locavore slow food boston
VOL. 2
no. city
3
fresh
ALSO FEATURING
growing your own herbs, the new clover foods, whats in season & more!
US $6.99 MARCH 2014
LO C AV O R E
1
2
LO C AV O R E
M A R C H 2014
LO C AV O R E
3
locavore
contents MAY 2014 • VOL. 1 NO.02
10
TO PLANT A GARDEN IS TO BELIEVE IN TOMORROW.
AN EXPERIMENT IN BUILDING BETTER FOOD
Clover foods and their new location.
15
LOCAL VS. OTHER
Comparing local food versus traditional foods..
27
CIDER CITY.
Local cideries around Boston.
43 HOW TO’S
We teach you the right way to do what you love.
05
URBAN FARMING
Taking a look at City Fresh Foods.
13
FRESH LIFE
Best farmers markets around Boston.
22
SMOOTHIES FOR RAINY DAYS.
Smoothies made with local veggies.
35
BACK TO THE GRIND
A local roaster is back in action and ready to go.
departments ASK LOCA HERB OF THE MONTH FARMERS MARKETS
4
LO C AV O R E
M A R C H 2014
LO C AV O R E
5
urban
farming
6
LO C AV O R E
M A R C H 2014
CITY FRESH FOOD TAKES ACTION WRITTEN BY PATRICIA HARRIS & DAVID LYON PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEXANDER HEIGHS
G
LYNN LLOYD THE CEO OF ROXBURY BASED CITY FRESH Foods catering company, had an epiphany a couple of years back. “I was standing in the kitchen at City Fresh and realized that we were buying all this lettuce from California and paying a pretty good dollar for it,” he recalls. “Then I was driving up Harold Street [in Roxbury] and I just noticed vacant lot, vacant lot, vacant lot, vacant lot. I said, ‘We are going to get land and start growing food.’ ” He was hardly the only one with that idea. Margaret Connors, a public-school wellness coordinator, was concerned that school meals had
LO C AV O R E
7
so little local food. She met Lloyd when City Fresh catered meals after her school’s kitchen broke down. They started talking, and together they hatched a forprofit, urban-farming company dedicated to providing farm-totable produce, creating jobs, and bringing vacant neighborhood land back into productive use. They call it City Growers. Now entering its fourth growing season, City Growers has partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural resources and the not-forprofit Urban Farming Institute of Boston to sponsor the first Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference at Roxbury Community College next Saturday. The conference will offer an update on city agriculture in the Bay State and lay out the opportunities and challenges of growing food in the city. Urban farming is hardly a new concept. Farms persisted inside city limits around the country well into the 20th century. (The orchards of Roxbury were famous for developing the Roxbury Russet apple and introducing what became known as the Bartlett pear to the United States.) More recently, intensive growing on small plots — both in the ground and on rooftops — has flourished in municipalities as diverse as Milwaukee, Detroit, New York, and San Francisco Hard figures about how much commercial agriculture takes place in Boston are difficult to come by. Those involved locally say that this modern incarnation is in its infancy here, with most of the larger organized efforts involving nonprofit operations connected to hunger relief and social-service programs. But all agree that interest in self-sustaining micro-farms that grow for the market is gaining traction. During the 2012 8
LO C AV O R E
M A R C H 2014
growing season, City Growers cultivated four small plots in Dorchester and Roxbury. “That really proved our model,” says Connors. The company employed two full-time growers and a part-time grower, and got assistance from about 100 volunteers. “We grew on about 20,000 square feet, which is half an acre,” she says. “We generated $32,600 of sales on that half acre. All we need to do is get more land and we can scale that up.” City Growers estimates its break-even point at about three intensely farmed acres. Although Connors still envisions one day provid-
ing fresh food to Boston public schools, City Growers currently operates as a commercial wholesale grower. In 2012, the company sold to restaurants that ranged from Haley House and Stone Hearth Pizza to Lumière and Henrietta’s Table. Their fresh products also appeared in a few small grocery stores, including Foodie’s Urban Market in the South End, Savenor’s on Beacon Hill and in Cambridge, American Provisions in South Boston, Sherman Market in Somerville, and City Feed and Supply in Jamaica Plain. As part of a commitment to small local food produc-
ers, David Warner, co-owner of City Feed and Supply, has been a customer of City Growers from the early days. “I’m a big believer in fewer degrees of separation in the food pipeline. The closer you can get to your food, the more you’re going to know about it and the more nutritious, potentially, it’s going to be for you,” Warner says. He also sees urban farming as an amenity for city living. “To walk down a city street and see a good-sized plot of land being actively cultivated,” he says, “adds a visual benefit. You’re seeing human activity that has an aesthetic and a beauty to it, and that enriches all our lives.” Like Lloyd and Connors, Warner will be participating in discussion panels at the Urban Farming Conference, which is generating a lot of enthusiasm around the region. The time is ripe for urban agriculture,” says Greg Watson, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, another cosponsor of the conference. “The time is right to piggyback on the ‘buy local’ movement. I think people have made the real connection between locally grown fresh food, health, nutrition, and obesity prevention. If we can shorten the distance between where the food is grown and where it’s consumed, there will be multiple benefits.” •
“The closer you can get to your food, the more you’re going to know about it and the more nutritious, potentially, it’s going to be for you.”
GROW
your own Make your own mini garden, anywhere! You’ll have a nice selection of delcious herbs to share and enjoy!
SWEET BASIL
LAVENDER
DILL WEED
ROSEMARY LO C AV O R E
9
GREENHOUSE Fresh strawberries all around!
LO C AV O R E
11
“the time is ripe for urban agriculture”
From historic models such as Machu Picchu to designs for new productive city farms, the idea of locating agriculture in or around the city takes on many characteristics. No one is suggesting turning Boston Common into a farm, but there are a lot of smaller plots around. Estimates of the aggregate of small vacant plots vary widely, from 600 to a few thousand acres. Many are simply pieces of land that have lain unused for decades. “Those vacant lots are mostly in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan,” Connors points out. Not coincidentally, that is where they are concentrating their efforts. The potential is staggering. “Take 10 percent of that,” says Lloyd, “or even 5 percent. That would produce a checkerboard of small intensive farms where we can grow more of our food.” Linked into a single entity (such as City Growers) with coordinated market operations and pooled resources, several quarter-acre micro-farms could have a significant impact. Urban farming fits into a broader vision by Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s office that would ensure access to healthy, local, nutritious food at fair prices for all Bostonians. Encouraging food trucks, pushing for the development of a public market, and even supplying vouchers for low-income residents to use at farmers’ markets have been part of that vision. Through the Mayor’s Office of Food Initiatives, the city hopes to foster a broad spectrum of agricultural activity that ranges from rooftop growing to aquaponds to service companies for a new agricultural sector. The economic stakes are surprising. At a City Hall agrieconomic powwow in November, Trish Karter (founder of Dancing Deer Baking Co. and now of LightEffect Farms, which proposes farming in rooftop
greenhouses) estimated that the packaged salad greens market in Metro Boston is worth $100 million annually. A lot of growers would like a piece of that. were among the founders of UFI and remain actively involved in the process. Besides serving as an advocate for urban farms in policy discussions, UFI’s principal tasks are to incubate farms and incubate farmers. “For now we are looking to use city land,” says Dave Madan, a UFI founding board member and executive director of theMove, a Cambridge-based group that organizes educational farm volunteer workdays. He serves on UFI’s land-use committee. “In the
future we will be looking at options to actually acquire land or look at long-term leases.” More immediately, UFI has been recruiting about a dozen would-be urban farmers for a 28to 30-week training program that begins with classroom sessions, followed by practical experience in the field. “The big vision,” says Lloyd, a UFI board member, “is that when they are done, each one gets a plot of land to grow on.” • For more information on City Farm Growers feel free to visit cityfarmgrowers.com
13
L
nationalgrid 14
LOCAVORE
LO C AV O R E
15
UP&COMING
AN EXPERIMENT
IN BUILDING
BETTER FOOD
CLOVER FOOD GETS IT RIGHT
WRITTEN BY SHERYL JULIAN PHOTOGRAPH BY ADRIAN YUS
LOCATION! Once only a food van, now a resturant.
16
LO C AV O R E
M A R C H 2014
LO C AV O R E
17
E
- VERYONE WHO HAS BEEN TO
LOCAL & FRESH Using only the best flavors.
EATIN’ AWAY Rosemary fries are a must.
clover food lab in Harvard Square, which opened in the fall, has a strong opinion about it. Here are some: fascinating, fabulous, cold, like a real laboratory, and where’s the beef ? How come, if the place is adamant about not being labeled vegetarian, why is there soy bacon in my sandwich? Clover Food is a fast-food restaurant, almost always offering well made, high-quality food. The 80seat place is cavernous, hard to warm up because it’s so spare, very brightly lighted, with a simple menu that hardly varies. There are white ChemTop tables, birch veneer stools, and large slabs of Maine red oak as tables and counters. It has a pop-up quality, as if the crew is here temporarily, planning to relocate elsewhere else for their jobs. You enter Clover and see an electronic menu board with selections listed with wait time, say, “2.3 minutes,’’ updated often (as is the restaurant’s site and Twitter). Ayr Muir, who started the company and has shareholders now, is a graduate of MIT (Course 3, materials science and engineering). He also has a Harvard MBA and his resume includes a stint at McKinsey & Co., the management consultants. Muir works with Rolando Robledo, who has experience at The French Laundry and teaching at Johnson & Wales. Clover began as food trucks, located at MIT and South Station, where the menu was refined before it moved to bricks and mortar. In this first location, greeters enter your order on an iPod touch system and you get change from their money belts. And then, about two minutes later, like something out of a frat house, you hear someone bellow your name. In this high-tech environment, no one has figured out how to get you to the counter without a holler or a yell from the worker. Once there, you will see very good coffee made only three cups at a time with individual filters; fine tea leaves steeping in a little pot, one per customer; counter workers making sandwiches in delicious, puffy, tender little whole-wheat pockets. A breakfast sandwich ($5) with sliced tomatoes and cheese has a Chip-In Farm egg whose yolk breaks at the first bite, spilling golden sauce into the pocket. It might be the best thing on the menu, until you dip into creamy Narragansett yogurt layered with beautiful granola and pear compote. Chickpea fritters, stuffed into a pocket ($5) with salad, pickles, and hummus
“ALWAYS OFFERING WELL MADE HIGH-QUALITY FOOD” WARM Warm soup, ready to eat.
LO C AV O R E
19
what’s on
the menu?
Locally grown Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis, commonly known as rosemary, is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region.
Sustainable coffee from Bolivia Grown by coop members in a small village called Taipiplaya, at altitudes of up to 1800 meters. Generally speaking, growing at high altitudes is a desirable condition for Arabica beans.
is another gem. Egg and eggplant sandwich ($5) also contains hummus, nicely charred vegetables, and egg. One night it has an unappealing dark circle around the yolk; at lunch another day, the yolk is a pretty yellow. Fries ($3) are lowered into their bath with fresh rosemary, which lends the shoestrings their nice fragrance and shape. For some reason, soups don’t look appealing, but taste fine. Pureed cauliflower one night is gray, squash isn’t the coral color I’m expecting, but robust beet is startlingly bright and tastes as good as well. With all this well-made food, there are a few annoyances. A sign that tells you where to put compostables and is written on blue painter’s tape. Same for tagging the restrooms. You are not allowed and cannot get salt unless you ask, and when you do, the counter person wants to know what it’s for . It’s for
“A TRUE LAB, IN WHICH THE FOOD IS EVOLVING” my egg. If you watch the staff, you’ll see them tipping juice into a tiny cup from a big square container. Of course it splatters on the counter. Look at this as a true lab, in which the food is evolving. While it might not be to everyone’s taste, there will probably be something for everyone. Something well made and delicious. Muir seems to be tweeting in his sleep, fastidiously answering customers’ questions, even blogging about his review interview, so he’s definitely paying all possible attention to everything. There’s no detail too small. •
FRITTERS Pita stuffed with all the fixin’s.
Cheese from Grafton, Vermont Grafton is a non-profit. They exist to support small dairies in Southern VT. Their “profits” go either to the Town of Grafton, VT, or to small dairy farms located around the state of Vermont.
20
LO C AV O R E
M A R C H 2014
SO GOOD Seasoned with the freshest.
LO C AV O R E
21
VISUALIZE-IT!
LETTUCE Lettuce is an annual plant of the aster or sunflower family Asteraceae. It is most grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. High in vitamin A.
Here we explore the most in-season fruits and vegetables, so you can visit your local famers market and keeping your pickings, fresh.
The tomato is the edible, often red fruit/berry of the nightshade Solanum lycopersicum, commonly known as a tomato plant.
SUGARPEAS The cultivar group of edible-podded peas that differ from snow peas in that their pods are round as opposed to flat.
CARROTS The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow.
22
LOCAVORE
MARCH 2014
TOMATOES
MUSHROOMS The spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source.
LOCAVORE
23
USING HERBS
RECIPE of the MONTH
rosemary apple cider READY TO MAKE SOMETHING DELICIOUS?
INGREDIENTS: 1 shot bourbon 2 sprigs rosemary 3/4 cup apple cider 1. Put the cider and 1 sprig of rosemary in a small saucepan.
24
LOCAVORE
2. Heat until the cider starts to bubble around the edges. 3. Take off heat, and cover tightly. Let sit for moment. 4. Remove the rosemary sprig, pour cider in glass along with bourbon.
2525 LO C AV ORE LOCAVORE
ASK LOCA
ask loca! locavore’s
Q. WHAT DOES THE COLOR OF MY FOOD TELL ME ABOUT IT’S NUTRIENTS WITHIN? DEAR LOCA, I have heard that the color of food can tell somewhat about what is inside it. I was curious if you could give me some inner insight as to what may be the deal with this? I want to be more aware of what I am putting in my body.
ASK ME anything! x
*
EVERY MONTH
readers are encouraged to send in questions about food and living local! helloloca@locavore.com
Sincerely, Chak Lidhull
A. POWERFUL!
Green fruits & veg have both lutien and indoles; which provide the human body with the strength to maintain healthy vision and strong teeth. 26
LO C AV O R E
M A R C H 2014
The bright colors of fruit are like a code signaling the nutrients contained inside, but you don’t need a complicated code breaker to figure out the health benefits that come from eating fruit. Just include plenty of colors in a wide array of choices to help prevent heart disease, lower cholesterol levels and reduce your risk of developing eye or bone problems.
LOCAVORE
27
NEWS
BACKtothe GRIND a local coffee house is back in action. BY JANELLE NANOS PHOTOGRAPHS BY MILLER MOBEY
28
LO C AV O R E
M A R C H 2014
T
he sampling, or “cupping,” of coffee is an intricate process. Demonstrating it one recent morning, George Howell places a precisely measured layer of freshly ground beans on the bottom of a glass, then sniffs, shakes, and sniffs again. Boiling water is poured on the coffee, and escape. Howell leans over, putting his face up against the edge of the glass, stirs.
LO C AV O R E
29
As I attempt the maneuver alongside him, I wind up splashing coffee on my nose. Howell, laughing, tells me I’ve been baptized. That’s not much of a stretch, actually. At various times, Howell has been called an “idol,” a “god,” and the “high priest” of the coffee bean. “George has this almost mystical obsession with coffee flavor,” says Peter Giuliano of the Specialty Coffee Association of America. “It’s totally inspiring to coffee people. He has a transcendent passion about coffee, and a quasi-religious zeal.” In 1975 Howell opened the Coffee Connection, the Harvard Square café that would become a national model for the
watch from the sidelines as it was Starbucks, and not the Coffee Connection, that ignited the American coffee revolution. And many of those beans he was busy sourcing as part of his work with the UN wound up being bought by the generation of high-quality independent roasters and retailers who sprung up after that revolution—the companies that today are spoken of by the coffee cognoscenti in the same reverent tones that nearly 40 years ago were reserved for Howell’s pioneering chain of cafés. With even McDonald’s elbowing its way into the “premium roast” game these days, it’s at least worth asking whether the
“THERE’S ROOM FOR AN INNOVATIVE, NEW CONCEPT.” gourmet coffee experience. His revolutionary idea was to source high-quality beans and roast them lightly, allowing subtle, more nuanced flavors to emerge, a huge contrast with the nearly burned roasts that dominated the day. Howell was also one of the first roasters to source beans not just from particular countries, but from individual farms—each with a unique flavor profile, or terroir, owing to factors such as soil quality, latitude, altitude, and annual rainfall. So instead of mixing beans to create, say, a Costa Rican blend, Howell purchased from single-estate farms to create distinct brews. That may be so, but spend time with Howell and you quickly get the impression that, as far as he’s concerned, not nearly enough of them do. While waiting for his noncompete agreement to expire, Howell was forced to 30
LO C AV O R E
M A R C H 2014
market has become saturated. And even it if hasn’t, even if there is room for an innovative new concept, a lot of people close to Howell wonder whether he’s really the guy to lead the charge. There are also questions about just how well Howell’s passion for unadorned drip coffee matches up with the tastes of the consumers who actually spend money in cafés and enjoy the setting. Cox has expressed these reservations directly to his friend, but Howell is resolute. He’s changed the name of his company to George Howell Coffee, confident that his reputation and expertise will give him an advantage in the marketplace. And not long after leading me through the intricacies of the coffee cupping, he was off again in search of a flagship location for his next coffee empire and locations. •
LO C AV O R E
31
Typefaces.
Azkindenz-Grotesk Sentinel Clarendon
Photography. Creative commons & other All rights go to those responsible
Paper. Rolland Hitech50. 80 lb.
Design. Ali Nolin
Editors. Anna Clark
Additional thanks. Joe Thornton & Chik’n Little
Cover photo. Creative commons
Š 2014 Locavore
32
LO C AV O R E
M A R C H 2014
LO C AV O R E
33
locavore slow food boston
no. green VOL. 2
4
US $6.99 APRIL 2014
34
LO C AV O R E
M A R C H 2014
houses ALSO FEATURING
repurposed containers, make your own cider, go exploring & more!