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The local food economy is entering a completely new chapter with such seemingly unlikely partners as St. Joseph Mercy Hospital of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Leading edge, innovative hospitals such as St. Joseph’s are working to incorporate more local, sustainably grown produce into their menus and food systems. Things quickly become complicated due to the sheer amount of food that is prepared and the time needed for prepping. For instance the soup du jour for 600 people is 65 gallons. The ingredients needed in one just day’s vegetable soup would require hours of prepping and chopping, but is supplied by the current food distribution system already pre-washed, sliced, diced or cubed and ready for the cooking process. As an example, the green beans sourced from a local grower – 200 pounds of them – required 8 hours of washing, snipping, stringing and slicing to prep for that day’s evening meal. Even though the food was sustainable, the processing wasn’t as the kitchen isn’t equipped to handle that amount of prep work on a continuous, daily basis.

There is a tremendous enthusiasm and pressure from consumers of all sizes for more local food. These consumers aren’t just the mom and dad at the farmer’s market on Saturday, but are increasingly including the large scale commercial consumers such as hospitals, universities and large businesses that are looking to satisfy their customers and employees desire for better tasting, more healthy, local food. This is a good, or possibly great thing, if it can be handled to benefit everyone in the equation. One of the biggest challenges for local food economies is that the commercial consumers have been set up to take advantage of the industrial food distributors efficiency and convenience. They are the keystones as to why and how large distributors reign supreme in this market. Everything shows up prepped and ready to use – something that isn’t even thought of in the local food model. Granted, there can be some improvements in the commercial consumers kitchens, as most of them do not have any facilities set up for any prepping whatsoever. This can be remedied, but takes dollars, forethought, planning, construction and time to accomplish.

Farmer’s markets are an important piece of building the local food system, but they are still such a small part of the entire US food production – less than 1 percent for the just over 7,000 markets across the country- that significant growth and positive impacts for the legion of local growers can be realized by connecting small and mid-sized local farms with these institutional, commercial consumers in their local communities. Even very small changes in the purchasing patterns of these consumers can have major changes in the local food system, as an average sized hospital’s food budget can easily top $4 million annually. Just 1% of that is $40,000 that would stay in the local food system, making a huge positive impact. A more realistic figure of 2 – 3% purchasing change means $80,000 – $120,000 going into the local grower’s systems. What benefits and opportunities can you see $80,000 having on your local farmer’s market and local food network?

There are a couple of workable solutions to the questions of efficient local food distribution to make life easier for these larger customers. One is a regional food distribution hub, which some models have proven successful and others have failed in different regions of the country. Another is a co-operative system that partners with a smaller, regional food distribution system that is already in place, effectively adding a “local, sustainable food” section to it’s inventory of supplies and services. There are still others that bear examining and evaluating to see if they would work for a particular need or application.

There are a growing number of institutions just like St. Joseph’s who are responding to their customer’s desires and needs by putting their not inconsiderable moral, ethical and financial weight behind new local food initiatives. The market is there, it just needs some evaluating, adjustments and planning to make it happen, with hugely beneficial results for both the growers who can create the relationships and supply the needs as well as the institutional consumers that can broadcast the triumphs of inter-weaving local, healthy, sustainable food into their menus.

A New Prescription For the Local Food Movement

by Stephen Scott

Garden Advice

Terra Madre, Salone del Gusto and International Congress

Slow Food Terra Madre 2012

Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2012

Here is where we will document our trip to Turin, Italy to attend Slow Food Terra Madre 2012, so watch this Topic/Category for updates. We are International Congress delegates, which is a separate conference at the end of Terra Madre for Slow Food leaders worldwide to discuss the direction of Slow Food globally. It is held every 5 years. This is the first year the International Congress is being held concurrently with Terra Madre.

We are honored to have been selected, especially as International Congress delegates. We will be meeting with local, sustainable food leaders from across the world to exchange ideas, challenges and successes and plan a way forward for a sustainable food economy based on the Slow Food precepts of “good, clean and fair”. This is some truly ground-breaking, leading edge work and we are excited to be a part of it. We will be attending the full Terra Madre event before the Congress starts.

There are a couple of distinctions for this event:

Terra Madre is the place where workshops, meetings, demonstrations and panel discussions take place. There are over 100 Taste Workshops and Meet the Maker events where people are guided through regional tastings by international experts. There is also many different Theatres of Taste where chefs prepare their signature dishes in front of the audience, demonstrating their unique approaches and discussing influences. Internationally acclaimed chefs from around the world put on special Dinner Dates where they prepare their specialties for a very small group of people. You can watch a short YouTube clip of the 2009 Terra Madre.

Salone del Gusto is an international market and showcase for food communities from around the world. Three pavilions of the Lingotto Exhibition Center will be dedicated to Italy, while the adjacent Oval Olympic Arena will host producers from all five continents. Special areas will be serving Italian regional dishes, while Terra Madre cooks will be preparing ethnic specialties and street food that will highlight the diversity of gastronomic heritages from around the world. The area will host around 1,000 exhibitors from 100 countries. Arriving from Africa, North America, South America, Europe and Asia, local food producers will once again be the stars of the event, offering cheeses, cured meats, fish, breads, sweets, grains, honeys, fruits and vegetables from 50 different countries.

2012 marks the first time that Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto have been hosted in the same place and are also the first time the events are open to the public. In previous years, only Slow Food members were invited. This is also the first time that the International Congress is occurring at the same time, as it meets once every 5 years. This year will truly be a special event! There are estimates of around 200,000 people will attend one of the events, so we will be busy.

by Stephen Scott