the town that food saved

Ben Hewitt’s book “The Town that Food Saved” is on the shelves at the local bookstore and I stopped in for a little after work read the other day. It was pretty surreal to read about people I know, whose toilet paper I’ve rung up at the store, whose kids I’ve seen have melt downs at pot lucks in a non-fiction book. The book is good. While the author is on the side of the successful “agri-preneurs”, he still asks questions about the true sustainability of boutique cheese that’s mostly shipped off to NYC. If the last thing you read about farming was “The Omnivore’s Delimma” (which doesn’t ask these kind of questions) or “Everything I Want to Do is Illegal” (which asks different questions) then this book follows nicely.

But, see, I got over complaining about poseurs when I was 19 … okay, maybe I was 20. The whole, “they were better before they were famous,” “so and so has been doing X for years before and still does it better,” and “they’re selling out" arguments just sound so frustrating to me. I feel like there is something in the human condition that makes us poo-poo the success of others especially in a small town where not much else is going on.

To look at it from a strictly mercenary point of view, these businesses bring jobs that are hard to outsource (unlike some local businesses – Burton Snowboards, I’m looking at you) and well paying (I interviewed to be one of the milkers at Jasper Hill and they were paying more than I make at the store by a few dollars an hour) and tax revenue that homesteads and subdivisions do not.

Also, I feel like the argument that some of this stuff is getting shipped out of state is not really to the point as well. When Hardwick was mining granite where do you think most of it went? Out of state. Most of Vermont’s fluid milk goes out of state as well. Hell, I bet most people can’t even say what state the gallon of milk in their fridge came from but they’ll get their panties in a twist over the idea of someone selling potatoes in Boston quicker than you can say rBGH free. There are many many small farmers in Vermont who sell all of their produce in New England. Some of them sell it all in Vermont.

One of the best points, in my opinion, was made by Stephen (whose last name I can’t spell and can’t seem to find on the website), the chef at Claire’s. He said that there are 12 dollar entrees at Claire’s and 12 dollar entrees at the Village Diner across the street “And the last time I checked, that was still the same amount of money.” And it is. I have talked to people who tell me they can’t buy organic food because it’s too expensive. Well, it’s true that you will be hard pressed to find a gallon of organic milk for 2.99, but I have seen a lot of organic produce at our store that is priced much lower than the exact same item at the big grocery store in town (salad mix comes to mind 3.50 vs 5.50). This is because we can buy from our supplier in larger quantities and also because (I suspect) our mark up is different.

“Yes,” I feel like I say again and again, “not everyone can afford $20/lb cheese,” but I do feel that a majority of Americans do have some discretionary income that they spend on what it is they feel is important. Where are our priorities? How many homes in American have cable TV? How many kids have cell phones? Is it more important to have money to spend on new clothes, cigarettes, on soda that costs 1.99/pint or a sustainable food system? What is going to serve us best in the long run? That, I think, is the most important question people writing about the slow food movement can help people ask themselves.