15 Oct Close to Home
Much has been made in the past few years about “organic,” “free-range,” “local,” “seasonal,” “pesticide-free” and “all-natural” foods. It’s heartening to see that many Americans are paying more careful attention to their food choices, and seeking out produce, meat and dairy products that are better for them than the mass-produced products they ate from supermarkets while growing up; but with so many terms in play, it’s easy to be confused – and worse yet, deceived – about just what is going into the foods we eat. By now, I think most people have realized that the buzzword “organic” may or may not assure they’ll get something that was farmed with the care, love and purity of the traditional farmer. Even huge agribusinesses and retailers like Wal-Mart have started offering at least some portion of their products with an “organic” label.
Our focus here at the Gilded Fork has always been on celebrating the sensual pleasures of food; for us, that can only mean maintaining a respect for seasonal products at their natural peak of ripeness, which is expressed in our featured ingredients. We choose both our Main Ingredient and our Indulgence because those products are at their natural height of perfection when we highlight the joy they bring to our kitchen and table. For example, the pumpkin is a logical featured ingredient in October, since it is the month we most associate with hard winter squash. Luckily, though, the recipes we’ve created to feature the pumpkin will serve you well throughout the winter when using various types of winter squash, most varieties of which will last through the season. Even more importantly, those squash provide us with the beta-carotene and other minerals we need throughout the long winter months. Our Indulgence this month is pecans, which are being harvested even as I write this. A friend of mine is living in an intentional community in rural Georgia this fall, and he tells me that he has spent the last several days picking pecans in their extensive orchard.
So the way we prefer to make sense of this myriad of choices is to choose local and seasonal products whenever possible, and this may not always mean buying “certified organic” products.
Matt Groves, Market Manager for the Inwood Greenmarket in New York City, says “Being certified organic is not what it used to be. State and federal governments have made farmers jump through so many hoops just to get certified that many of them don’t want to bother with the paperwork anymore. They practice organic methods, but they won’t be certified, because it’s just too much: too much paperwork. Many of our biodynamic farmers have gone a step beyond organic, but very few of them use pesticides anymore. Everybody here tries to do it natural as best they can.”
The bureaucratic and political process can get in the way of traditional farming, and actually puts the small organic farmer at a disadvantage to the large corporations who are certified organic, but who don’t use traditional methods. Groves explains, “Very few of our farmers use pesticides anymore. In this day and age the farmers don’t want their land damaged. If they screw up their fields and can’t plant on them for five years, they’re out a lot of money. So everyone here practices pretty good farming where pesticides are concerned.”
Consumers are now starting to embrace the concept of buying seasonally, but even in the “organic-minded” supermarket chains like Whole Foods and Wild Oats, you can get “organic” tomatoes in December that came from halfway around the world. “You go to Whole Foods, they’re buying strawberries out of Chile that say they’re organic. But how do you know?” Groves questions.
If you’re buying in a seasonally-focused way from local sources, you’re much more likely to get something that came from close by, and the market will bear a much lower price once fuel costs and transportation are filtered out of the mix. “We’re not the cheapest place, but in the peak of the season, these vegetables were in the field yesterday,” Groves says.
I have noticed that most every ingredient in the market, when in its natural season, is usually around $1-2 per pound, except for really labor-intensive produce. So by shopping locally and seasonally, not only are you supporting local farmers, you’re making a statement about the free market.
“There’s a reason for that. [Farmers] keep each other honest because one vendor can’t charge more than the other,” Groves explains. They also know that consumers will ask just how their produce is farmed: If pesticide-free is important to a shopper, you can bet that they will ask. And the farmers pay attention, especially in a tough market like New York City, where 8 million consumers are clamoring for local and seasonal produce and know that they have choices.
Some of the vendors in the New York City Greenmarkets count on WIC coupons (food stamps) valued at $2 each, which the city has approved for purchasing in the greenmarkets. “This farmer, for example, tries to keep his prices around the denomination of the WIC checks,” Groves explains, since he’s serving a particular population. Thus, many lower income families can now afford to shop locally and seasonally as well. “Some of our markets now even have the EBT machines, where you can swipe your WIC card.”
Groves says that according to the Council for the Environment of New York City, the umbrella organization that sponsors the city’s greenmarkets, “The definition of local is a 280 mile radius around New York City. This includes all the way to Vermont, Ithaca, Southern New Jersey and Massachusetts.” So local doesn’t always mean just within a few miles; what’s important, according to Groves, is that local means something that can reach the consumer within a few hours, early in the morning, so consumers can eat food that was picked within a day or two of arriving to market.
We share that same passion for seasonal, local eating, so you can count on us to continue featuring products that are seasonally appropriate. We hope that over time, and with careful attention to what is at the market in your region, we can help you to understand just when each ingredient is at its peak where you are, and simply avoid any products which are not in season. After all, though we may hanker for a tomato in the dead of winter, we know that even a lovely organic Chilean tomato can’t taste nearly as good in February after sitting in a dark container for a journey of a few thousand miles. We’d rather wait for next July, when we can wander outside with a salt shaker and bite into a chin-dripper of our own.