I agree that finding sustainable, ethical food is much more of a chore than any reasonable ‘normal’ person would accept. After a year and a half of paying attention and almost 9 months of eating locally grown and produced foods, it’s getting easier for us. I suppose once I’ve researched every possible thing I might want to buy, it will be somewhat more self-sustaining. But yeah, I can only imagine how much harder it would be if I had a family to feed, or limited income, or a lot less interest in food overall. Maybe someday it will be easier — I keep dreaming that someone will open a store that sold only local, sustainable stuff…

You know, I am long overdue telling you how much I enjoy your blog…and how happy I am that I am not the only one who started reading Pollan’s OD a couple years behind the pack! Just shameful, isn’t it?

Your post today underscores how much time and thought is required in being mindful about eating, buying and cooking. It is nearly a second job just checking in on purveyors and processing of everything that gets to our table. It’s all good for us “food enthusiasts” who enjoy the hunt and discovery of it all but, I think, a real gauntlet for folks just trying to get a good meal on the table for their families.

Thanks for writing about your thoughtful pursuit of good food. I’ll be back for more…

Kim

Sam: I wish I could just download everything that you and Jen M. know about local eating into my brain. I feel like I am constantly re-inventing the wheel!

Jennifer: Glad to know that NYC has some pastured egg sources, too. Yay!

Kathy: WF has no pastured eggs, to my knowledge, although the Clover Organic ones are at least ‘free range’ and they don’t do anything evil other than de-beaking (I think). Rainbow — which has MSF eggs, occasionally — has a chart on their egg fridge that shows all the pros and cons, and I remember deciding that if I couldn’t get real pastured eggs that at least Clover Organic was less evil than most. I keep meaning to check out Golden Produce, but between being deathly ill and getting so much of our food at the Farmers Market, I haven’t had much impetus.

Nicole: We usually buy our chickens from Marin Sun Farms, as they’re the only readily available pastured chickens. Unfortunately (for us, but fortunately for the chickens) they stop breeding them when temperatures fall; their last market visit was before Thanksgiving. We put a few half-birds in the freezer for emergencies, but we just decided that it’s better to think of pastured chickens as a seasonal item and eat more beef and pork in the winter, like our grandmas did.

If you have your heart set on chicken, though, you could do far worse than Hoffman chickens. Alas, they don’t come to the farmers market anymore, but you can buy them from Cafe Rouge’s meat counter, and from Magnani’s in Berkeley — I haven’t found any SF suppliers.

I suppose the next best thing would be Fulton Valley ‘Sonoma Select’ chicken — large-scale organic and semi-local (they’re bred in the valley, despite their name). You can get them at Guerra’s Meats on Taraval, or Bi-Rite. These are the birds that Roli Roti uses, so they’re definitely tasty.

Now … do you have a recommendation for a good, local, organic chicken I can buy in SF? I’m a vegetarian, but I want to make roast chicken for my dad’s birthday, and I definitely want it to be local, but Unfortunately, I have no idea where to start!

Thanks!

Your blog has taught me a lot. Thanks!