Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 10, 2007 at 5:32 PM
Not all farmers' markets in the UK are certified or monitored, and so if you're visiting one caveat emptor definitely applies—the produce you buy may not be any better than what you get at the supermarket:
Consider, for example, Isle of Wight Tomatoes, one of the most established stallholders at London’s numerous farmers’ markets. It looks like a small, traditional enterprise and claims to sell its own homegrown produce. Think again. Its tomatoes, aubergines and cucumbers are bought from a separate company, Wight Salads, the bulk of whose £60m turnover comes from supplying supermarket chains.
Worse, as far as many green consumers may be concerned, many of the tomatoes are actually experimental genetic crossbreeds that Wight Salads is engineering to try to find the “next best thing” for the supermarkets. In short, these tomatoes are a far cry from traditional British produce homegrown in a smallholding.
I'd be really upset if I was going to a farmers' market and buying what I thought were more expensive but locally-grown vegetables from a small farm and they turned out to be experimental stuff from a big supplier, especially if I was making the effort for the safety of children. I imagine there are thousands of people who will be thinking twice before visiting a UK farmers market again, and that's a damn shame. [via The Grinder]
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 22, 2007 at 11:52 AM
Ulrich Bosser in Slate, Every Bite You Take: How Sysco came to monopolize most of what you eat. Houston-based food wholesaler Sysco supplies fast-food chains, fine-dining restaurants and even Gitmo with "everything a cook needs to run an eating establishment", from rice to dish-washing detergent to pre-packaged food:
It comes as little surprise that institutions like hospitals, universities, and military bases flock to Sysco's pre-cooked foods. But well-regarded bistros and pubs have also begun to offer such items to save time and money. Recently, New York magazine reported that Thomas Keller uses frozen Sysco fries at his Bouchon bistros. (While a company spokeswoman wouldn't confirm the brand, she confirmed the use of frozen fries.) Mickey Mantle's Restaurant, an upscale sports bar, serves Sysco's pre-made soups, like Manhattan clam chowder and vegetarian black bean. And then there's Edgar's restaurant at Belhurst Castle, which has won numerous awards of excellence from Wine Spectator magazine. There, the kitchen takes Sysco's Imperial Towering Chocolate Cake out of the box, lets it defrost, and then sprinkles it with fresh raspberries before serving it to diners. "We've had a lot of success with that cake," executive chef Casey Belile says. The Edgar's menu, of course, does not list the dessert as a Sysco pre-made cake, but it does charge $8.95 for the experience.
As our Megnut said re: Thomas Keller, "Scandalous, but I'm not a fry snob who turns my nose at frozen. If they taste good, I'll eat them," but I'm somehow really appalled by the restaurant that serves the Sysco cake, and for so much money too—okay, so maybe they can't afford a full-time pastry chef, or they simply don't have the space in their kitchen, but surely they could choose to support a local bakery instead?
