Hot or not

Villa Augustus in the Dutch town Dordrecht is immensely popular by all kind of people

I already announced that this weeks’ post will deal with the fact that nowadays urban farming seems to happen everywhere.  It seems the only solution for any urban problem is to put in a garden which solves social and health problems and get’s people in the same direction again. What the reason for the success?

Growing your own food has been everyday practice until the Second World War. After that period people preferred to spend their time on other things rather than on gardening.

It was the city of Havana (Cuba) which was confronted with the fact that being able to buy food in a supermarket wasn’t as self-evident as it seemed to be. At the end of the eighties - when the country was in deep crisis - import and export declined and oil and oil-based products became scarce. The Havanese responded immediately and started to grow their own food in every corner of the city: gardens, gutters, balconies, rooftops and the like.

The government of this country responded to this bottom-up project by opening up and Urban Agriculture Department in 1994. This department ensured that everyone who planned to grow food was given some piece of land free of charge! Now they still advice and disseminate knowledge based on organic agriculture.

The crisis in Cuba was just the beginning of a whole lot of events which made urban citizens aware of the fact that they were really depended on others to foresee in their food. London made a food strategy as is done by other cities like Milan and Barcelona. Recently the Dutch cities of Rotterdam and The Hague decided more attention needs to be paid to growing food in cities.

It seems more people become aware of the fact that it is good not to depend on others completely. Although the attention paid to urban farming is sometimes a bit overdone it might be the only way in which we can convince everyone. Therefore we should be glad that all kinds of people are involved. Not only governments stimulating people to grow food, but also city farmers, artists, architects and urban planners, chefs, supermarkets and consumers. Don’t resist the hype. Join it!

Dirty hands

Some months ago I already told about my do-it-yourself-food-growing project. The project is running well and my boyfriend and I have already enjoyed some home grown rucola, lettuce and basil. But when we recently went out for dinner, we couldn’t take a break from working.

Growing your own food is hot. As soon as a local government doesn’t know what to do with a leftover piece of land, an empty building or an area which has social problems, they decide to start some urban farming project. And it can do a lot good as I’ve discussed in this post. 

Restaurants also seem to have discovered the advantages of this new trend. They grow their own food or they make sure the menu has at least some local dishes made from products obtained from local farmers. The guests can just lean back in their relaxing chairs while the chef and his staff prepare beautiful dishes with honest ingredients. More about this next week. But my local movie theatre decided to be different. 

IKEA is known for its cheap designer’s furniture enabling everyone to live in a comfortable interior created all by themselves. IKEA does some suggestions, but you can mix and match as long as you feel satisfied. Prices are low so you don’t have to worry about the budget. And the creative persons amongst us can even personalize the products more when they become IKEA hackers.

My local movie theatre found two artists that decided that everyone can be creative. They turned the restaurant of the theatre into an IKEA hack space where every guest could create his own table; a table cloth or placemats, some real plants or a paper flower, candle light or an electric one. After you prepared your table and checked the menu you filled in the order list. Then the waitress comes to pick it up. Then the delivery service comes in; before you know your order is served right at your decorated table. It seems to be the ideal combination of IKEA creativity and designers luxury. 

The farmer next door

Food used to enter the city on its own feet. Farmers took their livestock from the countryside to central markets and sold them dead or alive. When more people founded a job in other places than at their own house, farmers or their representatives came along the doors to sell milk, potatoes and other stuff. At that time it was convenient because the people didn’t have time to visit all those producers themselves and indispensable because stocking food wasn’t easy without fridges.

After the industrial revolution, when even more people spent time working away from their homes, grocery stores opened. All kinds of fresh and lasting products were on offer for everyone.  The success of these shops was encouraged by the ability of ‘inventing and creating’ food in factories. Fresh products had a hard time competing with ready-to-eat-meals and deep frozen products.

Internet gave people the opportunity to stay at home and still enjoy the fun of shopping. Supermarkets saw that books sold well online and started to offer their products in a digital environment as well. Especially two income families profited of this services which left them some more time to spend together.

But all these developments caused the consumer to move further and further away from the producers of their daily nutrients. Since the beginning of this century people started to notice that kids do not realize that milk comes from a cow, not from of a factory. Farmers started to organize events which enabled consumers to visit the farm. But apparently this is not enough yet.

Farmers in Holland –organized in a big cooperation – decided to go around the doors again. Almost like they used to do years and years ago. Only the reason they do it for has changed. This time it is meant to explain the quality of the locally produced milk which is given by cows which spent most of the year grazing outdoors.

It seems this is yet another action which is needed to bring the consumer closer to the origin of its food. And they could be as lazy as they used to be. They even don’t have to initiate something themselves. It will come at their doorstep spontaneously without asking for it. No dirty feed, no bad smells, not influenced by the weather. I wonder whether it really communicates what is wants too. 

Shaken. Not stirred.

‘Shaken. Not stirred’. That’s what James Bond used to say when ordering his Martini. He was given a choice by the barman. Unfortunately this doesn’t go for all food products we want.

You must have heard of the recent earthquakes in Italy. Two years ago the city of L’aquila was hit by quite a heavy one. Last weeks’ it was Bologna shaking. Bologna is mainly famous for its pasta sauce and its arcades covering the whole city. But you should not forget that it is in the heart of one of Italy’s culinary districts.

Nature is able to destroy a lot. We have seen that after the 2004 earthquake which was followed by a tsunami killing over 200.000 people, destroying many houses and economies. Floods in the South happen often and also the yearly tornado seasons in the USA damages a lot.

Often the news after such a disaster tells us about the amount of people killed or injured and the damages it did to buildings and infrastructure. Not many times we realize what other effects it has.

Bologna is not far from cities like Parma and Modena. Cities which might not sound familiar until you hear the products it brings forward: Parmesan Cheese and Balsamico Vinegar. Products which need ageing before they get their specific flavors. You might understand now where I want to go.

During the earthquakes in the second half of May many vinegar barrels and cheeses have been damaged.  The damage doesn’t become clear immediately because the products are all hidden in dark cellars. Because the vinegar and cheese take from 12 months to 12 years to get ready for sales, we will only notice the effects later on. Prices could go extremely up when the products get scarce or they go down when the quality isn’t as good as we could expect from it.

These producers create products which could only be made in a specific region. Balsamico Vinegar is made from a special grape only growing in Italy. Parmesan cheese can only be made in and around Parma. These farmers make unique products which are appreciated all over the world but they still need to fight hard against all factory made vinegars and cheeses. 

The producers haven’t only lost a ‘harvest’. They also lost many of their tools and their inventory. I  suggest we should support those farmers/producers and help then to set up their business again. So buy the vinegar and the cheeses - no matter what price it is – and enjoy what’s left.