Local Food – the people who produce it, eat it, and sell it.
Welcome to Taste of Local, a multimedia blog dedicated to exploring local food.
Not local in the sense of a neighborhood restaurant, but rather a neighborhood restaurant that serves produce from its rooftop garden. We are looking at food sources, the distance food travels and everything that goes with it.
The impetus for this site can be traced back to a conversation that I had in the Fall of 2004. A friend of mine, a St. Olaf graduate, described how the student body at his undergraduate alma mater put pressure on the administration to stop importing apples from Germany when southern Minnesota is home to many apple orchards.
St. Olaf has since made some changes, such as offering local food in their cafeterias, and even starting a campus farm.
What struck me most about our conversation was the school’s motivation for importing apples in the first place. Cost. It was strictly a financial move. I asked myself, how had it become more financially solvent to import apples from thousands of miles away – burning gallons of fossil fuels in the process – when apples were literally growing down the street?
So began the journey.
What I found along the way are people who love to talk about food, love to grow food and, of course, love to eat it.
As for me, I am Matthew P. Moll, a freelance journalist and consumer of deliciousness.
Feel free to contact us at tasteoflocal@gmail.com.
Follow us on twitter @tasteoflocal
It is nice to know that there are so many opportunities in NYC to buy and even grow local foods. This whole website (theme, fonts, color, videos, logo) is extremely appealing and gets me excited to find more ways to get more involved in my community and learn more about what I can personally do to be a “local consumer.” Your work is inspiring! I love how your video pieces are cut (especially the Meredith video where there is a still picture of Meredith with her dad looking on in the background while he is saying how proud he is of her.) I saw that the creator of this site, Mr. Moll got his idea about the topic of local food from a St. Olaf grad. Matt, are you going to research beyond NYC on this topic or are you strictly the big apple? I don’t know if you ever say this on your site.
Looking forward to the upcoming stories.