This Thursday we went to see "Food, Inc." at the Angelika in Plano. All I can say is, for those who like to eat, this movie is a must see. All during the movie I kept thinking how lucky we are in Coppell to have a Farmers Market with pastured meats and local and organic produce. Most of the narration was by Michael Pollan and they had a few segments at Joel Salatin's farm where he has free range pigs and chickens. What a difference from the industrial scale chicken farms and the gigantic slaughterhouses that process most of the meat we buy in the grocery stores.
I don't have time or space to get into the other issues they brought up such as exploitation of illegal immigrants by these large operations and companies like Monsanto dominating corn and soybean agriculture with their genetically engineered crops.
Somewhat surprising was their gentle treatment of Walmart and their efforts to sell organic products in their stores. Some Walmart executives were visiting a farm that had pastured beef and they were quite honest in explaining why they were there. They said that it was because this is what shoppers are asking for so they see it as a money making enterprise.
This just illustrates a very important point. The more the customer demands this kind of food and goes out of their way to buy it, the more available and inexpensive it will be.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Summer Is Here!
Hot, Hot, Hot! Summer is here with the sound of cicadas and all. Everyone was putting up their canopies over their “farmers’ market shop” last Saturday to sell in the shade. Some like it hot, because it reminds them of lazy summers past or vacations. Some like to come to the Coppell Farmers’ Market because it reminds them of a vacation to stroll through the market talking with others and buying special treats.
My treat was the organic Cherokee Purple tomatoes just ripened in the summer sun at Oak Ridge Valley Farms. This choice heirloom tomato is grown for its superior flavor and not for a perfect tomato look. It is a large, irregular-shaped reddish-green tomato with a purple cast. Gene Holmes grew some this summer because last year a customer at the Coppell Farmers’ Market visited with him about their wonderful flavor. You will never see one in grocery stores because it is not a traveling tomato.
What? A traveling tomato? No, it is not a tomato going on vacation; it is a tomato that has been hybridized to withstand the conventional food system of mass planting, packing, transportation, and storage. All this before it is available in the grocery stores. It looks good, but where is the flavor and that touch of summer sun?
Shopping at a farmers’ market is a “hot” topic in health, environment, economy, and communities, designating that local is better. Fortunately, in 2003, a group of citizens and the City of Coppell envisioned a farmers’ market with the mission to form a relationship with local growers/producers in order to provide fresh, seasonal produce and agricultural products for our community while, fostering a sense of place in Old Town Coppell. Today, most of what is on your dinner plate travels 1500 miles, but if you shop at the Coppell Farmers’ Market you can cut that down by 90% and increase your healthy choices. During last summer’s tomato and pepper scare, shoppers at the Coppell Farmers’ Market were assured where their vegetables were raised and their money was paid directly to the grower. And this summer with more people getting to know their own kitchens, why not bring in the bountiful local harvests to bring back the memories of a visit to your cousins in the country?
By avanhooz@ci.coppell.tx.us
My treat was the organic Cherokee Purple tomatoes just ripened in the summer sun at Oak Ridge Valley Farms. This choice heirloom tomato is grown for its superior flavor and not for a perfect tomato look. It is a large, irregular-shaped reddish-green tomato with a purple cast. Gene Holmes grew some this summer because last year a customer at the Coppell Farmers’ Market visited with him about their wonderful flavor. You will never see one in grocery stores because it is not a traveling tomato.
What? A traveling tomato? No, it is not a tomato going on vacation; it is a tomato that has been hybridized to withstand the conventional food system of mass planting, packing, transportation, and storage. All this before it is available in the grocery stores. It looks good, but where is the flavor and that touch of summer sun?
Shopping at a farmers’ market is a “hot” topic in health, environment, economy, and communities, designating that local is better. Fortunately, in 2003, a group of citizens and the City of Coppell envisioned a farmers’ market with the mission to form a relationship with local growers/producers in order to provide fresh, seasonal produce and agricultural products for our community while, fostering a sense of place in Old Town Coppell. Today, most of what is on your dinner plate travels 1500 miles, but if you shop at the Coppell Farmers’ Market you can cut that down by 90% and increase your healthy choices. During last summer’s tomato and pepper scare, shoppers at the Coppell Farmers’ Market were assured where their vegetables were raised and their money was paid directly to the grower. And this summer with more people getting to know their own kitchens, why not bring in the bountiful local harvests to bring back the memories of a visit to your cousins in the country?
By avanhooz@ci.coppell.tx.us
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