"You eat. Willingly or not you participate in the environment of food choice. The choices you make about food are as much about the kind of world you want to live in as they are about what to have for dinner."
- Marion Nestle, What to Eat
Useful Information
- 100 Days of Real Food - a guide about how to eat real, rather than processed, foods by a family who took the challenge. The site challenges people to cut processed foods out of their lives, whether gradually or all at once. There are useful tips on how to shop for real food and also recipe suggestions.
- Eat Well Guide - this site allows you to search for local, sustainable and organic food sources near you, including farms, stores and restaurants.
- Good Guide - a site that rates products based on their impact on health, the environment and society. An extremely useful resource for consumers who need help sorting the truly sustainable products from those that have simply been greenwashed.
- Local Harvest - an online resource designed to connect people with locally-produced food. Learn what's available in your neighborhood!
- Real Time Farms - a newer resource connecting people to local farms and food artisans, as well as the restaurants who serve their products. Not much info for my area right now, but the site looks promising . . .
Multimedia
- Store Wars - a hysterical Star Wars parody promoting organic foods.
- The Story of Stuff - a video about the waste we produce and what happens to it. This definitely accelerated my own green revolution!
Organizations
- Cornucopia Institute - an organization devoted to supporting local and sustainable food production by family farms. The site has lots of interesting information on the organic food industry, including score cards for organic egg and dairy producers.
- Food Routes - an organization promoting local food (because how else can you know where your food comes from?)
- Grace Before Meals - a movement aimed at getting families to cook and eat together. The founder, Fr. Leo Patalinghug, believes that this is not only healthier but will foster strong family relationships. The site includes information and recipes.
- National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition - an alliance of grassroots organization lobbying for reform of federal food and agriculture policies.
- Rodale Institute - an organization dedicated to spreading the organic movement. They do research on organic methods and teach farmers how to implement them. Their site also provides information on health and environmental issues.
- Slow Food Movement - another organization aimed at sustainability. It advocates that everyone ought to have access to food that is healthy for them and sustainable for the people and environment around them. There are chapters all around the world. Join the movement!
Ethical Products
- Lush Cosmetics - because the outside of your body deserves healthy, ethical products, too. These handmade cosmetics use fresh ingredients with little to no preservatives in minimal packaging (including a number of solid, unpackaged products). Some products are entirely vegan.
- Niman Ranch - ethical meat producer widely available in supermarkets.
- Organic Valley - probably the best "big organic" company out there. Essentially a democratic farmers' cooperative. Their milk cartons are labeled by the region where the milk came from. Their website is worth checking out - it outlines their standards and even gives profiles of individual farmers.
- Vital Farms - ethical egg producer. Received the top "five-egg" rating by the Cornucopia Institute. The video on their website says it all.
My Local Favorites
- Cherry Grove Farm Lawrenceville, NJ - fresh handmade cheeses, grassfed beef and lamb, whey-fed pork and free range eggs.
- Edible Jersey Magazine - Your source for local food news of all kinds. And if you're not from NJ, the parent company, Edible Communities (a 2011 James Beard Award winner), offers similar publications for other foodsheds.
- Honey Brook Organic Farm Pennington, NJ - this is my CSA. All sorts of local, organic produce in two New Jersey locations. They tend to sell out, so apply early!
- Terhune Orchards Princeton, NJ - apple orchard and organic farm. They make their own cider and delicious fruit pies. I think they have the best peaches in the area, too. They have a farm store, do pick-your-own, and are also at the Trenton Farmers Market on weekends.
- Trenton Farmers Market Lawrenceville, NJ - the place to go for local produce. Also has Polish and Italian butchers, bakeries and Amish home cooking.
- Trickling Springs Creamery Chambersburg, PA - my localish organic milk supplier. Offers low temperature pasteurized milk in reusable glass containers. And has the most delicious chocolate milk on the planet.
** I do not receive any form of compensation for promoting these products or companies. This page is dedicated to spreading the word about things that I buy and enjoy and want others to know about. **
