The Flyover Foodies: You Don't Have to Live on a Coast to Eat Sustainably

March 03, 2010

You New Yorkers and Californians out there are so spoiled. Organic produce, gourmet restaurants dedicated to local food, year-round farmers' markets—you guys have it good.

All that access to sustainable food is easy to take for granted. I lived in San Francisco for three months, and by the end of my time there I had forgotten that not everyone can find fresh, organic, seasonal produce on every corner.

So after 90 blissful days in the land of Alice Waters, my subsequent move to Birmingham, Ala., was a shock to the system. Only one farmers' market in town? And it's only open on Saturdays from May to November? Wait—it doesn't even sell meat?

How's a food snob supposed to survive? 

By starting small.They may not be as easy to find, but there are farmers, restaurants, and other businesses doing really cool, really innovative things with sustainable food—in places that aren't New York or California. Let's call them the Flyover Foodies. Here are four worth watching:

Jones Valley Urban Farm, Birmingham, Ala.

Gotta start off with a hometown shout-out. Built on a vacant three-acre lot next to an interstate overpass and across the street from a public-housing project, JVUF has created an organic produce and flower farm in Birmingham's depressed downtown.

Jones Valley produce can be found on plates at some of the finest restaurants in town, but beyond that the farm is heavily invested in educating the community about organic gardening and agriculture. JVUF offers classes to and seminars ranging from two-hour garden-planning workshops to the semester-long Arts & Science of Agriculture Program, where students from the Alabama School of Fine Arts intern on the farm, doing field work (ha!) in botany, chemistry, and environmental science.

JVUF also rents 4-by-8-foot garden plots on the farm's grounds, so apartment-dwellers can grow some food of their own, aided by the staff's urban-farming expertise.

PieLab, Greensboro, Ala.

Sustainability isn't just about organic farming practices and locally sourced ingredients; there's a socioeconomic element, too. On Main Street in tiny Greensboro, Alabama, PieLab opened a coffee-and-pie shop with an ambitious goal: revitalizing the entire community.

Besides serving delicious pie (they use local and organic ingredients as much as possible, but not exclusively), PieLab offers part-time employment and job training to local high-school students through YouthBuild USA, and gives jobs to seniors through the state Area Agencies on Aging's Senior Employment Program.

PieLab also serves as an ersatz community center and design studio, working on development projects and business incubation across five West Alabama counties. This makes sense, as the whole thing is funded by Project M, a group of designers and other creative types using their talents for doing good; PieLab is seen as a prototype for similar projects in other communities.

Local Burger, Lawrence, Kans.

My foodie heart skipped a beat when I heard about this place. Right in the heart of GMO-grain-and-feedlot-cattle country, Local Burger serves a mostly organic, mostly local menu with prices no higher than an average sit-down burger joint.

Their beef, buffalo, elk, pork, turkey, hot dogs, cheddar, and even tofu are all sourced from within Kansas, and all the antibiotic- and hormone-free meats are humanely raised. (Their bacon, feta, and organic whole-wheat buns come from Iowa, Missouri, and Colorado, respectively.)

Kettle House Brewing Co., Missoula, Mont.

Between Big Sky and Kettle House, Missoula is quite the hotbed of artisanal beer production. But what sets Kettle House apart is the fact that all their brews come in cans.

Cans?! For microbrewed beer that's only available in western Montana?! Yes, and for an entirely eco-friendly reason: Aluminum cans are 100 percent recyclable. Plus, the aluminum Kettle House uses is already 80 percent recycled. If that's not enough, you can fill up your reusable glass growler at either of their taprooms.

Kettle House also uses only barley grown locally in Montana to brew their beer, and is a proud member of Missoula's Sustainable Business Council.

But is the beer any good? You can only get the stuff in Missoula, Whitefish, Kalispell, Bozeman, Helena, Butte, or Virginia City, but I'm lucky enough to have a friend at the University of Montana who sent me a couple six-packs. And I can tell you their Cold Smoke Scotch Ale is stellar, a malty brown ale with a perfect balance of sweet, roasty, and bitter notes. They also make several varieties of pale ale, an amber, a porter, and many seasonal brews, but most of those are only available at one of their two taprooms.

Your Town

So how does a flyover foodie find places like this in his or her own town? Your best bet is probably Slow Food. The international organization is devoted to maintaining regional food traditions and ingredients, and to the plain old enjoyment of good food (slow food is the opposite of fast food, get it?). Slow Food USA, the organization's American arm, has 208 local chapters outside of California and the Five Boroughs (and 46 inside them!), located everywhere from Tucson to Portland, Maine.

Contact your local chapter for info on sustainable organizations and events around town. If there isn't one nearby, start your own. Or check out Local Harvest, a searchable directory of farms, markets, and restaurants that support sustainability and the USDA's farmers' market directory. The most important thing is to create a community. If you find a group of like-minded folks and demand sustainable food sources, you're bound to find some.

View the article here.

www.takepart.com/news/2010/03/02/flyover-foodies

 

Additional Media: