Insider The
august 2013
created by the swarthmore food cooperative
You Said It... page 3 Recipe 101... page 6 Sustainability Defined ... page 7 How To ... page 10 Back To Basics ... page 11 August 10 for 30 Specials ... page 13 Upcoming Events ... page 14
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you said it e l Manager, Dear Genera nd while at th a p o o C e th I as in op chickens) Yesterday I w o C s. v t n ia ble (G om taste & test ta Anthony (wh h it w n o ti sa r e ts got into conv Coop produc t u o b a ) e r fo be nd I’d never met al products a im n a g in d r a s reg nters. He wa and practices u o c t a e /m li e the d te in packaging at and articula le b a g d le , w o ies have been c li very, very kn o p ’s p o o C hat the a explaining w was, for me, It . tc e , g in lv vo uch how they’re e and I very m , n o si u c is d e e tiv e. It made m very informa m ti e th g in k r is ta e Coop in ou th appreciated h e v a h to , in ! ce aga h a good staff c very glad, on su g in ir h r you fo town. Thank - Stephen
Hi Marc! Jim and I continue to en joy the Co-op’s sushi on a regular basis. But I ke ep meaning to ask you if our sushi guy can sta rt using different plastic containers. He uses #6 , which is not recyclable in Swarthmore, so the C o-op is creating a lot of plastic trash that I’m su re it would like to avoid. Is there any reason he ca n’t switch to #s 1, 2, 4, 5, or 7?? Please let me kn ow. Thanks, Wendy
We are happy to announce that we will shortly be turning over to recyclable sushi containers. Please allow some time for us to sufficiently turn over, but in the meantime, keep the suggestions coming! If you have something you would like to say, tell us! We love to hear how great we are doing or what we can do to make your shopping experience, your co-op, and your community more enjoyable!
C
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aprese
alad
recipe 101
Natalie Oliva, our new cheesemonger, takes us inside her garden and shares one of her all time favorite recipes
See that picture? Take a good look. I
have been waiting all year, I repeat all year, to make this salad. And that time’s finally here. Halleloo! I will be eating this meal every day until tomatoes stop growing from our plants. Caprese salad showcases everything wonderful about Italian cuisine. Simple, seasonal fare that’s unfussy and super delicious. And man is it good. The beauty of this dish is you can adjust the amounts of each component until you create exactly what you want. I personally prefer less mozzarella and more tomatoes and basil. After these photos were taken, I added probably another cup of micro greens plus a fat drizzle of basil oil.
Cherry Tomato Caprese with Basil Oil and Microgreens Assorted organic tomatoes (preferably cherry) Kosher salt Good extra virgin olive oil Fresh Mozzarella, sliced thin Micro greens for garnish Basil leaves for garnish Fleur de Sel (optional)
Half cherry tomatoes and place in a bowl. Toss with a sprinkle of Kosher salt and a drizzle of olive oil just to coat. Arrange Mozzarella slices on plate and spoon tomato mixture over it. Drizzle basil oil (recipe follows) on tomatoes and around plate. Garnish with basil leaves, micro greens, and Fleur de Sel. Enjoy immediately.
Basil Oil
3/4 cup basil leaves 1/2 cup olive oil Blanch basil leaves in boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain and rinse with cold water. Place in the bowl of a food processor or blender and process with olive oil until oil turns green.
if you like what you see (and taste!) check out Natalie’s blog at www.gourmetgamine.com
Sustainability [suh-stey-nuh-bil-i-tee]
Defined Written by Hillary Wickline, marketing coordinator
Last night over dinner, my brother and I were talking about my job here at the Co-op and what interested
me in the food industry. I talked about my love for food and the local and sustainable movements and the desire to mesh them together. Then he asked me, “What’s sustainability?” I immediately went wide eyed and responded, “How do you not know what sustainability is?!” As I went to explain it to him, I realized I couldn’t. This term, sustainability, has become so ambiguous over the years that I couldn’t define something I claim I’m so passionate about. As I continued to think about it throughout the night, the more and more it bugged me. What is sustainability?
What’s New? We always try to bring in new, innovative products into the store that we think you’ll love. After returning from the Fancy Food Show in New York City, we brougt in One Potato, Two Potato chips. These chips are low in calorie and available for only 99 cents! Fentiman’s Botanically Brewed Sodas are also now available in four packs, which are great to spruce up any BBQ or a relaxing afternoon on our patio. Chef Tim’s vinaigrette is local and is great to drizzle over local cherry tomatoes or on a heaping portion of local growns. Make sure you try our chef salts that go great in dipping oils or on as a rub on a piece of Co-op Certified meat.
Literally, sustainability means capable of being sustained. But for me, that’s still not good enough. While sustainability covers an overwhelming amount of issues, it seems as though sustainability is subjective to the person. To me, sustainability means eating local whenever possible and supporting my local economy financially & morally. But, to others, sustainability might mean buying renewable energy and taking public transportation or maintaining a garden and composting waste. Some might even be satisfied with just recycling their plastic water bottles. Standing behind a cause or a movement is a great thing, whether it is similar to my ideals or something completely different. But what I learned from my brother is that I need to be able to articulate my thoughts in order convince others to join the cause. continued on page 8
At the Co-op, we try to articulate our opinions and thought process as best we can to our members and you. We could use the word ‘sustainable’ to try and describe our philosophies but I’ll give you a little more detail. Sustainable to us means…
Supporting small businesses, farms, and other co-ops … by buying product from local business & farmers and partnering with co-ops to make the movement stronger. Investing in our local community … by partnering with local businesses through our membership loyalty program. Providing healthy food at a competitive price … by constantly reevaluating our pricing to offer a more competitive price Reducing our waste consumption and disposing of waste properly … by being creative with what we have and composting & recycling whenever possible Providing a transparent business model … by allowing you to control the store.
how to...
Eliminate
Processed Foods From Your Diet
In this fast paced culture, processed foods are becoming the new norm. We all eat it, but how do we stop?
Check the label
This is really the only way to find out what’s in your food. Don’t just look at the front either – that’s more likely to read “natural” or “low fat” when in all reality, the food you’re about to eat might be just the opposite. The heart of the matter, the ingredients, lies on the back of the label, below the nutrition facts. Some say if the label has a laundry list of ingredients, avoid it. But, it’s important to know what you’re reading, what’s healthy to consume, and what’s not so healthy. Artificial sweeteners (high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, splenda, stevia, brown rice syrup, cane juice just to name a few), hydrogenated oils (vegetable, soybean, corn, canola), sodium nitrates & nitrites, benzoate, artificial coloring, monosodium glutamate (MSG), and trans fats are just a few of the big no-nos. I try to practice the “if-I-can’t-say-it-I-don’t-eatit” rule, but, as you buy your groceries take note of the ingredients. If an ingredient looks a little foreign to you, research it!
Avoid boxed & frozen meals
These guys are notorious for carrying the previous listed ingredients. At all cost, try to avoid boxed & frozen meals. Re-heat some leftovers or boil some pasta in about the same amount of time for a much healthier alternative.
Eat the real stuff
Instead of stocking up on frozen meals for this week’s dinners, stock up on fresh foods. In fact, challenge yourself to eliminate the frozen aisle from your trip entirely. Try buying fresh veggies for stir-fries or buy grass fed beef from your local butcher. Fresh fruit smoothies are also a great way to pack on the nutrition without packing on the pounds in the morning. While buying frozen meals may seem like a convenient time saver, the fresh stuff only takes a small amount of planning and offers way more nutrition and health benefits.
Eliminate fast food
For some reason, we love to eat on the go and in half the time it should take to sit down to have a meal. While this may save time, it’s not saving you any calories. When we eat on the go, we are more inclined to eat fast food or food with a boatload of preservatives, the bad stuff found in processed foods. McDonald’s wraps, Starbucks breakfast sandwiches, Stouffer’s frozen dinners… sound familiar? Instead of running around like a chicken with its a head cut off, sit down. Literally, sit down. Take time to enjoy your meal that you carefully prepared.
Eat local
Because local food does not have to travel long distances, it often comes sans preservatives. Take a visit to your local famers’ market for some fresh-picked produce, grass fed beef, pastured chickens, and local jams and honeys. Challenge yourself to create a few local meals a day and you’ll be sure to reduce your preservative intake, increase your health, and boost your local economy.
Introducing...
Kira Montagno, assistant operations manager, talks about the idea behind Back To Basics, our newest program addressing food accessbility. The idea of the basics program is not new to the Co-op community.
I was lucky enough to attend the National Consumers Cooperative Management Association Conference (CCMA) in Austin, Texas. During one of the sessions I attended, we discussed how to engage neighboring communities and those in more varied socioeconomic demographics in our local co-ops. One of the solutions mentioned was to debunk the myth that Co-ops are high end, specialty markets.
An ingrained principle of food co-ops is providing access to healthy food. However, sometimes the idea of food access gets lost, simply by the concept of Co-ops focusing on local, organic, sustainable items, which tend to be higher priced items. Inspired by other co-ops at CCMA, I developed the “Back To Basics” program to keep prices low on staple food items, allowing basic food needs to be met by anyone in the community. To start, I took a look at food staples in our store (eggs, flour, pasta, rice etc.) and found that we could lower the prices on select items. I developed the program further by working with department managers
and our vendors to keep costs at a minimum. The main goal of this program is to make our food accessible but more importantly affordable for everyone inside and outside of the Swarthmore community. Currently, we have a little over twenty products in the Back to Basics program, including meats, produce, dairy, toiletries and baking needs. We look forward to continuing to extend this philosophy and practice to other products throughout the store which will provide us a way to serve you better foods, better choices and better service, all for less cost. Now this is what I call food access in its most basic form.
Eggs Regular Grade A Retail—$1.65 Basic Price--$1.39
Rice Eco Short Grain Brown Rice Retail—$1.99 Basic Price--$1.49
Bulk Flour Retail—$.99/lb Basic Price--$.69/lb
Peanut Butter Crunchy and Creamy Retail—$4.29 Basic Price--$3.49
Butter Unsalted/salted Retail—$3.99 Basic Price--$3.15 Pasta Whole Wheat and White Retail—$2.05 Basic Price--$1.69 Beans Canned Black Beans Retail—$1.49 Basic Price--$.99 Coffee (created for B2B) One Village Block Party Basic Price--$9.99
Frozen Vegetables Retail—$2.49 Basic Price--$1.69
Applegate American Cheese Retail—$8.99/lb Basic Price--6.99/lb Applegate Cheddar Cheese Retail—$9.99/lb Basic Price--$7.99/lb Applegate Oven Roasted Turkey Retail—$10.99/lb Basic Price--$9.99/lb
Toilet Paper & Paper Towels (created for B2B) Retail--$.99 Retail--$.99 Toothpaste Retail—$3.99 Basic Price--$2.99 Produce (created for B2B) Bagged Yellow Onions 3lb @ 1.99 Bagged Mixed Potatoes 5lb @ 2.99
Applegate Black Forest Ham Retail—$10.99/lb Basic Price--$9.99/lb Rotisserie Chicken Retail—$9.99 Basic Price--$8.99 Carolina Cat fish (created for B2B) Basic Price--6.99/lb Frozen Chicken Family Pack Boneless& Skinless (created for B2B) Basic Price--3/lb at 5.49/lb
August Specials
Back To School
Swiss Emmenthal $1.00 off per lb.
Pork Tenerloin $5.49 lb. (reg. $5.99 lb.)
Atlantic Salmon Burgers $9.99 bag (reg. $10.99 bag)
Pirates Bootly Multipack $5.99 each (reg. $6.99 each)
Justins Nut Butter $0.99 each (reg. $1.49 each)
Stonyfield Squeezers $3.99 each (reg. $4.99 each)
Applegate Meats & Cheeses $1.00 off per lb.
Co-op Made Hummus $6.99 lb. (reg. $7.99 lb.)
Co-op Made Guacamole $9.50 lb. (reg. $9.99 lb.)
Bananas
$0.69 lb. (reg. $0.89 lb.)
Upcoming Events Saturday, August 24...
First Annual Homebrew Competition
Wednesday, August 28...
New Members’ Orientation at 5:30 PM
Wellness Wednesday
...every Wednesday 11 AM - 2 PM
Fried Chicken Friday ...every Friday at 2 PM
BBQ Saturdays
...every Saturday 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM
Coming Soon... Judy Wicks Book Signing, September 7 Greenfest, September 8 National Food Day, October 26
Thank You To Our Membership Partners Wolf Performing Arts Center . Tyler Arboretum . Hedgerow Theatre . Penn Museum . Please Touch Museum . Annenberg Center for Performing Arts . Penn Museum . Eastern State Penitentiary . Academy of Natural Sciences . Fitness at 5 East . Bryn Mawr Running Company . Yoga at Wellness on Park . Cycle Fit . Fitness Together . Pilates Connexion . The 5 Senses . Per Lei Boutique . One Village Coffee . John & Kira's Gourmet Chocolate . Local Home + Gifts . Starry Eyed Optical . Hipcycle . Earth & State . Kuta . Reconsiderd Home . Blueberry Bog . Seven Stones Gallery . Sorella Boutique . Compendium Boutique . Ten Thousand Villages . Wyebrook Farm . Penns Woods Winery . Farm Truck . John's Village Markets . Viso's Authentic Italian Desserts . Cheng Hing . Dunkin Donuts . Occasionally Yours . Vicky's Place . Mango's Froyo . Aria . Desert Rose . Dos Gringos . Solar States . ME Photo & Design . Untours . Suburban Music School . Neil's Knife Sharpening Service . Solavei . Wellness On Park . Craftforia . Garnet Cleaners . Swarthmore Wellness . Healing Partners Day Spa