Continuing the theme that local is more about good stuff created by people with heart, we noticed this bar close to our NYC office with its proud signage for ‘Local Food – Local Beer – Local Wine’.

The second outing of the New Amsterdam Market took place last weekend and PSFK was in attendance checking the artisinal food stands – and their wares of course.

Chef Eric Ripert says that the food industry had sabotaged what we eat and that we need to understand how our diets impact both ourselves and the planet.

The Urban Farm Tour concept builds a network of individuals who are raising their own food in limited space and opens their homes and gardens to the public. The event synthesizes ideas of local food and community with a bit of DIY inspiration and education.

Though it was a common practice up until the 1950’s, farm stays slowly lost favor in a world of interstates, motels and drive-throughs that transformed the family vacation to a study in modern convenience. But as issues surrounding where and how our food is raised increasingly become important considerations in our lives, city-dwellers and suburbanites alike are beginning to warm to the concept of agritourism once more.

We noticed something interesting printed on the sodas that were on the table at an all day workshop we attended (as consultants) yesterday. The Pepsi cans say New York (and they were ‘bottled’ in New York state too).

Filmmaker Ian Cheney has transformed the bed of his old, gray Dodge Ram pickup into a fully functioning farm. To convert the back, Cheney adapted elements of green roofing technology – adding drainage, a water-absorbent bottom layer and lightweight soil – enabling him to plant a crop of heirloom vegetables and still be able to drive, giving an entirely new meaning to the idea of food miles.
In an effort to track the growing process, Cheney has installed a solar-powered timelapse camera onto the truck’s roof that captures real time footage of the progress that will later be edited into a short film. [...]

PSFK spotted this micro-batch ice-cream parlor on a recent trip to Beacon in New York state. Beyond using an array of local fresh ingredients, Zora Dora sells only product handmade that day. Produced in small batches, they say they are able to control the quality and freshness of all their frozen desserts. They also support local Hudson Valley farmers trying to use the freshest dairy, fruit and vegetable products when in season.

Zora Dora

Although the local food movement is hardly a new concept, we’re seeing applications and online networks popping up to connect farmers and eaters everywhere.
Locavore is an application for the iPhone that answers the question “when is fill-in-the-blank vegetable going to be in season near me?” It offers an easy interface that asks users to enter their city information and then it does the rest of the work, providing an updated list of what is being grown and sold in your area.
Ning is a site that allows users to create their own social networks around anything – from writing to grilling [...]

We were sitting in the W Hotel New Orleans wondering why the hotel brand that had led such a revolution in the sector had so quickly lost its shine. The hotel just looked aging and plastic. One of the ideas we chatted about was the easy updates they could make – why weren’t those little apples they have in the lobbies of all their hotels from local producers? Anyway, we’re reminded of that discussion by news that Loews Hotels are making attempts to source their foods locally. In a press release Jonathan Tisch, Chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels says, [...]

LocalFoodshop.co.uk helps UK residents find locally produced food and drink. A little search of Bexhill on Sea gave us two local producers (the wine maker Carr Taylor and vinegar and oil producer Stratta) and two shops (JC Rook, a Eblex Quality Standard Beef and Lamb Butcher, and High Barn Oils which sells farm grown, cold pressed linseed oil.