Local is Getting Healthier: Finnegan Frost

Berries from Aichele Farms, a local grower that provides berries to Finnegan Frost.

Once you stop eating packaged food, and highly processed food, and shipped-in Monsanto food, and modified-for-profit Frankenfoods, you really start to notice what is left:  Wholesome, authentic food.  If you pay attention even further, you will note which of those foods nourish you and which damage you. 

And you will begin to notice businesses like Finnegan Frost.  These folks are attempting to walk it back ... to get us back to a healthier paradigm for what a "treat" should really be.  A treat is delicious.  It is something we don't eat every day, but when we do, it is the highest quality possible, as local as possible, and as untreated/modified as possible.

Not an easy thing to do in our hyperpalatability-crazed, profit-motivated, convenience-driven food culture.  But when was much of anything worthwhile ever easy?  It's more effort to brave the hot sun, and the jostling elbows of the other shoppers at the farmers' markets, than to stroll unimpeded around an air-conditioned store.  But oh, the reward of that locally-grown produce!

Now, I know that frozen yogurt, even frozen yogurt with Finnegan's wonderfully quality ingredients, is a processed food.  But what a step in the right direction they are making.  They use fresh fruits and nuts, as locally-sourced as possible, and emphatically state in one ad I saw, "No Candy!"  These people are on the ball.  On their "Why it Matters" page, they say:

Consider these facts:

• 25.8 million people in the U.S. are affected with Diabetes
• Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States
• Diabetes is costing our country over $200 billion dollars a year.
• 35.7% of U.S. adults and 17% (or 12.5 million) adolescents are obese
• 300,000 people die annually from weight-related complications.

So, what's at the heart of these staggering health trends?  Nutrition.  While the fast food industry generates over $110 billion a year, Americans continue to get sicker. We must change our mentality toward food, or continue to face the consequences. Finnegan Frost aims to be a catalyst for change.

I will add:  Type 2 diabetes and obesity are in most cases preventable, and in many cases reversible, which makes them even more tragic as a cause of death, needless suffering, and out-of-control health care spending.

Finnegan Frost is located next to the Starbucks at Gage and Keene in Richland, behind Albertson's grocery store.

Considering Finnegan Frost's desire to use and promote local, fresh, real foods, I felt it was important to bring them to your attention so that their hard work and quality-oriented philosophy will be rewarded.  We need more businesses with these values.  I hope to find more, and when I do, I'll let you know here.

A Visit to the Northwest Regional Food Hub

For a while now, you've been seeing that little notice in the upper right side of my blog recommending the Northwest Regional Food Hub's "Shop the Northwest" website for placing your order for local products, to be delivered to their store for you to pick up.

Today I actually visited the Northwest Regional Food Hub. 

I get positively giddy when I think about how fortunate we are to have such a varied and vast lineup of truly exceptional food producers in our area.  As a farmers' market junkie, I droop in spirit a tad when the markets end, then perk up when my bi-weekly Winter CSA deliveries start. Now I can get my local food fix in between deliveries.

A refrigerator case of Pure Eire ... pure dairy bliss!  

The Northwest Regional Food Hub is located at 603 Goethals in Richland, and is part of a larger movement to provide improved customer access for small and mid-size producers of fresh food and other products.   At last ... something in our crazy world that makes sense!

As you might guess, people like those who run the Food Hub have a definitive interest in health and clean eating. I had a great discussion with one of them today. She's been grain free for more than three years, and it seems there are actually (!) people interested in learning how to cook for the grain-free lifestyle.   In a moment of crazy enthusiasm, I shared my blog link and said I'd help with that.

Local onions and pumpkins.

The Hub has tastings, classes, farm tours, celebrations, and other events. The best way to keep up with the goings-on at this bustling mecca of local goods is to drop them a note here and request their e-newsletter.  You must do this to stay up to date; things are changing rapidly at the Hub.

For hours and events, check their facebook page (link at top right on my blog) and their website. 

Moxie Organix skin care products:  "Courageous skincare with a heart."

Cheese Louise

The other day I stopped in at Cheese Louise, a cool little cheese and gift shop on The Parkway in Richland.  I love going in there, because the proprietors (who would rather be called "cheese mongrels" than cheesemongers) truly are dogged in their pursuit of cheese excellence.

Yes, their cheeses come from all over the world, but the shop is local!  And some of best cheeses in existence do, in fact, come from other parts of the world.  Cheese Louise does carry some Northwest-made products, as does Ariel Gourmet right next door.  And let's face it, if I knew of any locally-made cheeses, I'd be all over them.  I depend on my readers to let me know about local foods, because I can't discover them all myself! 

Anyhoo, that day at Cheese Louise, I slowly came to realize, through discussing the offerings with one of the delightful cheese consultants, that I was in the mood for feta.  "But not just any feta!" I insisted.  I have been disappointed in feta before ... expecting a sharp, briny tang and getting instead a chalky nothingness.  But at Cheese Louise, you can taste before you buy.  One taste of the all-sheep's-milk Pastures of Eden feta cheese, and my eyes lit up. Peoples' eyes lighting up is probably a pretty common occurrence at Cheese Louise.

That cheese was destined to be crumbled over a simple Greek salad of red pepper, cucumber, tomato, and Kalamata olives, with a drizzle each of lemon juice and olive oil, and a finishing sprinkle of oregano.  More will be stirred into sauteed spinach with mushrooms, and it's the kind of cheese you could just serve a hunk of, along with walnuts, crudites or fruit, and enjoy immensely.

If you haven't done so yet, do pop into Cheese Louise for a delightful cheese browse!

Your Local Fish Market

Northwest Seafood Market in Richland is worth exploring. The owners generously allow a local farmer to use some of their refrigerator space as a drop site for fresh, free-range eggs, for which I have a subscription. The farmer is listed on the Slow Food Southeast Washington website. As well, the fish market allows a local producer of beef to use freezer space for customer pickup or purchase. It's also a drop site for another local meat producer.

When I pick up the eggs, I always scope out the Northwest Seafood Market's fresh fish. Often, the trout is what comes home with me. Sprinkled with a mixture of 1 tablespoon flour mixed with 1 tablespoon cornmeal, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, then baked skin side down in about 2 tablespoons of butter for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees, the trout is tender, flavorful, and a very nice change from the usual meat and fish we get into the habit of serving.

Turn the fillets over and back once during cooking so the tops get buttery golden brown.