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This is kind of a silly question. If a well-intentioned but talentless artisan attempts to make something, it's going to taste like crap. By the same token, I never expected to believe I could buy good quality bread from Costco but I'm ALWAYS left shaking my head with disbelief after crunching into its tasty crusti-ness.

Do I see a distinct difference - read: unhomogenousness - about artisan foods? A rustic, sometimes asymetrical handmade-ness to artisan products? Definitely. Do I prefer it? Love it. Stamping out a million of the same thing with no variations is way too 1984 for me and I'll generally opt for a plate of handmade, homemade gnocchi vs. something from a package that all looks alike. However, if I find a brand of those cloned gnocchi that actually taste good I'd admit it and probably continue buying it.

Ed, I am happy you opened this can of ????! I have had both hits and misses on the artisanal level, but I will continue searching for what's good out there, whether its from a stand at the farmers' market, or from a supermarket...Sometimes I find our cooking experiments here at home to be of more value.

What's interesting is how this question actually reflects the psychological victory of the food industry. There's only one kind of food that is "always" anything: large-scale industrially processed food. That's essentially the trade-off with this kind of food: you sacrifice quality for consistency. When you buy a box of Kraft mac & cheese or Ragu spaghetti sauce, you know exactly how it's going to taste: exactly like the last box/jar.

On the other hand, any kind of "artisanal" or non-industrialized food is going to be variable in quality or flavor, even from a single source. The fruit farmer who makes awesome handmade jam might have a great year or a mediocre year, depending on the quality of his crop. When you get produce from a CSA, it's not because you're going to get predictably great produce. Sometimes the produce is amazing; sometimes it's kinda pathetic. That's what happens when your food isn't conjured up in a lab.

Amen Ed. Another facet of this artisan worship is in restaurants focused on "house made". Yes, I think it lovely if the bread, salumi, etc. is made in house, but only if it's good.

One of our local finer-dining places up here touts its house made bread and mozzarella. Unfortunately, the bread is cottony and bland and the mozzarella rubbery and relatively tasteless. I'd be so much happier with bought in (and better product) in this case.

well if you can remember the days of pre-processed, when our little towns and cities actually manufactured food for it's citizens - when neighborhoods actually had 2-3 cheese makers, 8-10 bread bakeries, dozens of butcher shops, vegetable markets, et. al - you went to the ones that you found had the products you liked best. well, we might be back on that track. there might be some hits and misses until the wheat is sifted from the shaft, so to speak.

it's unfortunate that you got lousy bacon and jam ... but are you going to stop trying to find the products that might actually be good?

it sucks when you spend top dollar for products that you're hoping are going to knock your socks off..... but it sucks large when all you have to choose from is factory food made with absolutely no soul. go back
to your artisans and speak your mind and encourage them to get it
right...... they should make it up to you in some way.... you might be
looking at a nice big pork chop for dinner instead of salty bacon.

Weirdsmobile, THe definition of quality is the conformance to standards, so the mas market uniform products are the highest level of quality. But in you derision of industrial foods, don't forget artisan foods are variable in safety. Low sugar jams and jellies need additives to prevent the growth of hamful bacteria, sugar lowers the water activity so the bacteria can't reproduce, remove that and its a wild card what will grow. The Salty dry cured bacon the artisinal farmer sold you besides having too much salt has too many nitrites or nitrates (depending what he used, and was it Food Grade?) to be safe. It is amazing how lax or uneducated we have become when it comes to food safety. People will slam a major manufacturer for a recall, but will buy from the guy who doesn't know better and released a potentially harmfull product because it is natural, home made, or "non industrialized".
Yes, I make my own jams and jellies when the mood strikes me, so I have done my own homework on how to can safely. I also work closely with many industrial manufacturers of different foods. Buying food from someone without training to make it safely is not the smartest or safest thing to do. Even if the farmer tells you the family has made something for a hundred years, this may be the kid who was too dumb to put in the family business and is off on his own, and I have worked with a number of them in my career.

I've been bit by farmer's market bacon myself. Hair, nipples, and poorly sliced.

this whole organic unprocessed fad is a phony game to separate well meaning folks from their money. my wife and daughter drink chocalate soy milk, direct from the "organic" section at Fairway, because they like the taste better. Crushed and processed soy bean mush is more "green" than regular old pasteurized 2%?. Gimme a freakin' break! Tofu and tempeh? Delicious, but two of the most processed foods in the supermarket. It is great to have a healthy diet, but those big fat organic muffins at whole foods are just as bad for you as twinkies. Sorry for the rant!

You should name names. Otherwise this post only riles up effete foodies.

I've experienced this exact sadness and confusion at my own local farmer's market in Nashville. It makes me feel like a traitor when I discover the local Mennonite women selling baked goods are using more preservatives than Betty Crocker.

Variation in quality is one of the key distinguishing features between manufactured products and works of art and craft. This is unscientific to say, but I would think that the fact that good restaurants seek out the artisanal, the fact that so many people relish their memories of fine artisanal products, would probably indicate that the amount of food you can get that is much better than the manufactured food's (albeit more consistent) level of quality makes the overall average level of quality at a farmer's market higher than that of processed food of a supermarket. I would think most of the people at this site would happily trade the guarantee of mediocrity for the promise of excellence that comes along with the risk of failure.

On a more visceral level, don't we all thrill in the joy of discovery? Doesn't the wide array of misses make your hits that much sweeter? I'm sure that even the knowledge that such bad bacon exists in the abstract makes Ed more excited to tell people when he finds a really nice slab of bacon somewhere. We need to have good and bad because we need to have expectations. We need expectations so we can derive real joy from having them exceeded or defied in new ways. This is what it means to have a vibrant and healthy culture. All good critics feel that deep in their makeup - it's what drives them to figure out what's good and bad and get so excited about the good that they just have to tell people about it. And then tell people when they find the bad as well so that people can understand your methods and engage in a dialogue with you.

So rejoice in your terrible bacon, Ed, because it's what makes us human.

There's good there's bad, which initially shocked me because sometimes I'm not very bright. Just because something is organic or artesianal, or "made with love" or in small batches or whatever, doesn't mean it's going to taste good.

A for instance: At farmer's market by my office there's a stand that has awesome apples, apple cake and apple walnut bread, and now equally delicious grass fed red and black angus beef that they grow themselves (Samascott Orchards) . Maybe 3 or 4 stalls up is an artesianal baker who makes crap bread, rolls and pastries (I've tried them several times, they've never not sucked), and next to him is some Amish guy who sells amazing cheeses and sliced dill pickles loaded w/jalapeno and heaven from his farm, and who knows I think he makes the best cheddar in the world because I tell him every time I see him. At the far end of the market is this couple who charge more than any other stall for the same product, and that product often overripe and damaged. There's a Ronnybrook stall there also. The drinkable yogurt they sell at the stand is not as good as the drinkable yogurt they sell thru Fresh Direct. It's thinner and less tasty, so I don't buy from them anymore and go through FD instead.

The fallacy is in the title of the post: of course locally made goods aren't "always" better. When in real life is the word "always" ever going to be accurate? Ian spefii examples of poor quality, greed, etc among small producers in a reverse-snobbism attack on those who try to eat local, high-quality foods is unproductive and tiresome. Homemade isn't "always" tastier than store-bought, buri guess that doesnt make for a story with an nflammatory headline. Yes, there are those who pursue local, artisanal food to the point of absurdity, but it is equally absurd to insist that local and sustainable are meaningless marketing concepts in order to justify purchasin primarily mass-made goods. Like with most things, the middle ground here is wide, and there's no benefit to debunking extreme examples beyond satisfying an unproductive reactionary impulse.

If the point of the article is that poor attempts at "artisinal" food/bevs can give one an appreciation for industrially manufactured versions, I agree.

Try making a dry-cured salami, and you'll gain an appreciation for Oscar Mayer being able to produce reasonably edible stuff at economical prices, even if you prefer to stick with your artisanal salumi. Try brewing a delicate pilsner, and you'll gain an appreciation for Budweiser, even if you prefer hoppy microbrews. There are some bad attempts out there, begging you to embrace them simply because they are small-scale. Kudos are reluctantly due to the companies that have successfully mega-industrialized production of these things.

Perhaps because I Live in both worlds, Industrial and culinary, I see no difference between a bad industrial product and a bad artisinal product. Both are selling it, for profit, to me, or at least trying to. Safety is always first, and the unknowing or unwilling should not be allowed to be in business, Peanut Company of America for instance. But to say a bad tasting, possibly unsafe product is better than any commercially produced product regardless of source, is plain stupidity. No publicly owned company would ever knowingly make a product that is hazardous, that is why Products get recalled, plants get closed and people get fired. Standards are always for safety first, this is supported by uniformity of product, if it is not the same everytime, it won't act the same way every time.

As for quality, Industrial foods are generally designed as not to offend products, give the impression of what you are delivering, but don't bring it to a point where it is offensive, perhaps that is what offends some people. As for the quality issue, an 89 cent loaf of white bread that is uniform from day to day and affordable and stays fresh for a week, is far better than a 4 dollar loaf of artisinal bread that stales overnight to a family of four on a fixed food budget. THe standard of quality is not high to you, but the standard it met every time, which by the definition is high quality. I personally prefer a fresh Bohemian rye out of the oven, but that is totally unrelated to the quality of Wonder Bread. Take apples and oranges, are apples higher quality because you prefer them to oranges? What an irrelevant question. But it shows just because you don't like something does not make it lower quality then the product you like. Who's food is better, the artisan who feeds a dozen a day, or the one who feeds thousands? Quality is measured in levels. if a commercial processor can't meet yours, no loss there are hundreds of thousands they can reach.

All Processed foods are not the garbage you are stating, yes, if it is all you eat, you are getting too much sodium, too much fat, and an unbalanced diet. Food education is more important than subsidizing hucksters and crooks making bad products.

And when does and artisan join the evil ranks of food processor? there are artisans all through the processed foods industries, some have small companies, some are hidden in the background at large companies, making great things that get turned to beige for the mass market. Some are at the farmers market or online selling their recipe made at one of our evil industrial complexes to their specifications.

As for quality in small batches, where is your green ethic? small bakers use far more energy than commercial bakers on a pound per pound basis, boutique meat processors produce more smoke and air pollution per pound than an industrial operation. And as for additives, they are added for two reasons, Food safety (nitrites, Lactates), or other technical reasons ( stabilizing viscosity, prevention of oxidation), at Government regulated levels. Natural meats and bacon are not so safe, and the additives are generally hidden through highly processed vegetable juice concentrates which contain Nitrates, which were banned in the evil industrial processed bacon and hot dogs 30 years ago. Finally, how much does your artisan know or care about labeling the food correctly? Did they identify allergens? Did they declare all of the items they added? Did they even label it?

Don't tell me someone is better at a job because they are on their own and not working in the food industry, I went to culinary school with many who thought themselves artisans, who could only generate enough skill to be a line cook at Denny's.

Thanks for bringing this up! There has always been a certain snobbish tendency to assume that something home-made or artisanal is better- even back before the recent food revolution. While I can appreciate the importance of bacon-man or jam-guy plying their trades (because it is important), just because they CAN sell bacon or jam doesn't mean they should. Maybe that's a harsh thing to say, but it's true. I CAN sew a little, but when I'm done cross-stitching I'm not going to attempt to sell my aborted attempts, because I know that it's not something that people should be buying. Does this mean we should stick to eating nothing but processed food? Not at all. It just means that we need to be wiser about what we buy- take the time to find the best bread-baker and the dedicated cheese-maker and support their businesses. Don't just buy the first loaf of bread that has an "artisan" sticker on the wrapper.

@Meat guy
"No publicly owned company would ever knowingly make a product that is hazardous" I'm pretty sure the peanut producers knew their product was tainted prior to the recall. Milk that is chemically adulterated to appear as though it has an increase butterfat content (to cover up the fact it is watered down) is rampant by companies throughout the world (especially in developing countries). Not to mention closer to home, explain the prevalence and popularity of: raw eggs/beef/fish/shell fish and under cooked pork, especially among the "top" restaurants in this country and elsewhere around the world. What about raw milk and cheese in Canada/France? Are these products not inherently "hazardous?" Sure, they aren't razor blade studded apples, but there is certainly a risk and yet people are willing to turn a blind eye to products all the time in the pursuit of excellent tasting food - and so are the very companies who are profiting from it - they only care to eschew the practice enough to limit their own liability and not one bit more.

"As for the quality issue, an 89 cent loaf of white bread that is uniform from day to day and affordable and stays fresh for a week, is far better than a 4 dollar loaf of artisinal bread that stales overnight to a family of four on a fixed food budget. THe standard of quality is not high to you, but the standard it met every time, which by the definition is high quality."

You are really confusing "quality" with "utility" here, nonetheless this is an excellent point. As is:

"All Processed foods are not the garbage you are stating, yes, if it is all you eat, you are getting too much sodium, too much fat, and an unbalanced diet. Food education is more important than subsidizing hucksters and crooks making bad products."

Don't be confused, I am not anti-food industry even in the slightest. I am aware that the advances and benefits of industrialized food processing are many and varied, including the fact (that most other people don't realize) if you take the mechanics out of our food industry only the very wealthy would be able to afford things like daily milk, bread, eggs, and especially protein. I purchase items out of a pursuit for "quality" alone. And I am not referring to the consistently affordable, safe product that is widely available and distributed as "quality." I am referring to: "high grade; superiority; excellence" as it relates to taste and nutritional value regardless of the dangers associated with the product, though for the sake of full disclosure I am not young/old, immune compromised nor do I have any food allergies (other than wheat which I completely ignore because I'd rather have an upset tummy than forgo the beautiful Italian loaf that just popped out of my oven).

Thank you all for the excellent discussion today, it has made my afternoon.

I believe you are confusing quality with personal taste. Taste is relative to your experience. Quality is conformance to standards set for the product. Taste is a determination of quality, but depending on the product, your standards are not what is applied to the product.

To the vast majority of Americans, what passes as good taste does not meet the expectations of what "foodies" think it should be. To hold one's personal taste as the end all and be all of quality, is only a recognition of your tastes, and anyone else may think what you prefer is swill. God knows why, but that guy thought his bacon was the best. MAybe it was the Best way to make money. If that was the standard, it was high quality.

Under cooked food and unpasteurized milk are risky. Last year there was a TB outbreak in California linked to unpasteurized Mexican style soft cheeses. Any chef who doesn't cook free range pork to over 140 degrees is a fool as the vectors for trichinosis are available to free range pork and has been reported in pork from free range. Ignorance is bliss, but if you are ignorant, you shouldn't be serving food in risky manners, but you can eat all you want. Trust your life to a chef with an associates degree in restaurant and hospitality, rather than a product that is cooked safely accoding to the USDA and FDA..

PCA was a privately owned company, with an owner insisting everything be turned to cash. Many companies have tightened up inspections and testing even more to ensure they are never involved in a fiasco like that again. It has cost millions of dollars and embarrassed companies who trusted a sleazy individual. Several years ago, Sara Lee had a listerosis outbreak in a Bil Mar plant, they fired everyone involved and closed the plant permanently. Reputable companies behave ethically with the public. They are interested in profits, and the sick and dead don't spend money, and their relatives sue, making people sick isn't good business. The companies that make the news are usually provately held, public interests make the company more responsible, they have stockholders and investors to answer to as well as the public at large.

One aspect of the local food movement that is emphasized around here (RI) is that you can know your farmer. I think you now know your pig farmer and preserve seller and needn't patronize them again.

did you ever wonder who produced food before the big industrialized agri-businesses??????

regular people. in their homes, backyards, barns, cities, in caves.

thru trial and error the human race has managed to feed itself and not poison the species by smoking meats, making jams, baking breads long before the "culinary frankensteins" invented all of the hormones, preservatives, and other unnecessary "CRAP" .... that passes for food today.

hey, if you feel safer eating food that's been dis-assembled and re-assembled because it was done in a big secure science-fiction food manufacturing plant, knock yourself out.... but don't knock the knowledge of the common man.

the time line:

industrial food vs. food made by the common man

a mere drop in the bucket, folks. duh.

are we better off now than we were 100 years ago?

Thank you for bursting this bubble! Like many of the commenters here, I greatly prefer handmade to mass produced, but I'm not a "joiner" by nature, so I keep a healthy skepticism WRT trends and bandwagons. In other words, I don't automatically assume something will be good just because it is hand made and bears the stamp of approval from the "artisinal" camp.

However, I do find that most of the time artisinal and hand made stuff really IS better than the mass produced stuff. What springs to mind is my friend Michel's pancetta, which he started making after reading Ruhlman's "Charcuterie" book. So easy to make, and miles ahead of any mass produced stuff. I basically cannot eat production line pancetta anymore!

You're all pointing out something wonderful about local, artisanal foods--they are unique, they are different as night & day from one another, and although they can be good, bad or ugly, they are "self-regulating".

If you get a hairy, nipple covered, salty slab of bacon you don't like, will you buy from that producer again? Probably not. He has just lost a sale. If enough people stop buying from him, he will dry up and blow away. Or...Perhaps you should provide him feed-back. As a consumer, help him become a better producer. Take it as an opportunity to explain why you didn't like the food he was producing. If he's smart he will take it on the chin, adapt and try to do a better job at producing a quality product and providing what the market will buy.

There are going to be some bumps and ruts on the road to local, sustainable, quality foods. Too long we have been lulled into a palate deadening wasteland. We are going to have to re-learn to cook foods which our grandparents knew how to prepare instinctively. Producers are going to have to experiment and learn what works, what doesn't and to rediscover how to make excellent artisanal foods--which once upon a time were standard fare.

And producers--give your customers a feedback form. Offer free samples & tasters. Open yourselves up to criticism. Ask you customers to help you be better. Learn from other producers. Have tasting competitions amongst one another. Earn the right to sell you Mother's Jam recipe or "the Best bacon in the world" Do this, or you will find your products marginalized, your sales figures weak and you farm broken. A free market, a self-regulating local system means the best get better and they get the business while the rest loose money or earn nothing at all. Don't give up. Strive to be better! And if someone does have a complaint, if your product falls short of your sales pitch, your standards or reputation, offer to replace it, exchange for something else or give them their money back.

I've had some truly amazing artisanal salumi and cheese, and I have had some truly awful meat and cheese. The awful stuff inspired me to step out on my own and cure some meat. I have had really good luck with smoked bacon, pancetta, guanciale. My luck with sausage has been less impressive. I even had some success with making what amounts to venison prosciutto.
The one thing that I never do is rate my own products. I might really love the salt level in my bacon, someone else might think they are eating a salt-lick.
So before I decide that I can open my on charcuterie stand at the market, I'll make sure that my products are the best I can make if not the "best in the world".
I think finding and supporting artisanal food producers is as important as finding sustainable farmers.

Chris

1-I have a couple of farm stands I go to regularly to buy fruits and vegtables and the occasional dairy product. They also sell various baked goods, and once in a while I'll buy a baked good thinking it *has* to be good cuz its from the farm. It never ever is good. I should just stick with my local bakery -- or even myself!
2-This is kinda along the lines of why I don't buy grass-fed beef and such from my local farmers just because they sell it: I wonder "who's inspecting this stuff"? "How do I know its safe and handled properly"? I wish I would have some assurance so I could bring myself to buy it, but so far, I see none.

To answer the question...of course not! Never say never and never say always. I must not be eating enough local food (anybody who knows me would laugh hysterically at this point) as I haven't gotten burned badly enough to feel like this...or my standards are awfully low!

Am I down with eating bad food produced by good people? No, but I'd like to help them become better producers with feedback. We need all the good growers/food entrepreneurs we can get. I had an experience where I bought pickles made by a CSA farm I love. They looked great but were kinda mushy. I spoke to the farmer and they realized what happened and learned what to do next batch/time. I think they decided to stick to being growers and not continue with value added items as it can be harder than it looks. I used them in tuna salad, etc and they were fine but not good for plain eating. Unless something is down and out manky/nasty, I can find a way to improve and use a challenging purchase. And if it is manky, any decent food seller will want to know, feel dreadful about it, and make restitution.

Ask for samples, if no samples ask what they'll do if you don't like their food (out of luck, money back, exchange). If you have an issue, speak up...though like others have said, one person's salt lick is another's just right - food is sooooo subjective. If you don't want to speak up, don't go back.

As far as thanking my lucky stars for Smuckers & Oscar Mayers? Food is better than no food however, I'm an upper lower class blue collar person who's been buying local/organic/natural for too long to feel very celebratory about agribiz and industrial food production. Not ungrateful mind you as I was raised on it and once I'm eating out and about...who can keep track of where everything comes from? I'm watchful and do what I can but don't get mental about it.