This morning I noticed a strange and interesting new magazine on the coffee table. Edible Louisville, read the title, Celebrating the Pleasure of Local Food and Beverage. I gave it a cursory flip-through, as I was getting ready to leave, and I liked what I saw.
"Hey," I said to Neil as we were having lunch at Lunch Today, "where did that Edible Louisville magazine come from?"
"Oh yeah! I got that at Heine Brothers. The cover says it's $5.95, but it was free."
It turns out that this is the latest publication from Edible Communities, which publishes similar magazines in cities across the country. And this isn't any bush league magazine, either; the design and photography look great, and it's edited by long-time Courier-Journal food editor Sarah Fritschner. This first issue contains a feature on Capriole goat cheese, gardening commentary from Jeneen Wiche, and a reprinted Wendell Berry essay. Good stuff! I'm assuming that Neil got this for free because it was the first issue, and that going forward the $5.95 cover price will be in effect, but I think I might be willing to cough up $32 for a six-issue subscription.
Tangentially related: The magazine has a little blurb about Butcher's Finest beef, which is available at ValuMarket. I had noticed that ValuMarket was carrying fresh (as opposed to frozen) local beef and had been looking forward to trying it, but this blurb, which had a definite promotional tone, turned me off. "All beef... is born and raised for its first few months on grass at participating farms throughout the state. The cattle are then shipped to the Midwest for fattening and finishing. After processing, the beef is shipped back to Kentucky." Is it just me, or does it seem totally ridiculous for anyone to call this local? My whole reason for eating local meat is to avoid the use of fossil fuels for transporting the animals/meat and to avoid the inhumane conditions and environmental problems associated with feedlots. As far as I can tell, the only way that Butcher's Finest differs from regular factory farming is that the cattle are born in Kentucky and then returned to Kentucky to be eaten. So what? I call bullshit on this whole thing.
1 comment:
wow, I made the same comment (about the factory farmed cows) to Brian as I read the magazine. Same reaction here.
Other than that I thought it was a lovely magazine too.
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