Edible Twin Cities

The latest issue of Edible Twin Cities recently hit the free news racks around town. I've read this periodical off and on, but can't say I'm a regular reader.

This issue had some very good content:

"A Sustainable Holiday Gift Idea: Give CSA Shares." Although I like to think that community supported agriculture farms have reached critical mass in terms of public awareness (at least in the area), it was still good to see an article that explained them from a personal perspective. The author, Teresa Marrone, shares photos of her CSA share boxes from the past season, and it's really fun to see the changing panoply of produce.

"Darkness Doesn't Daunt Efforts to Extend Growing Season" by Charli Mills was super-informative about the efforts of local growers to use greenhouses and similar-but-more-ecological methods (high tunnels, also known as hoop houses) to grow cool-season crops during much of Minnesota's extensive "off" season. Mills introduces us to Carol Ford, owner of Garden Goddess CSA, who grows cold-hardy greens all winter in a passive solar greenhouse. The article ends with a sidebar about the upcoming appearance of Eliot Coleman, an expert on season extension who will be appearing at the Minnesota Organic Conference in St. Cloud this January.

The last article that really caught my attention was called "BYOC: An Experiment in Twin Cities Dining," by Judd Spicer. I'm embarrassed to admit that I had one of those revelation moments while reading this article... BYOC stands for bring your own containers, you see, and despite bringing my own bags to the store for a long time, it had never occurred to me to bring along my own reusable containers when I know I'll be eating in a restaurant that's likely to generate leftovers. Spicer recounts his experience trying to get various restaurants to pack his take-out order in containers he brought (Longfellow Grill yes; Trotter's yes; Applebee's yes; Leeann Chin no). Leeann Chin's was insistent (both at a store and when Spicer talked to management) that it violated health codes, even though Spicer checked with the state Health Department and found out that it does not.

A neat example Spicer gives of a food business taking reuse seriously was George Wilkes, the owner of The Angry Trout Cafe in Grand Marais. The Trout uses donated ceramic coffee mugs as to-go cups. Customers can bring them back, or not, and it doesn't matter. (I have a few dozen mugs I could donate to any Twin Cities coffee shop or restaurant that wants them!) Wilkes also purchases heavy-duty lidded plastic trays that he loans to take-out customers. He asks that those be returned, since they cost him $13 apiece, but the price "is tempered by both the lack of forever purchasing to-go packaging, and also the value of the honor system that trusts diners to bring the containers back."

As well as ads from every single food co-op in the Twin Cities. And I love nothing more than a food co-op!

Unfortunately, it appears ETC doesn't post its content online, so all you can do is look at the table of contents, and maybe subscribe if you want to read it. Now there's an interesting business model.