Most of us have heard of the “slow food” movement, the “eat local” mantra, and the “eating sustainably” lifestyle, but the list of ways to dissociate yourself from the commercial food industry is growing. For example, check out Protein University, a website for independent/organic/sustainable butchers to network and learn from each other – one of these butchers might do business near you. Then there’s a growing industry of Organic Gardening Experts who can help you design your fruit and/or vegetable garden with your interests – be they aesthetic appeal or yield size – in mind. You’ve probably heard of local Community Supported Agriculture chapters, to which you can subscribe and from which you receive a box of locally grown produce each week. Too much produce for one week? Many people have taken to cooking large batches of food and swapping amongst a group of friends – voila, a variety of homemade dinners for a whole week. One perhaps lesser-known way to find locally and sustainably raised meats is to search databases like EatWild, which, upon entering your location information, provide names and locations of local ranchers and farmers who sell grass-fed beef, lamb, goat – you name it. There are also online databases like the EatWellGuide, which are dedicated to helping you find restaurants and farmers’ markets, and other websites like Organic Holidays that locate bed and breakfasts and other lodging that use local, organic, and sustainable ingredients. Photo of Tecumela Farmers’ Market in California captured by Chris Fritz. What are your favorite ways to obtain food outside of the commercial food industry?
A new kind of hamburger restaurant, 4food, opens in New York City at 40th and Madison Avenue this fall. This will be no regular burger joint: You will be able to custom-order your burger online, and there will be more than 140 million possible burger combinations. Employees will use iPads to take orders, and will cook with local, high-quality ingredients – they’ll even compost everything that’s thrown away. Burgers will range in price from $5 to $10, and that’s not bad for a gourmet burger in NYC. To earn money, the restaurant will allow customers to create their own burgers and name their burgers – and when others purchase said burgers, the creator will earn a $0.25 credit toward a future purchase. In other words, the restaurant will be relying on customers to advertise their own creations. The big question is: Will this business model work? You can tweet messages to @4foodNYC about your ideas on how to de-junk NYC, and