Monday 8/13
Whenever any conversation discusses sustainability in general, the subject regarding the importance of local food invariably comes up. In a nutshell, a larger conversation about such efforts taking place around Northeast Ohio is the impetus behind the monthly Local Food Mondays scheduled at the Great Lakes Tasting Room in Cleveland.
Whether it’s rural or urban farming, the industry requires a network that unites everyone between the grower and the consumer. That’s where an event such as Local Food Mondays comes into play, with attendees ranging from local farmers, distributors and producers to government agencies and the general public.
Local Food Mondays coordinator Carlton Jackson, who is co-owner of Tunnel Vision Hoops, facilitates each meeting by emceeing and introducing the various speakers. Cool Cleveland talked to the Lyndhurst resident about not only its history but the goal behind Local Food Mondays.
First of all, how did Local Food Mondays begin?
It was originally started back in 2008. The old nonprofit Entrepreneurs for Sustainability (E4S) was the originator of it. When they went defunct in 2011, Local Food Mondays died. I’ve been kind of talking to people over the last several years trying to resurrect it. Finally, this year we were able to get it back up and operating. Now we’re trying to get the word out because after three years of it not existing, there are a lot of new people in the local food movement that were not aware of it.
So who is actually behind Local Food Mondays?
Before there were paid staff members with the nonprofit that put the programs together and they charged for tables so a vendor could put their product out or their literature out. Now we’re a loose-knit group of volunteers where we don’t do any charging. We’re trying to get this thing back up and make it as popular as possible to get people involved in local food.
As far as the actual Local Food Mondays events, what can visitors expect?
Basically, it’s the sharing of information and networking of people involved in local food. We’re inspiring people to get involved with it and to interconnect people together that are involved, whether you’re processing food, growing food, selling food. We have some people who attend from universities in Oberlin and Hiram that are farmers. Also, people that are making foods like Red Lotus and Wake Robin Fermented Foods. Just all kinds of people who are involved with local foods. It’s politicians, nonprofits, for-profit farmers.
In regards to the current local food revival that seems to be taking place throughout Northeast Ohio, what else needs to be done?
The most important thing right now is to figure out ways to reach the general community at large. You don’t have to be one of these people that’s involved in local food. All you have to do is be interested in attending. There’s no charge and you can meet up with different people who are providing different types of food. So reaching the general public to understand the value of local food movements to the community and of keeping the food dollars in the community to provide jobs. Cleveland Crops or Rising Harvest are nonprofits that employ developmentally disabled adults in growing food. So it’s reaching the general public to understand that the value of spending a little bit more for fresher, higher nutritional content food is to their advantage.
The next Local Food Mondays event is scheduled 8/3 @ 6:30-8:30pm at the Great Lakes Tasting Room. NOTE: due to Labor Day, the event is taking place a week earlier on 8/31.
Cleveland, OH 44113