[FMC] problems in santa monica...

Tue Mar 11 12:04:18 EDT 2008

I think what this points to is the massive need for decent wholesale
options for our small to mid-size farmers. Most of those produce buyers
were probably not the "big guys"; they wouldn't be bothered shopping in
a farmers market. They are there because more and more stores and
regular restaurants are turning to local. This should be rewarded and
farmers should have more marketing options available than just farmers
markets. What we need to be thinking about is how we can set up these
smaller, farmer-driven distribution services so that everyone benefits. 

Kelly Williams
Associate
Project for Public Spaces
700 Broadway, 4th FL
New York, NY 10003
T: 212.620.5660
F: 212.620.3821
E: kwilliams at pps.org
W: www.pps.org
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Subject: fmc Digest, Vol 2, Issue 5

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: LA Farmers Market  fmc digest..." (Susan Sauter)

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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:01:51 -0400
From: "Susan Sauter" <stsauter at frontiernet.net>
Subject: Re: [FMC] LA Farmers Market  fmc digest..."
To: <fmc at lists.farmersmarketcoalition.org>
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I definitely feel for the chefs... they should (always fear a line like
this 
with "should")  be the priority vs. Cysco-type food distributors!

Susan Sauter
WV Farmers Mkt Assn.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <fmc-request at lists.farmersmarketcoalition.org>
To: <fmc at lists.farmersmarketcoalition.org>
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 12:00 PM
Subject: fmc Digest, Vol 2, Issue 3

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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. FW: LA Farmers Market (Stacy Miller)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:53:32 -0400
> From: "Stacy Miller" <stacy at farmersmarketcoalition.org>
> Subject: [FMC] FW: LA Farmers Market
> To: "FMC Listserv" <fmc at lists.farmersmarketcoalition.org>
> Message-ID:
> <d9bd8e7a0803100653g74ce2bdew281ad5eb52f7e790 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> An interesting piece. Apologies for those who've received this on
other
> lists.
>
>
> *A food fight over the cream of the crop*
>
> [image: Contentious palates]
>
> Email 
>
Picture<http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-market9mar09_jxa846nc,0,
3538140,email.photo>
>
> Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times
>
> Chef Josiah Citrin, far left, chef at Melisse, talks with Laura Avery,
> manager of the Santa Monica Farmers' Market, center, white short hair
with
> Quinn Hatfield, far right, chef at Hatfield's.
>
> Santa Monica's Wednesday market began as a place for farmers to sell
> directly to home cooks. Then the top chefs came to buy -- until big
> distributors swarmed in, leaving them empty-handed.
>
> By Russ Parsons, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
> March 9, 2008
>
> Josiah Citrin was livid. As chef-owner at Santa Monica's M?lisse --
one of
> only three Michelin two-star restaurants in Southern California --
Citrin 
> is
> used to getting what he wants, particularly when it comes to sweet,
fresh
> English peas. But Wednesday morning, the McGrath Family Farms stand at
the
> Santa Monica Farmers' Market was sold out, and Citrin was on the
warpath.
>
> It wasn't a matter of the peas not being there that made him angry; he

> could
> see boxes of them behind the table. But they had all been ordered in 
> advance
> -- mainly by produce companies that would sell them to restaurants and
> markets across the country.
>
> "The chefs who actually come to the market every week need to be 
> supported,"
> Citrin fumed to anyone who would listen -- and quickly a who's who of
the
> L.A. food scene gathered around: Jason and Miho Travi of Culver City's
> Fraiche, considered by many the best new restaurant in Southern 
> California;
> Donato Poto of seafood temple Providence, Vicki Fan and Kazuto
Matsusaka 
> of
> trendy Beacon, Mark Peel of landmark Campanile.
>
> Quinn Hatfield, chef-owner at the tiny, highly regarded Hatfield's on
> Beverly Boulevard, joined in.
>
> "This is my last day here," he said. "I don't want to compete with the
> produce companies. Look at all of these trucks. This isn't a farmers 
> market
> anymore; it's some kind of boutique wholesale operation."
>
> It may seem like a tempest in a pea pod, but it's one more sign that
the
> Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers' Market, one of the most cherished food
> institutions in Southern California, is undergoing profound change.
>
> Though ordinary shoppers can still rub elbows with famous chefs while 
> buying
> just-picked fruits and vegetables from folksy farmers, there is no
denying
> that the market has also become an important economic engine.
>
> Those same fruits and vegetables you buy for your family might also
wind 
> up
> on tables at fancy restaurants in Las Vegas and New York, flown out by

> major
> produce companies such as LA Specialty and FreshPoint Consolidation, a
> subsidiary of restaurant supply giant Sysco Corp.
>
> Inspired by the chefs, home cooks have adopted many of the ingredients
> themselves, and now former rarities such as Meyer lemons, blood
oranges 
> and
> fingerling potatoes can be found at high-end supermarkets across the
> country, many of them bought at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market by
> specialty produce distributors Frieda's and Melissa's.
>
> For the small farmers who grow those items, the market is an economic
> lifesaver -- a place where they can earn more than commodity prices
for
> growing ingredients that can't be found elsewhere or that taste better

> than
> what the big farmers grow.
>
> Though no hard figures are kept, some growers say that as much as half
of
> what they sell at the market is bought by produce companies.
>
> As a result, what had long been a kind of informal meeting place for
many 
> of
> Southern California's foodies and chefs is no longer quite so clubby.
What
> chefs once regarded as a combination of culinary laboratory and
> kaffeeklatsch -- a place to find new ingredients and ideas and swap 
> gossip,
> sometimes seemingly in equal proportions -- is more and more a place
for 
> big
> business.
>
> "It used to be that everyone thought how great it was to be out there
> picking things for ourselves; it was so exciting," said Matt Molina of
the
> white-hot Mozza restaurants, co-owned by star chefs Mario Batali and
Nancy
> Silverton. "Then all of a sudden it began to become a business, a 
> big-money
> business. Now farmers are sometimes catering to the big people, so
local
> restaurants are sometimes getting left behind.
>
> "I can understand why Quinn [Hatfield] gets upset. It's turned into a
very
> tricky market. It's not just this little mom and pop thing anymore,
the 
> way
> it was back 20 years ago."
>
> Farmers markets started out in the late 1970s as a way to help small 
> farmers
> and bring fresh produce to home cooks. Chefs, drawn by just-picked 
> freshness
> and often hard-to-find ingredients, enthusiastically adopted them.
>
> And gradually the markets became something more than just a place to
shop.
> Cooking in a restaurant, even a very fine one, can be isolating --
both
> creatively and socially. Night after night, chefs churn out the same
menu
> items, and the only way they can meet other professionals is by
driving
> across town for a late drink after closing.
>
> Surrounded by ingredients at farmers markets, chefs found that they
could
> let their imaginations roam free of the constraints of the menu. Many 
> items
> that we now regard as fine dining staples got their start this way.
What
> could you do with the green garlic some farmers brought in? Or all of 
> those
> fava beans? Or stinging nettles, for goodness' sake?
>
> At the same time, chefs could connect with their colleagues, catch up
on
> family news or compare linen services and valet parking companies.
>
> Now they say that the increasing commercialism of farmers markets is
> threatening that. Today, along with shoppers and chefs, there are
> representatives of big commercial produce distributors walking the
market,
> often trailed by workers with truck dollies to help tote away
purchases.
>
> Chefs, including Citrin and Hatfield, accuse corporate buyers of
hogging 
> the
> best produce, keeping it out of the hands of hardworking, hands-on
cooks
> like themselves.
>
>
>
>  ------------------------------
>
> It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms and advice on AOL Money &
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>
>
> -- 
> -------------------------------------
> Stacy M. Miller
> Executive Secretary
> Farmers Market Coalition
> stacy at farmersmarketcoalition.org
> 304-685-2669
> www.farmersmarketcoalition.org
>
> "In order to create an apple pie from scratch, you must first create
the
> universe"
> -Carl Sagan
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