A Sweet Spoonful

When I was eating my blueberries and kefir this morning, I noticed a label on the blueberry container: “Who Grew These Blueberries? Please visit www.oregonberry.com, click the lot code printed on the front of this label and find out information about the grower.” Wow. Really? Well, I did just as the directions instructed and was led to the smiling face of Paul H. Coussen’s Farm in Oregon. Now Paul grew up in Belgium, but came to Hillsboro Oregon when he was young and his grandparents started farming. You get the idea. I sat there and stared at Paul and the picture of his verdant country road the entire time I ate my breakfast. Pretty incredible.

On a related note, yesterday I was interviewing the new proprietress of Her Majesty’s Secret Beekeeper, Cameo Woods, for a project I’m working on. If you haven’t yet heard of her shop: she just opened in the Mission and sells local, artisan honey, beekeeping supplies, and anything derived from the honey process (beeswax, candles etc.) Cameo was telling me that honey actually tastes drastically different depending on the neighborhood in which the bees live–and eat–(for example, Castro honey would taste far different than Glen Park honey). Really?

Now living in the Bay Area, I have to remind myself that the rest of the country isn’t necessarily as interested in the local, sustainable food movement. It’s big here. I get daily tweets and emails about it. My weekend running partners talk about the best local tomatoes and who sells them. When I went to see Food Inc., I was sitting in the theater amongst aging hippies who were nodding and “here here-ing” and somehow wishing it could reach a different audience. We’re already sold. I loved Food Inc., but I knew much of the information already. However, there’s something about it that has stayed with me.

I keep thinking about certain scenes (the cool farmer who does everything himself, the politics of Walmart and organic food) and lately, on a daily level, I’m seeing signs that people really do want to know where their food comes from. People want to know that Paul grew their morning berries and they want to discern the taste difference between their neighborhood honey and honey from up North. They get to know the farmers at their favorite farmer’s market booths and are eschewing foods with too many ingredients for less-packaged, processed goods. Heck, Starbucks just unveiled a new pastry line without trans fats or high fructose corn syrup. Is all of this background knowledge too much? Information over-load? Maybe for some. But with the increase in cancers, illnesses, and allergies, wouldn’t it be nice to feel like we have a little more knowledge? A little more power? Instead of just crossing our fingers that our Trader Joe’s lettuce has, in fact, been triple-washed like it says, we could really know for sure that our lettuce was picked that morning, drove five miles, and sold two hours later by Jemma from Guerneville. Just a thought.

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