In a time when “local” and “sustainable” have become catch-all words for the foods we should be eating, it becomes easy to lose track of the individuals who put such excellent and fresh foods on our plates. Georgia Pellegrini, a former line cook at some serious restaurants, set out to find 16 artisan producers who are ensuring their craft is not forgotten. In Food Heroes: 16 Culinary Artisans Preserving Tradition, she shares their stories and brings us glimpses into the world of making real food.
From a whisky producer in Colorado, to a “butter poet” in Cumbria, England, Pellegrini demonstrates the many forms and faces that artisan food can take. Here are just a few of the many figures she profiles.
Read the full article here:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/09/food-heroes-16-culinary-artisans-preserving-tradition-by-georgia-pellegrini.html
At a mere 24-years-old, Colin Gasko is fervently bringing the fine art of bean-to-bar chocolate making to the Midwest. Over the past few years, the Minneapolis-based Rogue Chocolatier has experimented with techniques….
Gasko sources his own cocoa and oversees the entire three-day-long production process…..
Gasko offers four different flavors of chocolate created from beans around the world, as well as the occasional limited edition…..
One of the minor complications of being a vegan trapped in a foodie body is that I will never get to taste the vast majority of foods I blog about (or in some case the foods of clients I work with). Tough, others enjoy the taste and I enjoy the passion and zest for quality of product, service and brand.
Ummera are Smokers in Cork and they pulled a 3 star Gold Award at the Great Taste awards in the UK in July. That is not easily done and a great compliment to them.
Check out their site – where they also share the frustrations of small food producers being hampered by legislation.
keith
I spent a couple of hours with my family at the Amazing Grazing event today – part of a 9 day food festival held in the city of Waterford.
While time was spent eating and sampling I also chatted to a number of the food entrepreneurs who were there – some known to me and some new. I will feature them in a number of posts over the next week or so in the order I found them on the day!
The post started with a general shot of the crowd and day – they estimated that up to 40,000 people would turn up to visit over 100 food stands.
Paddy’s O’Granola
Patrick O’Connell does one product and does it well – a crunchy breakfast cereal which was kick started while he was still a student. The kids loved the taste of it. Read more on the Good Food Ireland site about him.
Knockdrinna Farmhouse Cheese
Helen Finnegan started this cheese business in 2004 and has grown it by a combination of internal product development and also taking over the production of another local cheese product in 2008. Read more on her site here.
keith
Nature’s Catch serves up a nutritiously tasty substitute with their Smoked Salmon Jerky….Using only wild Alaskan salmon, the Blaine, Washington-based company keeps sustainability in mind—the Environmental Defense Fund names salmon as one of the best eco-friendly fish to eat—when creating their thinly sliced jerky.
Drawing on the well-managed population of salmon inhabiting the Pacific Northwest, the snack is rich in heart-healthy omega-3 fats, as well as vitamins D, B6 and B12.
Though today the fair trade food brand Alter Eco works with 25 cooperatives across 19 countries, they began in 1999 as a small shop in Paris carrying mostly furniture…. One of the leading members of the Fair Trade Initiative, their hands-on approach has led to major impacts in improving the food cycle…
Products range from bags of hearty grains like jasmine rice and quinoa to chocolate bars filled with sugary mint or crystallized orange peels…..
Each of Alter Eco’s 56 fair trade, USDA organic products sell on their site at reasonable prices…..For in-store purchase, check out the webstite’s retail locator, which lists carriers all across the U.S. and in parts of Canada.
Designed by Danielle Davis | Country: United States | Font: FF Scala Sans
“Mills & Co is a higher-end, organic nut butter line proposed to be sold in DC restaurant Founding Farmers. Unfortunately the project never got to the production stage. The above rendering is a self-initiated concept of where I would have liked the packaging to go, just very simple and super clean.”
Nut Butter
http://lovelypackage.com/nut-butter/
One of the struggles for growers is to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Broadly speaking the market does not care about the variety/source/grower of something – they are presented as homogenous offerings.
Living Flavour is an Irish herb brand developed by a 3rd generation Plant Nursery business. It is complimented by a nicely designed and delivered website.
keith
biabeag (small food) 