CSA in NYC
The Locavore Way
Presenter: Amy Cotler
• She came at local food through flavor—as a chef
• She lived in NYC and shopped in farmers markets and knew that unless the food source was good the food wouldn’t taste good
• 1990 she moved to the country and started Berkshire Grown
• Now she works as a consultant doing farm to restaurant and farm to school
• She made a cookbook for school food service workers
Ways and reasons to be a locavore
o Factors to becoming a locavore
o Pleasure
o Relationships: to food, nature, farmer, community, regional economy, value
o Flavor
o Freshness
o Convenience
o Environment
o Bio diversity
o Cultural & culinary heritage
o Land conservation/workable landscape
o Food democracy
o Regional systems
o Labor conditions
o Economic Development
o Health
o Differences between types of food
o Integrated pest management (somewhere in between organic and conventional)
o Use as little spray as possible, as far away from when you eat it
o Use pest predators and natural deterrents to limit the use of pesticides
o Too wet in this region to go completely organic for fruit growing, thus most of the organic fruit available is from far far away
o Organic
o Grown, raised and produced by government rules
o Don’t stress the integrated management of farms
o Supported by big agribusiness
o Many farmers opt-out even if following the rules mostly or use other accreditation systems “naturally grown”
o Does not mean fresh
o Good to find a farmer you know and trust
o Local
o How to define what this is
o Distance? 100 miles? 250? Hard in the Northeast to just eat really local
o Biodynamics
o Takes into consideration all of the weaves of nature
o Whole farm thoughts and emotions
o Buying clubs
o Mostly meat, protein, dairy oriented
o Sometimes have monthly drops, sometimes once
o Usually frozen if meat
o Sometimes raw milk
o Food Coops
o Some of these have been slow to come into the local movement
o How to decide what to do?
o Educate yourself
o Make the best choices possible
o Remember all the ramifications of your choices
o You are supporting the things you buy with your bucks
o Advocacy
o COOL (Country of Origin Labeling)
o Things are required to have these labels
o Signage in stores—talk to your store about how they represent things
o Seasonal shopper—try to buy things that are in season and you will be a local shopper
o Agritourist—visit farms wherever you go, visit the farmers markets (Farm Based Education—has a national listing of farms you can visit
and learn)
o Buying food directly
o Indirectly—clubs, local stores, etc
o Get smart about dinning out (average American eats 50% out) Chef’s Collaborative helps find those; ask the waiter what’s local
o More cooking at home and sharing
o Have a party—cook local foods together
o WOOF program—work on an organic farm
o Send your kids to a farm
o Growing your own herbs
o Community garden
o Advocate for your farmers’ markets take food stamps and WIC
