Cool Co-op options

Among the many great local grocers and food suppliers here in the Wasatch Valley, there are also a good number of co-ops which make it easy to consume and support locally made produce and products. One of these co-ops, The Community Food Co-Op,  is closing after 6 years of service.  I have never used this co-op but am considering attending their Farewell Open House tomorrow at 1726 S. 700 W as 15 of their 17 vendors will be present with food samples. You can read the flyer for the event here. Also, their last newsletter with a list of suppliers and other co-ops can be found here. 

I have subscribed to a co-op like business, Winder Farms, in the past and was quite pleased and only disabled my service because I travel quite a bit and was rarely home to enjoy the spoils because, they were spoiled by my return. Winder Farms offers local foods and produces their own milk, delivering it in a glass jar at your doorstep 50s style. And no need to worry about one of your kids looking uncannily like the milkman, he comes at about 4 in the morning. One can purchase their milk at the grocery store but is only available in a plastic jug on the shelves. I am seriously reconsidering re-subscribing this month to get the milk again. There is a minimum order amount each week or you can postpone your delivery for a period of time. It is easy to make weekly selections online and it is also a nice service to have food delivered. The food costs more but this is due to the delivery service and the local and quality aspect of the products offered. When I had this service, I subscribed to get an assortment box each week and thought it was a fun challenge to come up with creative meals based on what they had available and included in the box. 

I have wanted to try Calis Natural Foods, a co-op established by Ian Brandt, the owner of famous and wonderful vegan restaurants in Salt Lake, Sage's Cafe and The Vertical Diner. Other recommendations which I have seen for co-ops are  Utah Co-op, Utah Farms, Schwan's and Bountiful Baskets. While this is not a co-op, but rather a farm, a favorite of mine is Farnsworth Farms where I go to pick up apples, pears, pumpkins and their famous Apple Cider which is oh-so-tasty and distributed in a few local shops. If there additional co-ops or farms which I have not included, feel free to add them in the comments section.


Co-ops are also a great way to sustain local food producers until  the farmer's markets are in full swing in the summer. The main farmer's market, The Downtown Farmer's Market, which I swear is mainly for arts & crafts with a few produce vendors sprinkled in, starts up in June so it is still a ways out from now. I hear the Tuesday night market (which starts in August) is better for actual produce shoppers than the Saturday market.There is also a Park City farmer's market called Park Silly and I have wanted to venture up there one of these Saturdays to check it out but I'm not sure how many food vendors they have on site. I'd like to hear if my reading audience knows of other farmer's markets locations (I have heard there is one in Murray Park too).

But the best local produce, in my opinion, is in one's own yard. I bought a house 4 years ago with a third of an acre of land with a strong intent on growing my own vegetables and I have been able to accomplish that each year. I grew up always having a garden and living in an apartment did not suit me because I could not run outside to pick fresh tomatoes off of the vine or  mint for a salad. Each year I have loftier goals to grow new and peculiar specimens like soybeans, hops or tea plants.  I accomplish roughly a third of these plans each year but have still been doing a good job of trying different heirloom varieties of tomatoes, eggplant and all sorts of other vegetables in my garden. My favorite local supplier of seeds and starter herbs and plants is Kenyon Organics.  This company was started by a former employee of a Salt Lake charity who was forced to find new works when the recession hit. Instead or working for someone else, she began growing herbs and vegetables in her own backyard and I discovered her at a Green Fair which my work sponsored. I was drawn to her tent because of the wide array of beautiful and colorful tomatoes she had on display, many of which I had been planning on purchasing through an other seed catalog, Baker Creek, which features the widest variety of heirloom seeds that I have ever seen.  I will always shop local first and only buy from Baker Creek if my local provider doesn't offer what I need. 


My seed/planting recommendations are to try white or green eggplant, Black tomatoes (especially the cherry ones which taste like chocolate fruity treats!) and rainbow colored carrots. Start your graden planning now and if you live in an apartment, you can still grow your own tomatoes in a planter and get a full-spectrum light bulb. I think that I am going to try to grow some tomatoes indoors during the winter and see how they perform. But winter will soon be over, thank God, and crops will be ready to start indoors and some outdoors starting in March. So purchase your seeds now in preparation and please try planting something for the first time or something new this year. And if you're not up for that task, there are plenty of ways to support those that do grow food at a local level as mentioned above.

2012 should be a good year... at least for eating and drinking

I have been doing a good job of keeping my new years resolution to commit to an active workout schedule in order to curtail the calories I consume while engaging in one of my favorite activities which as you can guess by the title of this blog is eating and drinking. However, my other resolution, which is to get out of debt, conflicts with my desire to eat well. Regardless of being pulled between saving my pennies and splurging on delights such as Kopi Luwak, which yes, I did spend $30 for 8 tbs of coffee whilst in London last week, recommitting myself to this blog is another resolution I have made.  I have gone to a number of restaurants in 2011 for the purpose of writing about it in this blog and ended up with an idea in my head that never came into fruition, notes and pictures are stored in a folder somewhere on my computer which will never make its way to this page and I even got so far as some half-written blog posts. Friends tell me they miss reading about my adventures and also the way that I tell those adventures and new people I have met even asked if I am a food writer because they can tell through a quick discussion that my passion for this topic runs deep - maybe because the places I shop are local and I have time to talk to the cheese mongers and food sample reps about something deeper than a name of a product and taste such as a history, culture and phenomenon that has grown out of every type of food and spirits and that is what I aim to explore and understand.

This blog post is a teaser of what is to come in the new year: foodie book and media reviews, a cheese journal and even vlogs with yours truly uncovering Salt Lake's food and drinking scene on a grass root level like you may not even expect. I will also be posting on a secondary blog which highlights my food experiences in basically any place except Salt Lake, including my global travels. Some posts may even feature some concoctions from my own kitchen which I am happy to announce, is getting a total remodel this year. There are exciting new food venues opening this year which are shaping Salt Lake's food scene to be more on par with major food destinations. I'm not going to deny that Salt Lake is still behind the trends but maybe not by ten years now... I'd go so far as to half that estimate.

Just to name a few openings of which I am most anticipating: The owners and chef from The Copper Onion have opened up a new restaurant, Plum Alley, which ties in their American-inspired cuisine and New York restaurant business experience with South-East Asian panache. The name was inspired by a half-block in Salt Lake which was dedicated to Asian wares and food and donned the name Plum Alley. The reviews look good already from Yelp but the real taste test will be when I review them for the blog. The Copper Onion has been named a favorite restaurant in Salt Lake and I admit, their food is good but my favorite restaurant award goes to Pago. Simply perfection every meal there. Wonderful wine pairings, utpmost professional staff and intimate atmosphere and and did I mention that the food is fantastic? I have heard that Pago's main chef has gone to Snowbird so I have not been there since change so I have reason to visit them again alongside their new culinary offspring, Finca, which is much larger, accommodating space than its parent restaurant located close by 1300 South and 1100 East with a focus on Spanish flavors and wine.

Penultimately, we have our very own pop-up restaurant originating out of Salt Lake, The Mist Project, which just launched two days ago on January 19th and will run until February 19th and is focused on reviving endangered cooking practices according to their description on their website. I am intrigued as to what this really means. Many people that I have told about this event have asked "What is a pop up restaurant?" It is a restaurant which sets up shop for a month or two and then travels to another city. It has buzz around it, always full seating because people are curious and can charge high prices due to its exclusivity- in fact $187 (gratuity included). I don't think that the 15 course pairing which takes place over the span of four hours even includes wine due to Salt Lake's insane liquor laws which limit the sale of liquor licenses to new restaurants so other sources have recommended bringing in your own bottle but perhaps that means that the wine selection is limited. Despite the price and legal limitations, this is a one-of-a-kind experience that will be vanishing quickly from the location of 173 W. 300 South (where the The Metropolitan was formerly before its unfortunate closing) and reappearing next in San Francisco this summer.

And ultimately, I am most pleased at the construction of the largest Harmons yet which is even more over-the-top than the Bangerter store and will be open in 24 days according to the large counter on the website. I am sure Whole Foods at Trolley Square is very worried about this strong contender setting up shop close in proximity at 135 East 100 South. It is three stories and looks to be the size of an Ikea. Am I going to be able to buy a mattress in addition to artisan cheese now? Harmons is a local grocery food chain which has blown up in a very good way with now 16 stores. The success of Harmons is a strong Buy Local movement in the area, offering regular items in addition to specialty products like honeycombs, obscure chocolate and I could dedicate an entire blog post to their cheese selection.  They have taken note of what Whole Foods does in terms of layout and food selection and improved upon this concept. I go to Harmons liturgically every week in lieu of church for local produce, to mail packages from their USPS kiosk, to eat their gelato which is some of the best in Salt Lake, to get some good quick sushi or to sit next to a fire, yes a fire, on their second floor next to their kitchen for cooking classes and watch the shoppers below. One can even bank here - well not bank but use a local credit union rather. Not all Harmons are created equal - each has some items which other stores don't carry and some stores have different demographics and models. For instance, Harmons took up shop at the Old Emigration Market and made a corner market which is European in style in that you can go for your basic needs and my friend, The Iconoclast, even mentioned that it is "so cute that if this store had cheeks, he would squeeze them".  I know that I could definitely hug most of the employees who make the experience that much better with their knowledge and cheerful attitudes.

I think that the largest success of a growing foodie, and hopefully drinking scene, is that Salt Lake is surprisingly full of gastrophiles who have grown out of the basic needs of fulfilling hunger and now have an appetite for innovative cuisine that goes beyond dropping truffle oil in a dish to call it gourmet. We are coming into our own... finally.