Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Sat, 12 Jul 2008 22:29:00 GMT
I love it when I’m driving home, listening to NPR, and they begin talking about my favorite subject: ice cream. What I love EVEN more is when they’re on my side. Such was the case earlier this week, as I was driving over the big mountain heading to my humble home. According to www.consumerist.com, there’s been some direct correllation between our country’s current financial crisis and food-WOW, you say, how on earth could that be? ;) Read on…
Big food corporations, like Kraft, Unilever, and others, who represent products such as cheese, soap, toothpaste, and yes, ice cream, have recently been caught red-handed! They have been slyly decreasing the size of many of their packaged goods without changing the copy on their packaging to alert the consumer to this new product size! The Consumerist is calling it "shrinkage," and aptly so. Apparently, Kraft’s once 11 slice package of Swiss cheese is now 10. And to make matters worse, the company is dressing up this new packaging choice as healthy, instead of calling it what it is: a response to cheap food prices that are now not so cheap anymore. In fact, the front of the package now exclaims, "sensibly sized portion." Excuse me, but AS IF!
Ice cream tubs from Breyers and Edy’s have decreased in size from approximately 1.75 quarts to 1.5 quarts. The only thing that these food companies are required to change about their packaging is the weight. So unless you’re a savant (The Consumerist’s clever phrasing, not mine), how could you possibly be able to memorize everything you buy in the store in ounces?
Now all of this might seem moot lest I reveal the real kicker behind this new shrinkage method. All of the products are decreasing in size, but the prices are staying the same. Cereal boxes are smaller, margarine-yuck!-containers are smaller, and so on, but they all cost the same. I don’t know about you, but this pisses me off. How is this fair? Why are big corporations allowed to do this without any reprimanding?
They are trying to pull the wool over our eyes, and the sad part is, it’s just now that we’re starting to notice.
What are some ways that we can avoid being part of this shrinking trend?? Buy less at the grocery store, and more at your local Farmer’s Market. Farmer’s Markets are stronger than ever this season. In our area alone we have many to choose from each week, so there should be no excuse not to frequent many.
Perfect Flavor has just started participating in many area markets as well. In fact, this upcoming week we’ll be at Whole Foods on Tuesday, and Meade Park in Charlottesville. There are many more to come as well, so stay tuned.
For information regarding Farmer’s Markets in our direct Charlottesville/Shenandoah/Nelson area, pick up a Buy Fresh, Buy Local Guide, now available in the Shenandoah Valley as well! For much more information on D.C./Maryland Farmer’s Markets, pick up the most recent issue of Edible Chesapeake, out in every Whole Foods in the Chesapeake region, and it’s free! (We also made the issue this Summer, which we’re very proud of here at Perfect Flavor!)
Thanks for doing your part!
Tags farmer, food, kraft, local, markets, s, shrinkage, unilever | 1 comment
Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:47:00 GMT
This question is becoming increasingly popular. And the answer, unfortunately, seems a difficult one to find depending on who you talk to. According to Harris Teeter here in Charlottesville, "locally grown" signifies (oh the horror!) anything grown in the entire United States! Even more horrifying, (as if this fact doesn’t already deter the true local eater): the flashy sign does not in any way explain where in the US the piece of produce was grown. How awfully off course this grocery store chain is in terms of local consuming.
A different approach, one could argue, would be a "local consumer" website. Better World Betty, widely known here in Charlottesville, is a shining example of this. The site’s hostess, Betty, leads us on a tour of local businesses in the area that have her blessing in terms of green consuming. She also offers advice to the visitor on how to live a greener life in general. While the site is on the right track, I have to admit that I feel like it misses what I think is the goal of the local consumer. For instance, a number of bakeries are listed on the site, encouraging us locals to support locally owned businesses. That’s great, and I think we should all support as many local businesses as possible. But for me, this does not fit into the idea of eating or buying locally that I’m going for. The cookies are made on site, yes. But does the flour come from a local flour mill? Does the fruit come from a local berry farm? That’s the question that I’m more concerned about.
Now, thank goodness, we’ve got a new site in town! Locallectual.com is a great tool for those of us who want to buy locally from businesses that buy locally. Get it? Now, not every business Locallectual lists creates its products from materials derived locally on a state level, however it goes the furthest out of any other site I know in offering up business listings that keep their business in the US. Thank you, Locallectual!
So, these are your options. And, as it happens, these were the options I was faced with when the idea for Perfect Flavor was born. It first took me asking things like: where does this come from? How do I get it? And from there, I have designed a business that is as local as possible. From grain to tshirts (which are designed and printed in Manassas, VA using cotton from the US, and it is called Brand of the Free), we are not only a local business, but instead a local business that supports local business.
Tags food, local, tshirts | 1 comment
Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:10:00 GMT
Never did I imagine the many wonderful paths this business would take me on. Lately, it seems my paths have been more akin to dirt roads, filled with dusty gravel that has me thinking I’m all but lost-until all of sudden, I know I’m right where I should be.
The past two weeks have been fruit picking season. And when it comes to fresh, local fruit, I’m the first one to run to an orchard’s or farm’s opening on their very first day. Misty mornings warmed slowly by the sun welcome me to the joys of each new fruit I pick. And from blueberries to sweet cherries to raspberries, I find myself constantly in awe of the fact that these little berries were put here for our sheer enjoyment.
Not that I am your typical restaurant buyer, meaning mostly that I work directly with my growers, but what’s more-I put myself in direct contact with the bushes and trees from which my fruit is born. (And I do have the scars to prove it!) Each morning before I begin my ice cream making afternoons, I venture out to a different farm, where I hand-pick whatever fruit I intend on using that day. Free Union Berry Farm is a favorite of mine, and quite serendipitously it is right down the street from my house. Twelve pints later, and with the help of my two diligent (and hungry) step-kids and fiance, I found myself still reaching deep into the raspberry bush for that perfectly ripe berry, each one better than the one before. It’s an incredible experience to be able to both hand-pick and work with fruit on the very same day. Needless to say our raspberry sorbet sitting in our store today won’t be there for long.
Then were the cherries. Wow. If you haven’t had the chance to visit Spring Valley Orchard yet, you’ve got 2-3 more weeks. On the drive there, it is understandable to worry that you may have, in fact, gotten yourself and your family members lost-however-push on! Through winding dirt roads and tree canopies lies a beautiful, very open valley where the cherry orchard resides The beauty alone is reason enough to get in the car and go, but the cherries are equally as sweet, refreshing and enlivening. To find out more, visit www.chilespeachorchard.com and click on the far right link: "Spring Valley Orchard" for directions and hours.
Finally, yesterday my fervent stepson and I awoke at the frightful Summer hour of 7 am to go pick what’s left of the blueberries. When we arrived, the air was cool and wet, and the bushes were shaking off their morning’s dew. As the sun began to climb over the trees that were providing us shade, we witnessed the berries ripening before our eyes, practically turning more and more blue by the minute. We picked as fast as we could, especially because I was on a deadline to get Nick to camp by 9:30. In the end we were a little late, but in my opinion picking local blueberries fresh from the farm is a fantastic excuse to be late no matter where you’re going or who you are.
Come by our store and try these delicately ripe flavors before they’re all gone. And if you miss us this week or the next, you can still look forward to huckleberry ice cream, alpine strawberry sorbet, and peach sweet cream. If that doesn’t make you want to jump in your car and pick your own, I don’t know what will!
For more information on where to find "pick-you-own" farms, contact me at lynsie@perfectflavor.com.
Recipe for Fresh Raspberry Sorbet
3 pints freshly-picked raspberries (or any in-season fruit you like!)
Simple Syrup (1 1/2 cups sugar melted with 3 cups water)
Combine sugar and water, bring to a boil, and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add raspberries. Let sit until cool, process in a blender or food processor, and strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Freeze bright red juice in an ice cream maker, or pour juice into popsicle molds, freeze, and enjoy! For extra fun…add 1/4 cup champagne for a little extra sizzle.
Tags and, farms, fruit, local, orchards, own, pick, raspberry, recipe, sorbet, your | no comments
Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:21:00 GMT
Two nights ago, Colin and I were fortunate enough to participate in a very special dinner. The dinner, hosted by PEC (Piedmont Environmental Council-the Buy Fresh Buy Local Campaigners) and prepared by Jonathan Hayward in his restaurant, Toliver House, was an exquisite event which drew quite the crowd of locally-minded folks. Every aspect of the four-course meal was local. From the meat to the cheese to the wine to the herbs to the whiskey-local, local, local. What better time of year to enjoy the amazing things that come from Earth and are so well-nurtured by our farmers and chefs.
We got the lucky job of bringing our very own ice cream, which I must say made me quite proud. Interspersed throughout each course were the farmers and winemaker, who would discuss the origins of the food on our plates, and the struggles and triumphs that mingle together when owning and operating a farm in Virginia. There’s nothing quite like shaking the hand of the farmer who hours before pulled the very beets out of the ground that you’re happily digesting.
When it came time to discuss our ice cream and serve it around to the 50 guests, I was feeling perfectly content surrounded by such like-minded individuals. Finally, I had a captive audience that had an innate understanding of what it is we’re creating at Perfect Flavor. They understood our struggles, and rejoiced in our triumphs. And then they ate the ice cream. All of it.
When I say I’m an artist, people ask me how I feel about my work being constantly created for the purpose of destruction. I don’t see it that way. We are what we eat, so I believe my art lives on long past its shelf-life.
Visit Erika Howsare’s C-Ville Weekly blog, "This Just In" to find out who exactly was there and to learn more about how to find this local food on your own, and how to become involved in PEC. Membership is an easy $25 and goes a long way. Look for more of these dinners to come!
http://www.c-ville.com/index.php?cat=1991704080566501&act=post&pid=12031106083061366
www.pecva.org
Tags cream, Cville, farmers, food, gourmet, House, ice, local, PEC, Toliver, Weekly | no comments
Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Mon, 19 May 2008 13:31:00 GMT
Just an observation…
The other day I was in the grocery store (Harris Teeter) and I noticed something odd. Over the past few years, but especially the past few months, I’ve noticed the grocery chain’s introduction of locally made food items. I’ve seen things like jams and jellies, mostly. There’s Route 11 chips, of course…and lately, there’s even been an artisanal bread maker from Richmond selling sandwich loaves. It’s pretty fantastic to see at least some locally made foods for the choosing.
Sadly, I’ve noticed something else-quite appalling, really. The locally produced food has been moving, slowly and methodically, to the back of the store. In one case, there’s even a stand of jams that’s currently sitting in a dark "employees only" entrance. (Specifically next to the fish counter, on the right hand side closest to the juices and "fresh" fruit.) If I were deciding between my cheaply priced Smuckers jam and the normally priced locally made jam, there’s no doubt that the latter’s creepy location would deter me entirely from even approaching. This, to me, is devestatingly sad. As far as I’m concerned, what the grocery store is saying to me is, "We don’t care about this local food because the markup isn’t as high, so let’s sell as little as possible so that we can drop the account and stick with our cheap ingredient-based staples." Sigh. It really does make me sad. What are we going to do when gas prices get so high that Smuckers will inevitably have to raise their prices? I don’t want our turn to purchasing local food to be one of obligatory action, but instead one of well-thought out choice in an effort to support our local farmers.
What can we do? We can start by approaching the manager of any grocery store, and requesting specific brands of food. We can ask our friends to do the same. The way it seems to go is that the manager/buyer will respond to a collective request. But be sure that if we ask for it, and then we don’t make an effort to buy it, "it" will be gone quicker than you can find it!
Posted in Sustainability | Tags artisanal, bread, food, grocery, in, jam, local, season, store | no comments
