Edible Worcester, Issue 3: Editor's Letter
Over the last 5 years, I have watched the growth of Worcester’s efforts to support local food and its makers. I’ve explored the city and the county, visiting markets, meeting and writing about its many farmers and food producers along the way. I continue to discover more and more places and stories—there are so many people to interview and photos to take!
In December, Ilene Bezahler, founder and former publisher of Edible Boston and Edible Worcester, moved to California. Sarah Blackburn, then managing editor of Edible Boston, is now co-publisher of both Edible Boston and Edible Worcester with her husband, Chris. I am excited and honored by the opportunity they’ve given me to be managing editor of the new Edible Worcester magazine, dedicated to the celebration of the culturally diverse, locally grown food of Worcester County.
In this, our third issue, we are focusing on Climate, Community and Conservation as they relate to local food. I studied environmental studies in college and previously worked in environmental consulting before working in communications. I am thrilled to see my interests merge in these very important topics.
Climate change is all over the news—the numbers are scary and the effects are real. As I began writing this letter, temperatures were in the 60s. In January. What does this mean for our farmers? For our food? For us?
Read on and you’ll learn about the challenges our local farmers face and some of the ways in which they’re adapting to climate change. You’ll learn more about an organization that works to create access to food while building healthy and sustainable communities among Worcester’s young and old. You’ll read about a woman teaching and leading others to forage mushrooms and a business working with local farms to turn their waste into energy, all while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
You’ll learn about businesses helping to create a more sustainable kitchen—from cotton bags that help fruits and vegetables last longer in the fridge to a local business helping clients compost their waste even if they don’t have the resources or space to do it at home. We wrote about the only Trappist brewery in America, a local monastery where monks brew award-winning beers, dedicated to sustainability and powered by the sun.
If you look closely, you’ll see that our cover photo is a bowl of food scraps ready to be composted. We’re working on our efforts to minimize food waste before it goes in the compost bucket, and in this issue, you’ll find recipes to use up some of those leftovers in your fridge as well as a whole story dedicated to microgreens, a more sustainably-grown and nutrient-dense green in the dead of winter.
There are more stories on Climate, Community and Conservation in our sister publication, Edible Boston, this season, both in print and online, including recipes for cocktails made from fruit scraps, best efforts for minimizing the use of plastics in the kitchen and an interview with Diet For A Small Planet author Frances Moore Lappé.
There are so many people we didn’t have space to write about in this special issue—people building communities around food, teaching, learning, creating, conserving and doing their part to prepare for and react to the effects of climate change. We’ll cover them in future issues. Reach out to me with your ideas; I’d love to hear them. You can reach me at info@edibleworcester.com.
Thank you, Worcester businesses, for supporting this magazine. And readers, please thank our advertisers for helping us bring you the stories about our local food community. Without them, this magazine wouldn’t exist.
Follow us on social media, check our website frequently and sign up to receive the Edible Boston eNews to receive updates and access to online-only stories—all related to local food in Central and Eastern Massachusetts.
Edible Worcester will always reflect our local community—our local farmers and our local food producers. By supporting them, we are helping to create a more sustainable world.
Tara Taft
