Cult of Seasonality

Philly's "locavore" pedigree sets an example for the rest of the country.

by David Snyder

David Snyder SPOONFED: Local nibbles from a July 2007 happy hour at James, including diced beets from Gap, Pa. and pâté from Hamburg, Pa. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

You've surely heard by now — The New Oxford American Dictionary's 2007 word of the year was "locavore," referring to those who seek out locally grown food. According to Ben Zimmer, editor of American dictionaries at Oxford University Press, it was chosen because "it indicated that people were incorporating the environmental awareness that's been building over the past few years into their own lives."

The term itself is young, coined in 2005 during San Francisco's World Environmental Day. But the movement behind the word is nothing new — at least not here.

Philadelphia often lags behind with respect to the latest food trends, but it's long been ahead of the curve when it comes to eating local, so much so that it's easy to take for granted how advanced our food system is compared to other cities. But how did it get that way? And what did we do — if anything — to make this movement so worthy of attention?

In addition to being surrounded by rich farmlands, Philadelphia has a powerful infrastructure working to get locally grown products to your table, from community supported agriculture programs (CSAs) to farmers markets such as the Food Trust's popular Headhouse Farmers Market to online resources like the blog farmtophilly.com. The city's food climate has even fostered unique businesses like Farm Fresh Express, which offers its customers the luxury of having local foods delivered to their homes.

The premise of the locavore movement is that industrial food production is harmful to us and to the environment. Advocates maintain that shipping food over long distances causes pollution, and that engineering food to survive such a journey reduces its taste and nutritional value. The healthy, socially responsible solution, they say, is to eat food grown within the local food system, or "foodshed," around one's home, preferably no greater than a 100-mile radius — a regimen that City Paper's own Elisa Ludwig experimented with in 2006 ["There's No Plate Like Home," Aug. 10, 2006].

Alice Waters, chef and founder of Chez Pannise in Berkley, Calif., planted the seed for the locavore movement in the 1970s. But Philadelphia was not far behind. "It began with herbs," recalls Aliza Green, a local chef, consultant and author who is currently working with Elkins Park restaurant Max and David's.

Inspired by Waters as well as her own experiences living abroad, Green was arguably the first Philadelphia chef to make sourcing local ingredients a priority. While working at Ristorante DiLullo (now Moonstruck) in the early 1980s, Green began sourcing herbs from Paul Tsakos of Overbrook Herb Farm. Tsakos then introduced her to Mark and Judy Dornstreich of Branch Creek Farm in Perkasie, Pa. "She was our first restaurant customer," recalls Dornstreich, who now also supplies clients like Fork, Le Bec-Fin and Lacroix.

Green was hired by Judy Wicks, owner and founder of the White Dog Café, in 1986. "She was the one who brought the California-style cooking [to] the White Dog," says Wicks. Green's local approach fit Wicks' vision for the restaurant, now celebrating its 25th year. "I grew up in a small town in western Pennsylvania where we ate local all of the time," she adds. "I wanted to have a restaurant that featured the kind of food I enjoyed when I grew up."

But Wicks also realized that in order to sustain the market that echoed her values, she needed to share the local food model with everyone.

In 2001, Wicks started the Fair Food Project, an organization that cultivates an economic market for locally grown food. The organization hosts an annual Local Grower/Local Buyer Gathering, which allows consumers to network with farmers and sample products; it releases the Wholesale Guide to Local Farm Products, a publication that helps buyers find growers. Fair Food also conducts workshops; provides free business consultations to farmers entering the market; and runs a food stand in Reading Terminal Market.

This very infrastructure has helped the locavore movement transition into dining settings, as well. Restaurateurs like Jim and Kristina Burke of James are adamant about crafting local, seasonal menus. "We have a small menu, and it's that way on purpose so that we can ... really try to build off of the local ingredients," says Jim.

Right now, the Italian Market restaurant is serving poulard from Four Story Hill Farm in Honesdale, Pa., accompanied by spinach sourced from Vineland, N.J. And the couple is eager to share the wealth; this summer, James hosted weekly Buy Fresh Buy Local happy hours, during which they offered free hors d'oeuvres made with fresh local ingredients. The events were a hit, and Kristina says more will be scheduled in 2008.

What's more, as the local food movement becomes more prominent, communities throughout the country are starting to look to Philadelphia as a template for creating their own food systems. "I've consulted with people all over the country about [local food]," says Fair Food founding director Ann Karlen. Thanks to a grant from Farm Aid, Fair Food will mentor a Columbus, Ohio, nonprofit called Local Matters as it develops a local food campaign and opens a farm stand in Columbus' historic North Market.

"We had heard many good things about White Dog Enterprises, just in terms of the work they were doing around Philadelphia," said Local Matters Executive Director Michael Jones. "The fact that they were already ahead of us in terms of doing it — and doing it well — was very attractive."

Despite its contributions to the locavore movement, Zimmer says that Philadelphia "didn't feature prominently" in The New Oxford American Dictionary's decision to pick "locavore" as word of the year. But ultimately, whether Philadelphia receives national credit for its efforts isn't important. After all, it's what happens close to home that matters the most.

(d_snyder@citypaper.net)