Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/623506
E plore T e Master in you Each cheese is made from the milk of small, family farmers and produced by the same farmer-owned cooperative in the classic Dutch way. Discover these award winning cheeses, explore the master in you. A Dutch Masterpiece is a brand of Imported from Holland, exclusively by Jana Foods. For more information please visit www.janafoods.com ™ No Salt Added, Preservatives or MSG Many Gluten Free Varieties gingered carrot soup mix ™ pacific rim visit us in booth 329 frontiersoups.com 800-300-SOUP Winter Fancy Food Show Booth 329 Winter Fancy Food Show Booth 3110 has so long taken over for its food packag- ing. It's hard to cut through that noise. But a more primitive, homemade but very artistic, artisan-like label, which artisan makers have been using for a long time to signal 'we're homemade, we're small, we're different from the other guys,' would be more likely to work. Are chefs in the South making an effort to source sustainably and locally without bragging about it on their menus? You're calling me in Atlanta, and I'm noticing—with enormous admiration—the people in the region who are caring about local farmers and food. There are a lot of shining lights here, especially Stephen Satterfield of Mill Union, who recently wrote Root to Leaf: A Southern Chef Cooks Through the Seasons. He's led the way. Sean Brock of Husk also is important for researching a local, regional cuisine. I think it's happening here but I don't think that it's unique to here. Can the food giants make a positive impact on sustainable sourcing? It's a thorny question. I, myself, care about companies of all sizes that try to reduce food waste, shorten the supply chain, contrib- ute to the local economy, and care about the environment—all the things that fall under that really mushy rubric of corporate responsibility and sustainability that every- body is using now. But I'm not cynical about thinking that big can't be good. Big can make an important difference. There are a lot of ways to support your local community that don't only mean buying from a local farm, such as working with a co-packer or pack- ager that employs a lot of people in a small community. It's so important to supply local jobs and treat employees well, even if it isn't on some cute, pretty farm. This requires widening the lens of what an ordinary consumer would think goes into making a food product. WINTER 2016 75