A foodie’s faith rests in the local

As a kid I occasionally would run off with my great-grandparents’ salt shaker, plant myself in the middle of a rhubarb patch behind their barn and feast.

Well, I didn’t really feast. I actually closed my eyes, puckered up and tried to force some small bits of the vile stalks down my throat. It never tasted good no matter how many times I tried it, but because it grew behind the barn, was free and supposedly wouldn’t kill me, I was determined to keep trying it.

Even then the idea of nourishing myself with something right from the ground appealed to me. The harvest of fresh peas or the first picking of corn on the cob was worthy of celebration.

We weren’t farmers, but there were farmers and small vegetable growers all around us. Howard Gray grew peas and still does, by the way. The Tardys’ stand on Route 7 kept most of the town supplied with corn and the Bradstreets had potatoes.

There was nothing political about our choice to buy from the local farm stand. The safety of the fruit and vegetables in the local grocery store wasn’t an issue we concerned ourselves with. It wasn’t quaint to buy from the local farmer. We’d never even heard of the idea of reducing our carbon footprint.

It just seemed right to support someone in town, and there was no comparing the taste of something fresh from the garden.

Clearly we were ahead of our time. We were “foodies” – purveyors of gourmet local produce and supporters of sustainable agriculture.

Who knew?

This week federal officials lifted the latest salmonella warning and said it was OK for us to eat tomatoes again. Of course the caveat is that the scare may not really be over, just slowing, and they still have no idea what caused the outbreak that sickened 1,220 people in 42 states, including Maine.

A report recently released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office noted a series of steps that the U.S. should be able to take to track and regulate more efficiently the nation’s food supply. Many of the ideas already are being implemented in nations such as Canada and Ireland.

That the U.S. does not have an efficient tracking system clearly made it more difficult to track this latest outbreak.

Ironically, the news of the recently lifted ban comes at the same time as Maine’s Open Farm Day.

More than 100 farms across the state plan to open their doors to the public Sunday. That’s 10 more farms than last year.

Every weekend and many weekdays, farmers gather for markets across the state. There are roadside stands, large and small, with offerings of fresh produce, fresh cheese and bread.

At the getrealmaine.com Web site, are locations of farmers markets and a list of the farms that will be open to the public Sunday.

Despite all of the local agricultural options available, I marvel that, especially at the height of our summer, consumers still fill up their grocery carts with vegetables of unknown origin from the grocery store.

One need not be a foodie, a gourmet or an organic culinary elitist to know it may take a heck of a lot more than a salt shaker to make a piece of rhubarb taste better. But there’s not much lovelier than a salt shaker, a sunny day and a great big tomato plant.

Hold the salmonella, if you please.

reneeordway@gmail.com