A Local Folkus » food

Central Florida Sustainable Food Project and Guide

John — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:30:30 +0000

Last night at Stardust Cafe I attended a meeting of the “local food” pioneers behind an exciting Local Food Map project. Chief among these pioneers were: Tia Meer (Simple Living Institute), Andrew Landis (CFL Regional Planning Council) and Lance Turner (AeonBlu/Ourlando). These leaders are at the helm of a truly exciting initiative for our local food system.

Their vision is for the continued development of the Central Florida Sustainable Food Project which includes a detailed database of the area’s farmers and producers as well as the retailers, restaurateurs and the general consumers of our locally produced meats, veggies and goods.

Their hope is to launch a print version of the Local Food Guide and an online search able database format by early spring next year. The may be able to do a soft launch of the web application as soon as this fall. Perhaps we can have a little launch ceremony / ribbon cutting at the Nov 20th Winter Park Harvest Festival. There a ton of way to get involved with this exciting project. Please stop by the Facebook page and become a fan of the project and you can stay abreast of the latest on the Simply Living Institute’s website as well.

I hope to see you at the next meeting.

Slow Money National Gathering 2010 Slide Show

John — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:03:59 +0000

I’m working on a proper write-up of the Slow Money Gathering but there is just so much to say. Until I can wrap my head around it here are my pictures from my 3 day visit to Shelburne Farms and the Hadwick, VT farm tours.

Audio of our interview with Slow Money founder Woody Tasch.

John — Thu, 27 May 2010 16:19:04 +0000

The audio of yesterday’s interview with Woody Tasch is now online and you can listen below.

As always joining Julie and Jeremy in the WPRK studio is always a pleasure but yesterday’s interview was particularly incredible. Slow Money is such a great “catch-all” for me. About 85% of my posts have to do with food and in particular our local food system and the consumers and producers that make it all happen.

I can think of no greater investment of my time and finances then to support our local food producers. There are so many local consumers who have never tasted a real vine ripe tomato or who settle for produce the ripened on a cross country truck rather than down the street. Slow Money is the perfect combination of ethos and praxis and our interview with Woody should have a little bit of something for everyone.

Hope you enjoy!

Slow Money National Gathering

John — Tue, 18 May 2010 14:53:47 +0000

If you read any of the “green” leaning blogs in Central Florida chances are good you’ve heard about the book and movement Slow Money. Well this summer from June 9th – 11th I’ll be up at the Slow Money’s National Gathering in Vermont to brush shoulders with and learn from some of our nation’s most progressive thinkers.

“Slow money is a new way of connecting investors to local food systems. A new way of connecting money, culture and the soil. A new kind of social investing and philanthropy for the 21st century.”

There are so many things already happening in Central Florida that are a model of the Slow Money ethos and how it stimulates local economies, food systems and entrepreneurship. We are doing a great job investing our social and economic capital in sustainable and thoughtful ventures that provide quality products and services to our local community.

Speaking of which, Dandelion Communitea Cafe and Homegrown Co-op both ranked in the top 10 in the recent Slow Money Business contest. Kudos to Julie and Emily for these recognitions as well as giving so much more of yourselves and your businesses than profit alone would dictate.

It is my hope that other Central Floridians will make the trek to the national gathering so that we can draw strength and encouragement from like minded Americans and bring back new insights for our burgeoning Slow Money movement.

Please let me know if you’re going and likewise for those of you who can’t I will be sure to blog all about it. Please click on the image above or on this link to get more information about the Gathering.

Urban Farmer’s Market Thrives in Miami

John — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:34:05 +0000

Having lived in Miami years ago it is heartening to see a story like this. We are so close to having something like this in Central Florida. With the success of our community gardens it is only a matter of time until we could have a proper Urban CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). CNN thanks for the inspiration.

I’m a Scot and proud of it! Central Florida Scottish Highland Games

John — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:40:03 +0000

I am a proud member of the MacGregor clan and an avid attendee of Central Florida’s Scottish Highland Games (CFSHG) festival each year. If you have never been to a highland games you are missing quite a spectacle. Great food, Excellent brew, superb music, top notch athletic competition, high stepping highland dancing and medieval weaponry demonstrations – I ask you – Who could ask for more?

We’re heading out to the festival this weekend to partake in our annual Scottish pilgrimage. If you were following our Twitter feed this summer you would have noticed that we were up in Antigonish, Nova Scotia for the longest running North American Scottish Highland games. It is only fair to say that as “authentic” as that Antigonish festival is the Central Florida Scottish Highland Games is far more enjoyable. It is hard to peg exactly why but we love that CFSHG serves meat pies, has instruments and clan gear for sale, brings in world class Celtic rock bands like Enter the Haggis to rock the center stage and with Dunedin Brewing in house pouring the best ales it is just hard to compete with no matter how un-authentic a “highland games” may seem amidst the flatland of Florida.

Click here for details and hope to see you there. I’ll be in my McGregor kilt with a baby girl strapped to my chest.

How now should we eat: Michael Pollan and the Rule of Food

John — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:57:24 +0000

If you’ve been following the Locavore Movement for any length of time then you will surely be familiar with the name Michael Pollan. Well, thanks to a timely Tweet I caught him being interviewed on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart yesterday. He was promoting his newest book “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual“. In his previous book “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto” he expounded on the simple mantra “To be healthy, Humans should eat food, not too much and mostly plants“. With such a simple mantra you’d expect a short book. However as the page count grew and as Pollan expounded on the travails of industrial food system I began to realize that his simple mantra was an impregnable ideal.

To that end, to help demystify how to eat ethically, healthfully and to avoid the “edible food like substances” being marketed to us, Pollan has come to our rescue with a pocket sized “eater’s manual.” It is a shame that an eater’s manual is even necessary but when our local grocery store offerings are 85% processed, non-whole food, food substitutes, finding the genuine article can be like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. So I’m going to pick the book up tomorrow and will write a proper review once I’ve given it a read, but to tide you over below is his interview on the Daily Show. Enjoy and eat consciously.

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Eat Local Week January 25th – 31st – A Slow Food Orlando Event

John — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:23:22 +0000

If you follow me on Twitter or have checked into any of my blogs over the last few years you would undoubtedly have heard me championing the work of Slow Food Orlando. Back in 2007 when I filmed a documentary about the burgeoning Local Food movement in Central Florida, I had the good fortune to cross pas with Slow Food Orlando’s Vice President Rebecca Reise-Miller. You can catch her segment of the documentary at the 20 minute mark.

Since meeting Rebecca, Kamrin and I have made an effort to both attend Slow Food events as well as incorporate many of its tenants into our family’s food practices. We now have a 300 Sft vegetable garden where we grow our own produce organically and with heirloom varieties. We also have made an effort to buy from artisan and locally sourced food producers like Big Wheel Provisions, Olde Hearth Bakery, Wild Ocean Seafood, Lake Meadow Naturals, Winter Park Dairy, Winter Park Honey and others.

Eating locally is more than just buying food that is at the peak of freshness and not shipped cross country from California, more importantly it is about supporting our local food economy, its community and its unique culture. By doing so it becomes normal to know your producers, to build relationship with the local farmers who supply your free-range eggs and organically grown produce and to know that you are getting the highest quality food for your food dollar. By supporting the “local” farmer’s markets like Audubon Park Community Market you are strengthening the bonds that connect each of us to the land from which our food comes and to the caring hands that provided these food stuffs for our consumption.

Slow Food in an effort to champion this vital connection is sponsoring an Eat Local Week January 25th – 31st. Below is an excerpt from their promotional materials for this event. You can be sure Kamrin and I will be fully supporting this week long event and you can expect to see a few write ups and videos on our site about it. So take a look at the excerpt below and let us know in the comments what you are doing to participate in Eat Local Week. Following an excerpt is a video of the mother of America’s Slow Food movement Alice Waters to give you a bit more insight into what Slow Food is all about.

EAT LOCAL WEEK - January 25th – 31st

Participate in a week-long celebration promoting connection, community, culture and cuisine in Central Florida. Grab your family, friends and neighbors and head to participating dining establishments during the last week of January, 2010

Goals of Eat Local Week:

Emphasize that eating local in Central Florida is not only possible, it’s delicious –  The Eat Local Week definition of “local” is anything within 200 miles of Orlando’s city center. Featured farmers and artisans for Eat Local week come from as far away as Clewiston.

Help local restaurants, farmers and artisans to develop lasting, mutually beneficial relationships –  Slow Food Orlando wants to see locally owned and operated farms and restaurants succeed. By facilitating relationship building between Central Florida dining establishments, farmers, ranchers, and artisans we hope to help businesses grow and become more profitable.

Build consumer awareness of local food and farmers, and promote reconnection with family and friends around the dinner table –  Slow Food is all about taking the time to savor the food we eat and the people we share it with. When our food is produced in a sustainable, responsible and consciences manner it is healthier for the environment and healthier for us.

Raise awareness about the importance of a local food economy and keeping money in our community –  Purchasing food direct from producers or dining out at restaurants that feature locally grown ingredients cuts out the middle man and puts your money directly in the pocket of the people who produce your food. When you, the consumer, spend your money with local businesses those businesses reinvest your dollars in the community, thus contributing to a more sustainable future for Central Florida’s food system.

Click here to see a list of the 18 or so participating restaurants.