Minneapolis

Lucia Watson is a phenomenal chef and business person who is extremely important in the Twin Cities local, sustainable food movement. She makes some of the finest food in the country. Here's a bit more about Lucia Watson, who you might not know much about - especially if you don't live in the Midwest (this information comes from Lucia's website):

Tucked quietly beside Turtle Bread near the corner of 48th and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis, Pumphouse Creamery doesn't really scream for ice cream; rather, like its owner Barb Zapzalka, Pumphouse wins you over one locally made, organic, scrumptious ice cream scoop - and, as of this spring, one locally made, hearty, 9-grain organic cone - at a time.

Local beer is easy to find these days, especially if you have a tendency to drink microbrews, as I do, and live in a decent sized city (like Minneapolis or St. Paul, as the case may be).

My friend Jen turned me on to San Francisco's Bi-Rite Market, the kind of mom and pop supermarket our moms and pops never had (or even imagined). The home page of the Bi-Rite Market website proudly proclaims the store as:

a destination for restaurant quality prepared foods and catering, organic produce, sustainably raised meats, poultry, and seafood, as well as fine wines and everyday groceries.

Minneapolis' Birchwood Cafe, one of the Twin Cities' community supporting, local, sustainable food treasures (whose praises I've sung in the past), is hosting what is sure to be a fantastic Earth Day Beer Dinner. The 7-course meal includes pairings with Minnesota's finest artisanal microbrews, and will be accompanied by live jazz music. Here are the details:

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." -Unknown, possibly Frank Zappa or Elvis Costello

I'm at a loss for words when it comes to describing last night. Suffice to say that there was no place I'd have rather been than at The Craftsman. If you're a foodie who was anyplace near Minneapolis (we hosted guests from as far away as Des Moines, IA and Sunnyvale, CA), you were either there - or you should have been. We were thrilled to see The Birchwood Cafe well represented!

Super-good post the other day from Zachary Cohen on his Farm to Table blog entitled What all of us in the food movement sometimes think.

Traditional Foods Minnesota, a self proclaimed "real food warehouse" and "buying club," offers some of the Twin Cities best foods at the lowest prices. Traditional Foods focuses on providing a wide variety of meats, cheeses, milk, eggs, poultry, fish and dry goods of the following kinds:

My recent tour of Whole Foods has got me thinking about how true the company has stayed to its core values despite its size. Sure, there are problems. The buying decisions are made centrally, bakery items are shipped to local stores par-baked, there are only 5 local vegetables this month in the Minneapolis location, and - most troubling - a friend recently let me know that Whole Foods has been accused of union-busting. But all things considered, Whole Foods does an excellent job of walking the talk, and helping customers find the good stuff. This post highlights the extensive process Whole Foods uses to vet potential new partners.

In yesterday's post, about Whole Foods' Local, Organic Values, I wrote about the core values of Whole Foods and how they influence the food sold at the stores. Today's post is about how purchasing happens, specifically related to the meat we get in the Minneapolis store.