The Alice Watersization of New York cuisine is continuing apace, and now it’s spreading to decidedly un-haute cuisine. Now that the budget is done, Albany leaders are finalizing a deal to give New York its first statewide Food Policy Council, charged with spreading the local-and-organic movement to corner bodegas and other places where lower-income New Yorkers shop. A Friday announcement by state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker explained that the new body will coordinate the mind-numbing minutiae involved in favorite sustainable-food efforts like getting New York State apples to the neighborhood deli and ensuring that community-supported agriculture-buying clubs are affordable to the poor. That last bit helped sell the plan to legislators less interested in dining at Chez Panisse than in combating low-income obesity — which is actually lending a little class tension to the plan. “The question is, is it just going to be a food-quality and local-food focus, or is it going to have a key anti-poverty focus?” asked Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. “I hope this really doesn’t end up a yuppie thing.” Sigh. Doesn’t everything around here these days? —Tracie McMillan
Fancy Produce in Every Pot!
The Alice Watersization of New York cuisine is continuing apace, and now it’s spreading to decidedly un-haute cuisine. Now that the budget is done, Albany leaders are finalizing a deal to give New York its first statewide Food Policy Council, charged with spreading the local-and-organic movement to corner bodegas and other places where lower-income New Yorkers shop. A Friday announcement by state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker explained that the new body will coordinate the mind-numbing minutiae involved in favorite sustainable-food efforts like getting New York State apples to the neighborhood deli and ensuring that community-supported agriculture-buying clubs are affordable to the poor. That last bit helped sell the plan to legislators less interested in dining at Chez Panisse than in combating low-income obesity — which is actually lending a little class tension to the plan. “The question is, is it just going to be a food-quality and local-food focus, or is it going to have a key anti-poverty focus?” asked Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. “I hope this really doesn’t end up a yuppie thing.” Sigh. Doesn’t everything around here these days? —Tracie McMillan