Wegmans and I'm in Love

So I'm standing in Wegman's vestibule, returning 4 dollars worth of beer bottles and cans. I have two, German (Lübzer Pils) and Japanese (Asahi), cans I can't return, a bag full of odd ball plastic bottles, and I'm wondering how it is we've drunk so much beer over the last two months.

I'm also wondering if organic kiwi in May in Buffalo is a good thing. Yeah organic, boo crazy fruit shipped 4000 miles from New Zealand. Seriously?! 

Look, I adore Wegmans! 

J'adore épicerie Wegmans!

It makes me want to skip like Eloise to see all of those organic seedless watermelons...in Buffalo...in May....sigh....

But regardless of my conflicted feelings for Wegmans, I do have to share with you world my love for Shaun Doyle Jr.! The delightfully irascible Shaun who penned this delectable ditty,   

 I Love WEGMANS! 

Oh Shaun, if only you weren't getting married so soon...I could come up with a dastardly plan to kidnap you from your husband to be, leave my family behind and take you to Wegmans where we would be married near the cake and pie cold case.... 

Maybe it's the headiness of the store. The intoxicating smell of lobsters and pizza and chocolate cake, and sizzling stir-fry. Dizzying! Shaun is right "We Buffalonians are a hardy people- we don’t need to be fed excitement on an aisle to aisle basis, but at Wegmans it’s like having an E Ticket to all the thrills you can take in!" 

I get to the register to cash out my slips and barely make it out alive with the rush of after school customers. Somehow I manage to leave with my pocketbook unmolested and change in my pocket and whistling Colbie Caillat's Brighter Than the Sun.

GrowWNY Blog Post - Local Food: For Economy, Health, and Environment

Article featured on GrowWNY

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Western New York is a unique place to live when it comes to food. Tucked in the northeastern edge of Lake Erie and southern shores of Lake Ontario, its soil is classified as Type 1 by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), meaning that over 58% of its land is prime farmland; a resource that few other states can equal. The majority of the prime soil falls in five counties, Erie, Genesee, Wyoming, Chautauqua, and Monroe, and it is here that we are so blessed with opportunities to participate in the sustainable, organic, local and ethical (SOLE) food movement.

Local food is fresher and tastes better than food that has been shipped in from thousands of miles away. The difference between lettuce picked yesterday and lettuce picked last week, factory-washed, and sealed in plastic is profound. Eating locally also means eating seasonally, with all the pleasure that accompanies not having it out-of-season. Fresh corn in season tastes best when you haven't eaten it in months.

Food grown on small, local farms often means it was picked at its peak, sometimes the day you purchase it. Not only does it taste better, but it is also still packed full of nutrients that haven't degraded by the time it arrives after traveling as much as 1,500 miles from it's source. That's a large carbon footprint for a head of romaine. Farmers, Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) programs, or cooperative grocery stores that support organic and sustainable growing practices and renewable energy minimize your food's environmental impact.

The fewer steps there are between your food's source and your table, the less chance there is of contamination. When you know where your food comes from and who grows it, you know a lot more about food safety. Transparency in the line of distribution provides fewer opportunities for food contamination to occur and leads to a healthier food community.

By purchasing food grown and raised closer to where you live, you also help maintain the vivacity of farmland in your area, particularly land cared for by small farmers; custodians of your green space.

Locally grown food also leads to greater variety of food available. Farmers who run community-supported agriculture programs, sell at farmers' markets and provide local restaurants creating a demand and providing support for raising more types of produce and livestock. Small local farms generally practice crop rotation, which creates a more nutrient dense soil. Those same small, local growers generally follow more organic farming practices than larger corporate farms. That means less herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers in our soil, in our water, and in our bodies.

Money spent with local farmers, food artisans and restaurants all stays close to home, working to build your local economy instead of being handed over to a corporation in another city, state, or country. To make the biggest local economic impact with your food budget, look for producers who pay their workers a fair wage and practice social justice in their business.

By purchasing your foods seasonally, locally, organically, and ethically you are supporting your community, reducing energy usage, maintaining a healthier way of living, lowering your food costs, and insuring the health of your environment.

For more information about accessing food grown locally, visit NOFA-NY where the Northeast Organic Farming Association can connect you to local resources.

Resources:

• USDA Natural Resource Conservation Services
• U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Federal Drug and Food Administration
• Fair Trade Labeling Organization International
• Blake, Joan Salge - Blog: Nutrition and You
• Elliott, Renee and Eric Treuille - Organic Cookbook: Naturally Good Food
• Cox, Jeff - The Organic Food Shopper's Guide
• Jones, Bridget - The Farmers' Market Guide to Vegetables
• Levay-Krause, Annie - Blog: The Land of Peapodriot
• Levay-Krause, Annie - Facebook Page: SOLE of Buffalo
• Levay-Krause, Annie - Website: Growing My Ethical Garden