I've now made Fresh Mozzarella twice! and shared with friends who (i won't try to be humble) said it was AMAZING. it really tasted real. its exciting. I've been on a quest for goats milk to make goat cheese and I met a woman at a farmers market on sunday who was selling goats milk soap and in a month when her babies are weened will be hooking me up with some goats milk that legally "won't be used for consumption" when i buy it. I've been learning how hard the regulations are for small farmers to be able to sell their milk and thus cheese.
Another interesting twist is I have traveled home last minute for car repairs to Vermont. Let me just say the food terrain is a whole new territory. I met my dad in Burlington at City Market to food shop for dinner and grab a bite to eat. The most exciting find? MUSHROOMS!! So exciting, I've been missing them big time. I heard the guy who grooms them is super awesome and has just big rooms of mushrooms growing. I want to try growing some myself.....and meet him......and have rooms of mushrooms....... I was also happy to get some local 7 grain flour. What else did i notice in a local independent, yet decently sized health food store in Vermont? Much more selection. Vermont makes a ton more food than Mass. I found several locally made tomato sauces, many yogurts and milks, several varieties of tomatoes (but at $5.99 per lb i passed), parsnips, potatoes, tons of beers and wines, and too many cheeses to choose from! I didn't even have time to look at everything. I did however notice where foods were from were not labeled as well as places around boston. they has some local signs, but not all local products were pointed out and the signs were rather plain. I wonder if the local phenomenon is not as obsessive as mass or perhaps the people who shop at the co-op know their product and know whats local already... interesting to think about. City Feed and Sherman Market in the boston area are lovely, but i wish there was a bigger local market that could really compete with the big supermarkets. I would say the two independent health food stores in burlington are the same size if not bigger than the whole foods down the street from my house in brighton. This raises a local issue to vermont is whole food moving into burlington. With two existing decently sized independent health food stores in burlington many are concerned with how much business can the queen city sustain? (no pun intended) People can only eat so much, and there is only so much business to be had in the little city of about 30,000, and thus wholefoods with take away business from the local markets. Most people reading this aren't from around vermont so I won't go on, but if you are interested check out this article: http://www.7dvt.com/2009big-fish
This also brings up a discussion on whole foods in general. I'm starting to learn more about the food system and what would be helpful to remedy it, so I will meditate on it all some more before discussing it. I do know that at this time of year I can buy very little from a store that boasts such abundance.
Local Things I have been able to find at whole foods in the last 5 1/2 weeks:
-milk, eggs, yogurt (once), pasta (once), Tomato Sauce and Pesto (once), apples, cider, flour, tomatoes, fair trade chocolate.
Ok that list doesn't look super meager but really besides the milk and eggs, I'm unable to get the bulk of my food Whole Foods. That question has been popping up a lot when i tell people about my project, "Where do you get your food?" These days I mostly go to a farmers market once a week. This has turned out to far superior to driving all over the city to different specialty stores. I get better prices that go directly to the farmer, who I can directly meet and create a relationship with, better and wider selection of food, and I only need to go to one place which reduces my traveling.
dinner from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.
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