 |
www.hopedance.org
|
| <back | home "Edible Ojai" Concept Spreads Nationally While Remaining Local by Amy Landau Edible Ojai, a quarterly publication celebrating the contributions of local agriculture and food producers, has spread its concept widely, sprouting up in a host of other communities throughout the nation. Its growing network of food magazines, known as Edible Communities, currently totals 17 and ranges from Edible Cape Cod to Edible San Francisco — each with its own uniquely local focus. How did it all happen? I talked with Tracey Ryder, founder and publisher of Edible Ojai to find out. The big break arrived in January of 2003 when Edible Ojai was nominated for Saveur Magazine’s annual Top 100 List of best food-related items. “People started calling us,” she says. They wanted to be a part of it. So Ryder met with consultants and formed the website ‘Edible Communities’ within the same year. “We did not want to be a franchise…we wanted to take it on the road so others could have one,” she explains. Before long, they found someone who could help: the man who created the member-owned business model for Visa. According to Ryder, the principles of the model are more familiar in Europe than in America. “It’s very democratic and goes against corporate America,” she says. Although the model comes from the very corporate Visa, Ryder claims that the man who created it is “not your typical corporate-minded person.” Their pilot test was Edible Cape Cod, which has now been going strong for two years. Upcoming newsletters will come from Charleston (SC), Maine (mid-coast), Vermont, Denver and Oregon. Edible Ojai was originally created by Ryder and friends in 2002, with the intention of supporting local farmers, growers, chefs and restaurant owners — “anyone involved in the food community who is independent…individuals or small family farmers,” explains Ryder. The publication is about embracing local resources, recognizing the value of agriculture and “finding out who the farmer is who grows your food,” she says. Each issue is seasonal, local and sustainable — promoting economic sustainability for all the people involved in the local food community. “Edible Ojai grew from a particular longing to be able to eat right out of the garden again - to be connected to our community, its land and its agriculture in a way that helps every one of us eat from our collective garden and to know where our food comes from,” writes Ryder on the Edible Ojai website. Although technically described as a newsletter, the publication stands out as noticeably high-end with vivid color covers. Interestingly, the Edible Ojai concept has managed to spread nationally while remaining true to its local focus. How does it all work? In essence, people from other locales buy the Edible Ojai business model, receiving services for newsletter production throughout the first year of publication. Beyond this, assistance is continued for a small fee. The new locales make money right away and are able to pay off the costs of their businesses easily. The new groups join the “Members of the Edible Community,” connecting them to still other communities throughout the country while remaining true to their own community character. “People like the idea of related communities, the connection to the east coast. It becomes collaborative,” says Ryder. It works well, she says, because the right people get involved from the start: people who really care about doing the project — often those on their second careers. They have the satisfaction of creating something of huge benefit to their own communities. Ryder believes that the remarkable fervor for Edible Communities reflects a growing movement toward a more health-conscious population. “Food is a hot topic right now,” Ryder says. “People are starving for more community connections.” She recalls the climate in which she and others first created the publication. “We started after 9/11…America thought it was immune.” Her words suggest that the bursting of the bubble — the myth of America’s invulnerability — has made people wake up to the importance of their basic necessities for life. They are looking for ways to slow down and appreciate what’s around them. According to Ryder, even people who have lived in Ojai their entire lives are only now beginning to recognize that their home is an agricultural valley with a rich diversity of farm-grown products right at their fingertips. Contributor Amy Landau lives and writes and works in New York. For more information about Edible Ojai, please go to www.edibleojai.com. <back | top^ |