Omnivore Atlanta

This question was posed to the Concierge blog on the New York Times site:

I consider myself a fairly responsible type: I won’t be installing my air-conditioner this year, I recycle, I call my mom on Sundays. Still, I’m finding all the recent focus on locavores and sustainability and all that a bit much. These days, when I walk by the Park Slope Food Co-op, I want to buy the gas-guzzlingest S.U.V. on the planet and drive to a McDonald’s I could have walked to. I guess this is a long way of asking: where I can get a cheeseburger or some pasta that tastes good and won’t kill me or the planet but that’s served without a side of virtuousness?

The Concierge provides the reader with a list of suggestions in New York. Can anyone answer the same question about Atlanta?

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So says Chipotle’s founder to ABC News. What he doesn’t talk so much about is the high calorie content of the chain’s food. But he convincingly argues against the cruelty of factory farming. So if you want fast, fattening food made with humanely raised animals, Chipotle’s the deal.

As for taste, about the only thing I enjoy at Chipotle is the carnitas, although they usually lack the requisite crispiness of the real things. I order Chipotle’s carnitas rolled up with some red beans, salsa and green sauce — no rice, lettuce, mountain of dessicated cheese, sour cream, etc.

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People living on food stamps have been given an incentive to shop at farmers’ markets.

Thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Wholesome Wave Foundation, Atlanta-based nonprofit Georgia Organics has kicked off a Double Value Coupon Program which matches food stamp dollars spent at participating farmers’ markets.

“For a limited time, all food stamp dollars will have double the buying power at three Atlanta farmers markets,” Georgia Organics Executive Director Alice Rolls says. “Food stamp recipients still can choose to spend their food stamp dollars any where that accepts them, but at farmers markets, where local, fresh, and healthy food is sold, one dollar is equal to two dollars.”

Georgia Organics communications director — and former CL staff writer — Michael Wall says the effort is modeled after similar programs in San Diego, Baltimore and the Northeast United States. The program ends when the money runs out, he says, but fundraising could keep it operational.

More information about the program, including the participating farmers’ markets, after the jump.

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This just in from Julia Leroy, chef at the Bookhouse Pub:

I want to let all of you know that the Bookhouse is starting up a community-based night called “Localvore Mondays.” The focus of the night is creating a menu that spotlights the local farmers and artisans that choose to offer an ethically sound product.

By supporting these farmers, we are putting money right back where it belongs, in the local economy. I know there are people in our community who are interested in feeding their conscience as well as there bellies, and I’m hoping to get the word out… so that’s why I’m contacting you! The menu is offered every Monday, from 5 til midnight.

It’s 4 courses for $35. So far we’ve featured Decimal Place Farms goat cheese, White Oak Pastures certified humane beef, Moore’s Mill Farm and Friends (produce), and Loganturnpike Mill (cornmeal and grits). As spring kicks into gear I’m looking forward to serving the delicious bounty that is grown all over our state. Thanks as always!

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The New York Times recently published an excellent summary of the increasing political clout of the sustainable food movement. An excerpt (but please read the entire article):

At the heart of the sustainable-food movement is a belief that America has become efficient at producing cheap, abundant food that profits corporations and agribusiness, but is unhealthy and bad for the environment.

The federal government is culpable, the activists say, because it pays farmers billions in subsidies each year for growing grains and soybeans. A result is an abundance of corn and soybeans that provide cheap feed for livestock and inexpensive food ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup.

They argue that farm policy — and federal dollars — should instead encourage farmers to grow more diverse crops, reward conservation practices and promote local food networks that rely less on fossil fuels for such things as fertilizer and transportation.

Mark Bittman also has an essay in the Times about the need to emphasize healthy eating over “organic” eating:

“People believe it must be better for you if it’s organic,” says Phil Howard, an assistant professor of community, food and agriculture at Michigan State University.

So I discovered on a recent book tour around the United States and Canada.

No matter how carefully I avoided using the word “organic” when I spoke to groups of food enthusiasts about how to eat better, someone in the audience would inevitably ask, “What if I can’t afford to buy organic food?” It seems to have become the magic cure-all, synonymous with eating well, healthfully, sanely, even ethically.

But eating “organic” offers no guarantee of any of that. And the truth is that most Americans eat so badly — we get 7 percent of our calories from soft drinks, more than we do from vegetables; the top food group by caloric intake is “sweets”; and one-third of nation’s adults are now obese — that the organic question is a secondary one. It’s not unimportant, but it’s not the primary issue in the way Americans eat.

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RogueApron, the (not-so-)underground supper club, reports that it will be hosting one of its “dirt-to-table dinners” at the new Harvest Farms this summer. The sustainable farm, owned by Collins Davis, is actually located in East Atlanta and work has just begun on it, as this video, featuring a bumper crop of tires, demonstrates.

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As part of Food & Wine magazine’s Grow for Good campaign to raise awareness for eating locally, the 5 Seasons Brewing Company chef and owner David Larkworthy and owner Dennis Lange are hosting a day of “Country Fair Fun.”

The fair will feature Georgia farmers and their wares, with food, beer and live music — a winning combination. Part of a weekend-long event, it takes place Saturday, Sept. 29, and helps raise money for Farm to Table, an initiative that educates food professionals, policymakers and the public about the benefits of sustainable agriculture and all that good stuff.

Tickets are $50 per person and are available here or at the door. Student tickets are $25 with a valid student ID.

The fair lasts from 2-5 p.m. at 5 Seasons Brewing Company’s newest location at the intersection of Howell Mill Road and Marietta Street. For information about the Grow for Good campaign, click here.

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