The fact that these “movements” get so much attention in the Times’ Style Section and Magazine, the pages of Jew (oops I mean, New) York, and innumerable blogs, does not seem to have their proponents batting an eyelid. It would be one thing if folks simply adhered to certain principles, but their anxiety in needing to incessantly trumpet these facts to the world– and be vindicated by coverage in high-brow, white-bread media– strikes the so-called commoner as pathetic if not laughable.

Moreover, the presumptive quantity of self-branding and group-branding, as with any successful marketing campaign, eclipses the rigor and quality of the products themselves. “Organic,” thanks to the USDA, is a term that can be bandied about by just about anyone these days, even if their wares have been fertilized in pesticide-laden pig offal. “Local” is a branding terminology infinitely malleable in the eye of its beholder.

What’s worse, some current proponents of these trends seem to think that it is still 2005, and that the US is not in a frighteningly deep and massive Recession. This is just embarrassing– why would anyone want to hitch their wagon to the rotting corpse of that kind of excess? Is it similarly now “hip” or “retro” to start investing with Bernie Madoff?

Further– and this is my personal experience– the proponents and hawkers of these fancifully-labeled commodities have the most venemous demeanors of *anyone* in NYC I have seen trying to hawk their wares. These are attitudes borne out of the high-school-popularity-contest, “what shoes/music do you have” set who wish to extend this childishness well into middle-age adulthood, coupled with the subject of this post: the conflicted (and rightful) worry of being perceived as “elitist” or snobby.

Were it actually for my personal health and sense of well-being, I would much rather put a $5 “local organic” apple– actually make that a $10 one– on a credit card at Whole Foods rather than suffer the embittered, insecure wrath of these would-be cafeteria “cool table” squatters who brandish the “good” kind of Lunchables ™.

Don’t bother asking yourself what you can do to share your enlightened world view on food with the downtrodden, benighted masses. They know how to overpay for a tomato the same as you and I do, but choose not to. You’ve made your choice, and they will make theirs.

I work on a program called the Veggie Mobile. We sell fresh (often local) produce at whole sale cost in low income communities in the capital region of New York.

http://www.cdcg.org/VeggieMobile.html

One of our local farmer’s markets serves a primarily low-income immigrant neighborhood, and they offered a WIC/Food Stamp matching program during the month of July last year. That is, they offered to match dollar-for-dollar, up to $20 of purchases with food stamps and/or WIC vouchers. They got a lot of response to this offer, and attendance at the market went up each week during that month.

One issue: Depending on what part of the country you live in, the cost of driving to get to a Farmers’ Market may raise the price of that 5-dollar tomato (seriously??!) to 6 or 6.50, especially if gas costs continue to rise over the summer.

It would be interesting to see what farmers’ markets in various parts of the country are doing to promote sustainable transport — of produce to market, AND of purchased produce to peoples’ home.? I’m blessed to live in bike-mad Portland where LOTS of folks ride for transportation; but what’s it like in cities and towns where bike access is downright scary and public transit service is poor-to-awful?

Transportation is one of the costs of bringing produce to our table that deserves a closer look.

Thanks again for a compelling article.

At the markets that I did go to, I appreciated the diversity of economic class that shopped there. Some of the markets were next to public housing, and it would have been very sad if the people who lived next door were priced out.

The non-profit organization that runs the local farmers’ markets was recently under fire for its treatment of vendors. In an online article, the director reported that one of her problems was that WIC receipts were down. One of the reader comments (excerpted) caught my eye:

“…And by the way, a drop in food stamps at the market is hardly indicative of a price problem. It’s that the poor are already at Ferraro’s buying bacon, hot dogs, pork and beans and canned or frozen vegetables and simply chose not to buy from your markets. It’s people like my family who go to the markets and consistently spend significant dollars for food… “

A good article recently that wasn’t specifically about food but I think is related was this one in the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....3.html?g=0

It’s not just that the poor can’t afford healthier options, or that unhealthy options are subsidized. it is also that because of economic realities, they may end up paying more than the better off for the same unhealthy food.

But I think we also have to give a lot of credit to the urban community gardens, which are by and large not an elitist phenomenon, but communities coming together to empower themselves. The rest of us have just begun to catch on.