Adventures in Local Food VIII: Eating local in Iowa

... local food and references to local food almost everywhere I turned, such as the local book store promoting its latest food titles--including the farmers' market book from I.U. Press; the local library promoting such titles as the "Directory of Grinnell Area Food Producers Who Market Locally," "The Garden To Table Cookbook" and "Food First" to name a few; street lights decorated with flags promoting the farmers' market; posters dotting a college campus with the slogan, "Buy Fresh, Buy Local;" a couple who served a fresh meal gleaned mostly from their CSA, and a restaurant that offers locally produced food on its menu.

Ok, for the record, Grinnell, Iowa, is home to a liberal arts college by the same name. Perhaps one could argue that those affiliated with the college had something to do with the local food efforts, I do not know because I was not there long enough to find out. And perhaps one could argue that the local food efforts there are an anomaly considering that virtually the entire state surrounding Grinnell (and the midwest, for that matter), based on my observations, consists of soy and maize monoculture (some of which is destined for a local gas pump).

On the other hand, perhaps as Michelle Shocked points out in her song, "Strawberry Jam" on the Arkansas Traveler CD, "we have a little revolution sweeping the land ..." I think she's right.

Ethanol is priced right in Iowa.

Whatever the reason, something is going on in the middle of Iowa, as people passing through have noticed, including travelers from Fort Wayne, Ind., and the two couples from Michigan who make a point to travel to Grinnell, Iowa, to eat at the Phoenix Cafe & Market, according to restaurant owner, Kamal Hammouda. He said one couple even travels from Hawaii each summer and always drops by the Phoenix (I concede that traveling several hundred miles just to "eat local," probably defeats the intentions of local food, so I'll give everyone the benefit of the doubt that they had other reasons for traveling through or to Iowa.) The Phoenix is one of only six restaurants in Iowa that serves locally-produced food on its menu, according to www.localharvest.org.

Fifty-five-year-old Hammouda has included locally produced items on his menu since opening the Phoenix 12 years ago. Originally from Egypt, Hammouda said he grew up eating local food. "Eating local is just not a common concept here. People are used to the supermarket ... they expect those artificial colors."

Kamal Hammouda welcomes customers to the Phoenix.

Over the years, the availability of local food has increased for Hammouda. In fact, by serving local, his customers sometimes become direct customers of Hammouda's producers.

"People will ask me where I get various things, and I tell them," said Hammouda. "We all can work together to grow a market for local food."

For Hammouda, whose Indiana connections include having lived in South Bend and Lafayette in the 1980s, eating local is a "very personal matter. I don't want to feed my kids garbage," he said.

By the way, the food tasted great ... and if you happen to pass through Grinnell, Iowa, be sure to stop by the Phoenix Cafe & Market and order the Vegetable Wellington, Hammouda's creation.