PSFK.com with co-founder Lauren Utvich explores the genesis of the company and its plans for launch. Read on for more. “Eating locally has restored the link between the farm and the table, an ideal pioneered by Chef Alice Waters at her Berkeley, California restaurant, Chez Panisse...

Cal Peternell is the café chef at Chez Panisse. He is a 16-year veteran of perhaps the best-known farm-to-table restaurant in the country, which was founded by Alice Waters in 1971. Far from lamenting the growing popularity of the local food movement, Peternell celebrates it. “Luckily, more and more people are doing it,” he said. “We like to remind people that this is the way everyone ate until 100 years ago. Local and seasonal - you didn’t have much of a choice…” Happy to publicize the farms he sources from, Peternell listed them one by one, with the ingredients they buy from each. All except the organic pork, which Chez Panisse sources from Iowa, come from the restaurant’s local region in...

Yes, Vermonters, there is a hint of spring in the air--and that means homegrown rhubarb can't be far off. One day soon I'll spot a fuchsia knob pushing through the wet ground, the next day the leaves will be up and 10 days later the red stems will stand ready to start harvesting. It certainly makes me happy. Because rhubarb (after sour cherries, gooseberries and possibly golden raspberries) is my absolute favorite fruit. In my kitchen, rhubarb shows up in coffecakes, puddings like the clafoutis below, jams, two-crust pies and open-face tarts, plus a sorbet or two. I’ll even concoct rhubarb Bellinis (made with rhubarb syrup and a bottle of not-too-expensive bubbly) once it’s warm enough to...

In 2009, Bon Appetit magazine named Portland, Maine, the "Foodiest Small Town in America," and it's not hard to see why. Unique restaurants, bakeries, cafes and bars abound, many of them offering up local fare that goes far beyond the Maine lobster. I headed up to Portland recently for my birthday, which happened to coincide with a special beer release at the Allagash Brewing Company. My beer-geek boyfriend was more enthusiastic about the early-morning drive up to Portland than I, but the beer in question intrigued me: brewed with dandelion greens and elderberries, Vrienden—as it’s fondly called—is tart, fruity and earthy. By the way, Vrienden is Flemish for “friend”! Allagash Brewing...

For three lively, food-filled days between March 17 and 19, the sixth annual FamilyFarmed EXPO brought together sustainable food movement leaders, good food advocates and others to promote locally grown and responsibly produced food. Presented by FamilyFarmed.org, a Chicago-based organization dedicated to expanding the production, marketing and distribution of good food, the EXPO, held at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), was a combined trade show, conference and food festival celebrating the local food movement. Known as the Midwest’s premier good food event, it featured renowned speakers, networking opportunities, workshops, demonstrations and delicious local food from small...

I heard the new cover by the Avett Brothers of the old John Prine song 'Spanish Pipedream' on the radio yesterday. It's the one where "a level-headed dancer" counsels a soldier on his way to Montreal to "blow up your TV, plant a little garden and eat a lot of peaches." I've always loved that line about the peaches. The song was originally released on Prine's first and self-titled album in 1971, back when most peach varieties, even the peaches sold by the crate at the supermarket, had serious peach fuzz. The fuzz was thick, like close-cropped velveteen. Today's commercial varieties are practically fuzz-free and have more of a matte finish. Scent memories remain the sharpest, and I can still...

Last week, First Lady Michelle Obama addressed the Grocery Manufacturers Association to emphasize the importance of producing healthy, affordable foods to reduce childhood obesity. Mrs. Obama asked that the major food manufacturers take responsibility for improving their offerings in grocery stores by improving food labels and reducing salt and fat in the products they sell. With the national consciousness trending more and more toward healthy food consumption, big businesses are taking note. Several major food companies including PepsiCo, Kraft Foods and ConAgra have since announced that significant and voluntary improvements will be made in the nutritional value of their products in...