It’s possible that at some point, you have made the questionable decision to watch any one of many modern food documentaries. It may infuriate some to witness the prevalence of Big Ag subsidies, factory farms, genetically modified produce and the origins of processed foods in films like
King Corn (2007) and
Food, Inc. (2008). It may disgust some to realize the effects that prolonged exposure to processed and unhealthy foods has on the human body in the mainstream and somewhat lighthearted
Super-Size Me (2004). And, of course, there is literature like the seminal
Fast Food Nation (2001) written by Eric Schlosser, which shines a light on the origins of our modern food with the gravitas of Upton Sinclair’s
The Jungle. After a moderate dose of this content, it becomes apparent that there is more than meets the eye to most of what we consume.
Thankfully, exposure to these viewpoints does help us think more deeply about where our food comes from, what it is made out of and what it takes to get a piece of food from the farm to our plate. Many people may throw up their hands, insisting that any alternative to the status quo is impractical, if not impossible. Even if one were to change eating habits at home, one has to consider the foods eaten when at a restaurant, sequestered in an all-day meeting or bedridden in a hospital. But what, if any, incentives are there for businesses to change to locally-sourced, humane, and organically-grown foods?
“When you buy your produce locally from people you know, you start getting a quality product, and you can taste it,” insists Bryan Nader, Sous-Chef at Saint Mary’s Hospital. While Saint Mary’s only gets a small portion of their food locally, their Farm-to-Health Care movement sets them on a course to have 20% of their food locally sourced within a 250-mile radius of Grand Rapids by 2020. “It’s a huge passion for me,” Nader continues. “When I lived in California, it was easier to get what you needed in season. Here, it’s a very different mindset. People want what they want because they can get it whenever they want.”
The larger national food issues become local ones, because that’s where, endemically and by design, the change must happen. But it’s not always simple to make inroads to a local food movement.
“Things happen. Sometimes the product doesn’t get out,” Jerry Adams, co-founder of West Michigan
FarmLink, points out. “That’s the variability that life creates and you don’t know these things unless you’re standing at a farm looking at the crops.”
Adams and his associate, Paul DeLeeuw, created
West Michigan Co-op five years ago, to cater to households seeking local produce. This March, they expanded that idea and created FarmLink, an online market system that connects producers with local businesses in real space.
Here’s how FarmLink works: First, producers log on to the site and catalog all the goods they will have available. Then, chefs make orders based on what is available. Every Wednesday, they meet at FarmLink’s headquarters (Hall and Godfey SW, Grand Rapids) over a two hour window of time (1-3 p.m.) and make their exchanges. To keep the program sustainable, FarmLink takes a modest 5% from both sides.
Why set up a meeting place? “I want the chef to talk to the farmer,” Adams discloses. “Sometimes people ask us why we don’t just deliver to their business. Well, then you have a runner from the farm delivering to an assistant at the restaurant, and there’s no communication. So you can say you’re using local, but you’re not necessarily tied in.”
The setup is meant to benefit both sides. “A chef may have to make six different phone calls to six different vendors and schedule delivery times so [he’s] there when the product is there,” remarks Scott Hawkins, operation manager for FarmLink. “The same goes for farmers. Instead of going to five farmer’s markets per week, they can load up their truck with the exact amount of product they need. [FarmLink] is a one-stop shop for them.”
The push, and the challenge, of adopting a “locavore” attitude is to learn to cook with the seasons. This mindset goes against the grain of the fast-paced and mechanical mainstream restaurant culture, according to Ryan Cappelletti and Mike Bussler of the vegan/vegetarian diner,
Bartertown.
“We get fresh produce every day,” Cappelletti shares, “and we let people know that at our restaurant, food runs out. Some people like it, some people don’t. We still get, ‘what do you mean food runs out? Food doesn’t run out!’”
And they won’t sacrifice quality for convenience. Bussler says, “While we could, we’re not going to go, ‘oh we ran out of lettuce, let’s just go to [a grocery store] and get some. We’ll run out before we do that.” Currently, Bartertown gets about 80% of their produce through FarmLink producers.
Bryan Nader of Saint Mary’s Hospital understands this as well. “You realize when cooking locally, you have to start cooking in season. If I want tomatoes and it’s January, I don’t get them. So it changes the mentality -- I have to be a little more creative and use what’s available to make it happen.”
Despite the challenges, the payoff is worth it for many businesses. Besides having fresh, great-tasting ingredients (as well as the bragging rights in claiming that their menu is locally sourced), Scott Hawkins has noticed that managers also understand the value. “We’ve had a couple [general managers] who come in and watch the look on their chef’s face. They like seeing their chefs happy.”
It also provides a much-needed additional revenue stream for small to mid-sized farms that don’t have enough product to be picked up by large food distributers.
And the technology aspect? “It’s an online thing” Adams says bluntly. “If you’re not comfortable with that, there’s not much we can help you with. But [the website] is very straightforward.”
FarmLink currently works with nine businesses, including Graydon’s Crossing, Bartertown, Silver Spork, Saint Mary’s Hospital, and Ninth Bridge Bakery. They hope to expand to 20-25 businesses in the West Michigan area by the end of the year.
Jaymes Pyne works at Grand Valley State University’s College of Education, focusing on community outreach and service-learning initiatives. He has written and managed several environmental education grants, co-authored a chapter on youth character development and keeps a blog on service-learning.