Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/14611
The nation’s feverish obsession with farm-to-table is just business as usual in San Luis Obispo, California, once a sleepy government and col- lege town, now a rising mecca for all things “oh natural.” If you’re an epicurean, you’re in luck: Sustainability is a part of the business recipe in the local bakeries, restaurants, wineries and other foodie ventures such as the Cal Poly Organic Farm, which runs a Community Supported Agriculture program. “The whole sustainability thing is really big here, whether it’s a philo- sophical or an economic issue,” says John Summer, Executive Director of the SLO County Visitors & Conference Bureau. What you’ll find here: vineyards, of course, but also lavender, olive oil, grains, biodynamic fruits and vegetables, goat cheese and people like Melanie Blankenship, a knowl- edgeable and fierce natural foodie and owner of Nature’s Touch, an organic grocery store. “[So-called] food trends are killing food,” she says, noting that once some- thing is in demand, it’s overproduced and overstressed. “I want to know that the food I’m eating has been treated honestly and humanely.” Blankenship carries items from Farmer Bill Spencer of Windrose Farm is an outspoken critic of geneti- cally-engineered food. purveyors she knows and trusts, like Paso Robles grain farmer John DeRosier, who specializes in authentic heirloom grains, and Bill and Barbara Spencer, owners of the certified- organic Windrose Farm in Creston. The Spencers use traditional seeds and are transitioning to biodynamic, in part because “organic” has lost its real meaning. “The word organic has been co-opted by the corporations,” says Farmer Bill. “Genetic engineers will be the end of us, and it’s part of the conundrum we face.” He hopes the day is near that food will “no longer be driven by avarice, but by community.” Just over the hill in Templeton, French transplants Clotilde and Yves Julien with their Olea olive oils. Clotilde and Yves Julien established an olive grove, Olea Farm, with two goals: to make artisan oils and to make a difference. Though European-influenced (they are French and they make oil from Spanish Arbequina olives), the couple is focused on making the Central Coast a legitimate olive- august 2010 / the tasting panel / 99