Food
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Locally-produced food more widely available
I've been encouraged by the increased interest in local food the last few years.
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Published: July 15, 2009
It used to be that local food was a farmers-market exclusive. Now, local food can be found in a lot of grocery stores. And Whole Foods Market, more than any other chain, goes out of its way to promote it. The store had a local-vendor fair Saturday that included about 15 displays that promoted food in North Carolina.
I was slightly disappointed that there weren't any local fruit, vegetable or cheese producers. And the proportion of tables devoted to alcohol was high -- five of the 15. Still, I got a good taste of how easy it is to buy local now.
For appetizers, I sampled the five Green Mountain Gringo salsas produced in Winston-Salem by T.W. Garner Food Co., the maker of Texas Pete. I particularly liked the Roasted Chile Pepper Salsa.
Krankies Coffee, which roasts its own coffee on East Third Street, gave away freshly brewed Java. So, too, did Counter Culture Coffee, based in Durham. Counter Culture is now devoted to sustainably grown coffees and is the first certified organic roaster in North Carolina.
Whole Foods sells farm-raised catfish from Carolina Classics Catfish in Ayden. This farm started in 1985 and now turns out about 200,000 pounds of catfish a week.
I got to eat some grass-fed burger samples from Baldwin Family Farms in Yanceyville. I've been eating this local beef since 2006, when I first wrote about Mac Baldwin. Before, I had to order it online (at www.baldwinbeef.com). Now, I can get it with just a 10-minute drive to the store.
Next to the burger samples were cups of Bone Suckin' Sauce, a sweet tomato-based barbecue sauce. The company is based in Raleigh and sells its sauce in mainstream supermarkets from Maine to California. I also tasted a couple of other sauces I hadn't tried before. Pluto's Jamaican Jerk Sauce, based in Carrboro, is a spicy, complex sauce that's thick with herbs.
Num Num Sauce is a new product from Michael Lloyd in Durham. Lloyd, who calls this a "hybrid between ketchup and barbecue sauce," is carrying on a tradition started by his great-grandfather, who made this sauce in the 1940s.
And Denis Dronne of Joyce Foods in Winston-Salem was cooking up tasty samples of the company's Poulet Rouge, a French breed of chicken prized for its flavor, texture and thin skin.
Three Yadkin Valley wineries were on hand: Childress Vineyards in Lexington, Westbend Vineyards in Lewisville and McRitchie Wine Co. in Sparta. All three are turning into fairly reliable producers that will ultimately help boost the state's reputation for wine.
Wineries get a lot of press, but North Carolina is also turning out some good beer. Natty Greene Brewery -- named after Revolutionary War hero Nathaniel Greene -- is churning out interesting, refreshing and citrusy Southern pale ale, among other beers, in Greensboro. Natty Greene also has a brewpub in Greensboro and sells its beer in lots of supermarkets.
So does Duck Rabbit, which is based in Farmville, near Greenville. Duck Rabbit has been around since 2004, specializing in dark beers. I especially enjoyed its brown ale, which recently was named the best brown ale in the U.S. Beer Tasting Championship.
I had a sweet finish to my tasting with a couple of bites of luscious cheesecake by Queen City Bakery, based in Mooresville, whose desserts are sold in Whole Foods' prepared-foods section.
Perhaps just as interesting as the food were the folks who don't produce food. Feed the Farm (www.feedthefarm.org), based in Garner, was selling CDs and T-shirts to help provide grants to North Carolina farmers. "We give grants to farmers who are in danger" of losing their farms, whether it's because of drought, medical injury, lack of insurance or other reasons, said its executive director, Carrie Le Chevallier.
Toxic Free NC (www.ToxicFreeNC.org) promotes reducing pesticides in agriculture and other areas. It promotes sustainable agriculture, and it helps child-care centers manage pests without using toxic chemicals that could potentially harm children.
John O'Sullivan, a professor at N.C. A&T State University, was on hand to tell people about the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (www.cefs.ncsu.edu). This program partners with N.C. State University, N.C. A&T and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences to promote environmentally friendly farming through a research farm in Goldsboro, and through marketing and education initiatives. One thing the program tries to do, O'Sullivan said, is to teach farmers how to sell directly to restaurants.
That direct marketing is the kind of thing that can save a small farm. It's also a strategy that puts more local food on the plate -- and I'm all for that.
■ Michael Hastings, the Journal's Food editor, can be contacted at mhastings@wsjournal.com, at 727-7394, or c/o Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27102. His columns can be read at www.journalnow.com.
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