If you have paid attention to the food trends in the past few years you’ll notice that local food is a key trend in the rediscovery of good old fashioned cooking. This is the case for home-style cooking and restaurant food. Today it is all about “fooding” the masses and introducing them to a particular style of food served in an atmosphere that encompasses home, peace, friendship and love.
It’s back to the basics, traditional dishes, and foods we gravitate toward naturally. It is all about the food that they know, the food grew up with and foods we’re comfortable with.
There is this overwhelming need to put a name and face to the people who are growing, preparing and processing our food and that’s a good thing. Those who have the opportunity to dine at family owned diners that has been around for thirty years are truly fortunate.
Do you still purchase farm fresh eggs from the “egg-man” or buy fresh vegetables from a local vegetable truck that roams the community every Tuesday and Thursday? I can remember waiting for the owners of the Davision Fish Market on Seven Mile Road in Detroit, Michigan to return from down south (closing down for two weeks or more) to bring back traditional down home goodness.
There are times when we all need to examine the past to see what we have learned from it. There was a time when it was unheard of to eat frozen fish, or purchase frozen blocks of bread dough for Sunday supper. There are children, believe it or not that have never had a homemade loaf of bread, and no you can’t court the bread you get at O’Charley’s or Outback.
If you are selling your homemade baked good at local farmers markets, cafes or farm stands, know that your battle is all up hill. It becomes your job to educate the masses about good old fashioned homemade goodness because for some it was never experienced at home and for others it may be brand new. Going up against processed food is a tough battle and taste buds are not so easily changed; stand your ground and provide lots of samples since tasting is believing. Local food really is a good thing, some folks just don’t know that yet.
