June 2004

Kate & Tim On Food: 21st Century Foods
In Jamaica Plain

Farm Aid: 10 Ways To Ensure Healthy Food For
You And Your Family

Happy Birthday Harvest-Jamaica Plain!

Staff Pick

Suggestion Book

Back when the Boston Food Co-op started in 1971 as a small member-only pre-order co-op, buying in bulk was not just an option - it was the only option. If you wanted natural foods in the late 60's and early 70's, there were few choices except to make your own from scratch. Yes, that's right - no Annie's natural Mac & Cheese made with organic flour, no Walnut Acres Soups, no Newman'O's as an alternative to Oreos. Organic produce? There was little around, and what there was was not very good - not nearly the quality or selection we have today. I have a friend who spent a whole winter eating organic brussels sprouts because it was the only organic produce available.

There have been many changes in the natural food business since then. First came the small, independent natural food companies like Stonyfield Yogurt, Hain, Spectrum, Eden, and Erewhon. They were small operations, with most owners learning as they went. Now, we are seeing these small natural food companies being gobbled up by the huge companies that became huge selling the consumer Wonder Bread, Twinkies and Fruit Loops. There used to be a large degree of trust that what was on the label was what was in the product, but now…

Also starting in the 1960's, organic farmers had to re-learn natural pest management, re-learn how to take care of fruits and vegetables the way farmers had for thousands of years before the time of chemical overload. Since the end of World War II the world's farmers have been fed a steady diet of "new and improved" chemical poisons, slickly obfuscated by the use of the word "pesticides." Things are changing, but not always for the better. Now, Dole claims it is growing organically, and the organic standards we worked so hard on are being eroded by the National Organic Standards Board of the USDA. Like a lot of other environmental issues, organic rule and regulation changes are for sale to the highest bidder. But that's a rant for another time. (Actually, that is last month's rant - known as the One Minute Activist - click here to check it out.)

We offer Co-op shoppers a wealth of choices. We offer organic pasta, beans, grains, seeds, nuts, flour, granola, sulphur-free dried fruit, coffee, honey, maple syrup, vegetable oils, lotions, soaps, shampoos, conditioners and more. We also carry a great selection of bulk spices and herbs - both medicinal and culinary. We have been selected Best in Boston by Boston Magazine for bulk herbs three years running. Harvest also has the best selection of high quality black and green teas available in the Boston area, and at the best prices!

There are two main reasons that the bulk selections in other "natural" food stores shrinking. Bulk sections, even with due diligence, can be messy. If your reputation relies on being a glitter palace, you want to eliminate any potential mess. The main reason, though, is that per square foot of space, you can make more money with six or seven rows of shelves than with bulk bins.

So if you are new to Harvest or buying natural foods, try out our wonderful bulk department. It's really simple - just fill up a bag or use your own container (the deli will be happy to weigh your container, and give you a sticker with the "tare" weight on it), put the PLU - or Item - number on a sticker, stick it on the bag, and off you go. We will weigh it up at the register. The bulk lotions, shampoos, and conditioners are in the Health and Beauty Aid Department.

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I know when I first came to Harvest, I was a bit intimidated by that little blue bucket in the refrigerated foods section of our store. Frankly, I didn't know what those little white blocks floating in it were. Could it be Cheese? Yak curd? Well, someone finally let me in on the secret: it's tofu! (OK, I just read the sign) Come to find out, it's one of the best deals in the store! At 99 cents/lb., you can't beat it. Plus, it's really tasty, organic, and made locally by Twenty First Century foods. Kate and I decided to head on down to their factory in Jamaica Plain to find out more.

Rudy Canale, owner and proprietor of Twenty First Century, greets us at the door, just as he has gotten his tempeh batch started. He's got a great laugh, and it echoes through the building as he gives us a little tour of his process. The whole place has a clean, fresh tofu smell about it. It's in a neat old, brick industrial complex. Rudy has been there since 1982, longer than any of the other tenants in the complex, including the Sam Adams brewery. Kate and I know nothing about making tofu, so we ask him to give us a quick lesson.

The two main ingredients in tofu are soy beans and water. His soybeans come directly from a small organic farm with which he has a unique relationship. You soak the beans in water until they are sufficiently soft. You grind them up in a wet mill, then cook the ground, soaked beans and water together. After they are cooked, they are centrifuged, and the solid pieces are removed. Soy milk is basically what's left. Rudy adds two super-secret curdling agents to thicken the soy milk. After the soymilk curdles for a few minutes, it is poured through cheesecloth, and pressed to desired firmness. The whey that is strained and squeezed out is thrown away. Once the tofu is pressed, it is packaged.

"My wife is very fast at packaging," he says. He and his wife run the entire operation, although she was out when we went for our interview. They get started at 7:00 in the morning, and are basically done by noon, making up to 1000 pounds of tofu in that time! Rudy does most of the delivery in person, and you can catch him some days at Harvest in the early afternoon, loading up the fridge and cleaning out the blue bucket for restock. Besides the "pack-your-own" bulk tofu from the blue bucket, they also sell the small 1lb. blocks in trays, and a shrink-wrapped 2-3lb. block. They have the machines to do all the packaging themselves on-site, so it's fresh and packaged as soon as it's made.

Well, leave it to an Italian to learn the trades of the Asians. "Tofu is traditionally from China, where tempeh is traditionally from Indonesia," he says. Rudy is originally from Italy, but has been to Indonesia to study food production, and their diet practices. He employs both Chinese and Indonesian methods in his food production.

"I was a vegetarian when I went to the Army," he says, "all of a sudden, thinking about war made me become peaceful." He laughs. He soon developed an interest in macrobiotics, even opening a very successful macrobiotic restaurant in Italy for a few years. He came to Boston to learn more, attending a macrobiotics school in Brookline. In 1981, he began making tempeh from his home in Brookline, and the business quickly grew.

Rudy and his wife have quite a few friends in the area besides Harvest. The Sant's brand sandwiches we sell are made with Twenty First tofu. Maria and Ricardo's, the tortilla makers were one of Twenty First's first neighbors in the Jamaica Plain industrial complex, and have been friends ever since. Rudy says he is close with the other local tofu makers in Chinatown, and that they exchange business once in a while. Twenty First has sold tofu to various area grocery stores from time to time as well.

Over the years, Twenty First Century foods has produced a gamut of soy products, although tofu currently makes up about 90% of their business. They've made tofu, tofu salad, tempeh, tempeh burgers, tofu burgers, and soy milk. Due to its short shelf life, the soymilk was not worth continuing. They're always trying new things, and changing their product line to suit demand.

Twenty First's latest product is a bit closer to Rudy's Italian heritage: wine! Stored in large barrels, Kate and I were lucky enough to see the store room, and even get a little sample of the table red, and I must say it's quite delicious. He also makes a zinfandel and a merlot. All three types are made from California grapes with lower-than-average traces of sulfites, and no sulfites added. You can find these three wines being sold under the name Cantina Bostonia, and we carry them here at Harvest! Although what he produces continues to change, Rudy has been a good friend to us here at Harvest!

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Farm Aid: 10 Ways To Ensure Healthy Food For You And Your Family

Almost everyday, Americans are confronted with new information that challenges their faith in the food system. Mad cow disease, the avian flu epidemic, high levels of toxins in farmed salmon, genetically engineered hormones in milk, rising obesity levels among children - these are only some of the recent headlines that have prompted many to question the safety and healthfulness of the food we eat and feed our families.

Farm Aid is launching a new public education campaign to link consumer demand for safe and healthful food to the family farmers who are committed to producing it. Its new publication, 10 Ways to Ensure Healthy Food for You and Your Family, highlights the links between family farms and the safe and healthful food we desire. The "10 Ways" guide not only educates Americans about the importance of individual food choices for strengthening family farm agriculture, but also engages readers to take public action to ensure that they will have a choice about who grows their food today, and for years to come.

Click Here to receive a free copy of the "10 Ways" guide, or call Farm Aid at 1-800-FARM-AID.

Ed. Note: Besides working on sustainability issues, we have been working with Farm Aid on a bill on Genetic Engineering before the Massachusetts legislature.

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Happy Birthday Harvest-Jamaica Plain!

Brett Sorrentino, Front End, Cambridge, likes Fina's Stuffed Shells from the Deli

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Q: I want to thank the Co-op for carrying AFM cleaning products, which are not sold in many stores. Because I am chemically sensitive, it is especially important to me to use products that are non-toxic and fragrance free. I use AFM Superclean - often in combination with either baking soda or vinegar - for almost all of my cleaning needs, from cleaning floors to washing my clothes. I find that using only very small amounts is remarkably effective since it is so highly concentrated. -Linda

A: Thanks, Linda. We added these two cleaners because of requests from a person with MCS, and another who didn't want to expose their children to harsh chemicals present is most cleaning products. We are trying them out to see if they will sell well enough to continue to carry, since we have to order it special and have it shipped from Wisconsin - that's where the nearest distributor is. The feedback has been good so far, so we hope to continue to carry it.

Q: Why do you sell stuff containing trans fat for? Specifically, Melba snacks have trans fats, while most melba toast doesn't.

A: Since Harvest started in the 1970's, we have always sold what our members and customers want, with an emphasis on Organic and Natural. We have been different from other co-ops in that it was decided by the Board of Directors that we would educate about but not dictate food choices. (I just found an article from our newsletter from back in 1996 by Dawn Olcott educating folks on trans fats.) We have always sold mainstream products like Coca-cola and Oreos next to Blue Sky natural sodas and Newman-o's. We will look for an alternative melba toast - without trans fats. Guess what - now that the FDA has discovered trans fats are bad for us, Oreo's is going to make them with NO trans fats! Thanks for the feedback!

Q: Hi. Thanks for all you do. I miss your organic seeds like Fedco, Johnny's, etc. Please bring them back.

A: The last two years, we carried Seeds of Change Organic Seeds. We lost so much money, and had so many seed packets left over that we decided not to carry them this year. It seems that people don't garden as much as they used to. We may try them again next year…

Q: Where are the Glutano cookies? You used to carry a large selection, and now they are gone.

A: They kept raising their prices, and sales must have fallen off because both of our natural food suppliers, United Natural Foods and Tree of Life, have stopped carrying their products. We are looking elsewhere, but if we have to buy them directly from Glutano, the price may be prohibitive.

Q: You need a bigger, more attention attracting store sign (in Cambridge) - should say Co-op and Café. There are many newcomers to the area, and they will find you sooner if you attract your attention. Also, I even pass the store walking down the street sometimes. Small ads in local papers may help, too.

A: Yes, you are right, and we are in the process of designing a new sign for the front on Mass Ave. We do ads in the Phoenix, which we have found to be the best as far as getting us new customers. Thanks for the feedback!

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