Meat, Produce, Fresh Goods…

Recently for the holiday Janea bought herself a book that several people in my life have told me has changed theirs. For example, my girlfriend Sally and her husband have left the city life for Rockmart County. They’ve bought an old farm and are raising chickens and ducks along with their Salukis. Soon, she tells me, they’ll have a goat or two.

Leaving the city life for the farming life is a big step; so I had to find out what this was all about. Certainly I would never leave my city life for a life as a missionary in Africa, a coroner in Virginia, an attorney in Memphis or to become a beekeeper in Alabama, so I have hi-jacked this book to find out what all the life altering is about. Much to the dismay of my business partner I now laugh, delight and garner an appreciation for living locally in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

As the story unfolds, my thoughts are countless; the Kingsolver family made it their mission to eat locally and seasonably, starting their year in April. Since opening our little shop in September, I find I am held accountable for much more from a guest than perhaps the guest asks of themselves. The Mercantile’s vision- my vision as a chef- was to open a place and serve foods that were available not only locally (within 100 miles) but regionally and seasonally. This is where the challenge starts.

My sandwich menu carries tomatoes and avocados. These are fruits defined by season. Tomatoes have had a particularly rough growing season this past year; we’ve been getting them from Florida, and one batch from Texas. Avocados have to come from California; they are the one item on the sandwich board that travels the longest distance. Fortunately, an avocado doesn’t begin to ripen until after it is picked. By the time it arrives here it is ready to be eaten. The accompaniment choices are a side salad or seasonal fruit medley – so if we really went local today, the choice for fresh fruit would be “zip”. If we go regionally then we can look at oranges and strawberries – very, very early strawberries, both from Florida.

Deciding to run a business in a new way, as opposed to how I cooked and ate at home previously, or how other chef’s I’ve worked for that had taken advantage of the "world as our oyster" philosophy has been illuminating. I taught for years that low cost of produce is due to seasonal availability but I did not think about the shipping and transport or the countries and people affected by our choices and desire for foods not readily available within our own hemisphere and yet still the low, low prices. So now I talk, and my partner talks with local farmers. This is where one would readily think that because travel is cut to a bare minimum and demand is high that costs would be low and easily passed on to our guests. Not so. A new challenge is before us.

With this challenge, I’ve come to question my every motivation. Trying to choose why I use a product or bring in produce or proteins from outside the region. Because, I answer myself, our guests demand this – they expect and are accustomed to this. Then I think, because this is the best of the best. The quality of the animals way of life is more true to being the animal, the farm is sustainable, yada yada yada…Does this mean I sold out? Am I still an educator? Is this what I expected when I opened this business to educate my consumers? I thought I had left teaching to cook again; another challenge.

How do I make a diffence then? As a small fish in a big ocean of agribusiness and large corporate grocers what can I do? I make decisions that I feel will empower myself and others. I will support other small businesses just trying to make a difference. I will support family owned businesses. I will support ships and trains and semi’s for transport but not jet planes. I will re-evaluate my own use of petrol. I will compost every fruit and vegetable I chop. I will reduce my carbon footprint and encourage others to do the same, because I believe in this. I believe in this world. I believe that the earth can sustain us if we treat her properly. I believe that supporting others in their endeavors will bring support to my business in kind with a little ingenuity. And just as I think I have my mantra down…the questions begin.

Question: “Why don’t you have cherries and asparagus in house? Whole Foods has them.”
Answer: Cherries and asparagus are from Chile and Argentina right now. Whole Foods brings them in because that is what their guests demand, they label it well and offer it to you year round. We also could offer this to you but our focus is to remain seasonal, local and regional with the produce we offer to our guests. We are a much smaller entity than Whole Foods.

Question/Statement: Kroger has Rib-eyes for $10.99. Yours have more fat and are more expensive. Is your meat even local?
Answer: Kroger is a larger store with a lot of buying power; I have not and do not work for Kroger so I am not sure where their beef, pork or chickens come from. Our beef is restaurant grade, sustainably raised, and grass-fed until their last week of life and therefore more costly. Our chickens are local, sustainably raised, do not contain and are not fed GMO’s and allowed to be, well exactly what they are, chickens. We do carry Georgia Grass-fed ground beef in our freezer from White Oak Pastures.

Question/statement: It says on the internet that you have $10.00 chocolate bars. Isn’t that pricey in this neighborhood?
Answer: My goodness, yes, that is expensive for any neighborhood. We do not carry a chocolate bar for $10.00. We do carry the highest quality cooking chocolate available, it is not a candy bar, and can be found in our baking area. It is in the $9 range.

Question: Do you carry seafood?
Answer: On Fridays we have fish in house. We also carry Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon filets in our freezer. For other seafood specialties I recommend Sawicki’s in Decatur. Lynn was with Star Provisions for many years. She specializes in seafood.

Question: When are you going to get your liquor license? What is the hold up?
Answer: Please ask my business partner Janea to explain this to you. This is the subject of a very different blog.

These questions are sometimes mind blowing – now I think of them as a good challenge: a way to discover more about myself, our client base at the shop and try to see things from the consumers point of view. So what would I think if I came into my shop and didn’t own it? What questions would I ask? Maybe all of the above.

This idea (The Mercantile) turned into reality is an opportunity to create a new way of shopping and eating. Where you take home food that is cooked to order for you and get seasonal produce and staples to create the next couple of day’s meals. Think of us like you would an open air market in France or Italy. We hope the biggest difference would be that most of us have a southern accent rather than a European dialect. Know that the food you take home with you didn’t travel a long distance and still tastes like it should, that the dairy is minimally processed and local. When we welcome you into the store, we mean it. When we ask you how you’ve been, it’s because we are getting to know you. We’ve got a long way to go and we are getting there. Like the Kingsolver’s family we are about to really start our produce year and local movement – our April is just around the bend.

Cheers y’all.
-Samantha