On Demand
Food Co-ops, Park Slope and Beyond
Thursday, January 03, 2008
The general managers of three of New York’s food co-ops -- Joe Holtz from Park Slope; Beverly Love from East New York; and Zena Nelson from the South Bronx, talk about the options and issues for community-based food co-operatives.
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Be interested in what you might have to say on food subscriptions (whereby subscribers get a box of veggies and fruit every week or two).
We did signed up for this service. But we ended up with too much cabbage (4 heads per wk?) and not enough fruits etc. for the service to trump our local Whole Foods, which also tries to source semi-locally.
I suppose an alternate topic to address is an exploration of the possibly ultra secret world of shockingly versatile cabbage recipes/uses!
This in NJ.
Hi
You can make all manner of sauerkraut and eat it all year - you can add juniper berries or spices - you just slice it thinly,bruise it a bit, add 1-2 tbs of celtic sea salt and 2 tbs of whey, cover with filtered water in an airtight jar (with at least an inch for air atop) leave it at room temp 2-3 days, then refrigerate. It's really good for you and its vitamin c content increases exponentially! That is how to really pickle anything
I am interested in the East New York food co-op. Where exactly is this located? Do you have a website?
Please DO NOT forget the Flatbush Food Co-Op (on Cortelyou Road) which has been active since about 1976!!!
We often get forgotten because Park Slope is bigger and has been more high-profile.
--Andrea--
Their is a food co-op called the Kalabash Food Co-op that is moving into a community center (the 123 Community Space http://123communityspace.org/ ) right down the street from me on Tompkins Ave and Myrtle in Bed-Stuy. They are operating on Saturdays and can be contacted at kalabashfood@yahoo.com.
The Park Slope Co-op is a great institution, but we should not forget that most co-ops around the country do not require its shoppers to be members. The Flatbush Food Co-op, also in Brooklyn, is completely open to the public, and if someone is a member or a working member, then they may receive a higher discount. I think it is important to encourage more people to get involved in organic products.
Can we go anywhere for this on Long Island - Nassau County?
The Park Slope Co-Op is an anomaly. I have belong to many co-ops through the US and either everyone works and there are no paid employees or there is a membership fee and only paid employees. Park Slope Co-op is a b=peculiar hybrid and their prices, probably because of lack of warehouse space, employee salaries and a mortgage, are exorbitant.
Your guest is correct. Their prices are cheaper. The Park Slope Co-op is no deal and too large to be actually communal.
I am interested in finding out if there are any food cooperatives in northern New Jersey and contact information. Thanks.
Hey Brian-
You're an oasis. The show is an island of sanity in a sea of garbage.
I'm the guy in the bathtub with my cat and measuring cup full of Gin and Tonic.. You probably don't remember.
I just want you to pass on to your guests that "it's the FOOOD, stupid". Lack of decent and healthful food in poor (and usually brown) neighborhoods is a wildly under-rated problem. I'm an atheist, but I'd just like to say GOD BLESS anyone who is taking a pro-active stance on this. THANK YOU.
I used to be a member of the Park Slope Co-op, but quit because it is disproportionately beneficial to the good citizens of Park Slope, who are largely well-off and white. The best example is that the coop delivers to people who live in the immediate area. It means that they get a lot more from the coop than the people live within walking or biking distance, but don't get delivery.
When is the South Bronx food coop open? I work on Saturdays and seem to remember that it is only open on that day...any plans to be open any other days? Perhaps an evening...
Urban Organic is one of the food subsription services that's been around in NYC for a long time, really great and wide variety. They deliver all over tri-state area, Long island, CT, NJ etc. Give them a call 718-499-4321 (I hope)
Thanks for the show! I wonder if there are any co-ops in Queens. Can you offer some advice?
The Park Slope Food Coop has so many members that shopping there takes a really long time. It's often so crowded with people doing their shifts stocking shelves, that you can barely shop. The checkout process can take more than 30 minutes. It's inefficient. Also, the shifts are rather long. Have you considered shortening the shifts and streamlining the checkout process? Anything to make the store less crowded and a more efficient shopping process would be great.
I just want to add some about the PSFC. Shopping there is not just about food, it is a wholly ethical and thoughtful experience. One is able to determine where all foods come from, whether foods are genetically engineers, and there is a rating scale for the most environmentally healthy cleaning products. There is effort to get all produce and meats from local farms Imagine the community that this produces and supports. It is an amazing place!
We belong to our neighborhood CSA and were sorely dissappointed this year. I am still peeing red from all the beets!! It was so disorganized and poorly run. There was no communication between the farm and the supporteres... the fruit would be offered 2 weeks in a row (the same old wrinkled fruit).
Our Ft. Greene GreenMarket is getting better and we have opted to go there next year instead.
Just wondering: I live in a residential co-op (Mutual Development Houses, aka. "Penn South" on 8th Ave btw 24th and 30th Streets). Are there any instances of food co-ops growing out of or being developed by residental co-ops? Many Penn South co-operators complain about the costs and quality of food available to us from local sources. With the co-op spirit already established, should we be looking at establishing a food co-op? (I note that all of your guests have co-ops outside of Manhattan. Perhaps there is something about Manhattan that might make such a plan unfeasible?)
To Ashton:
There are at least two food co-ops in Manhattan-- the Harlem Natural Food Co-op-- http://www.harlemnaturalfoodcoop.com and the 4th Street Food Co-op-- http://www.4thstreetfoodcoop.org. Important to note about both-- everything they sell is vegetarian!
I have been a member of the Park Slope Food Coop for a little over two years and have been astonished by the inefficiency and recalcitrant stubbornness in expanding into new and more progressive ways of operation.
Excuse me, but I can only imagine that any improved ways of working will only serve to make the coop better. (That said I do recognize and give credit for the institution of the ability to actually pay with an atm/credit card at the first cashier - but pardon me, we are in the year 2007!)
Now....
It is undoubted that the leadership has heard the river of complaints from members, former members, comments on blogs, jokes in newspapers, etc. So,
Why not do this?
Extend a challenge to members to come up with real world practical improvements to what members perceive to be some of the concerns, and here's the kicker....
If the presented solutions are indeed found to be more efficient, cost effective and worthy of merit - for peace sake and the love of all that is good in world - put them in place!
Members have merely noticed how things can be better, BUT have come to realize that while their dollars are welcome at the cacophony of cashiers and bag checkers, their intelligence is not.
want to know about food co ops in queens if any as always great show
Rob: The PSFC does NOT deliver. The PSFC recently instituted a workslot where people accompany shopping members to their nearby houses or parked cars, specifically to walk the carts back to the store. It just saves people the trip back with the empty cart. This job was instituted primarily because far too many people used to double park in front of the coop, causing troubles on Union St. and for the firehouse next door. Since this service was instituted, the PSFC has been able to be a better neighbor regarding the street.
I don't like that it feels like it benefits car users more than bikers and walkers (though it's still far from a "delivery service"), but I completely appreciate that it has gotten us out of trouble with the city and firehouse.
Stephen: You are the first person I've ever seen to call the PSFC's prices high! The exceptionally low prices are one of the main things that stand out to people shopping there. It is unquestionably a good deal (assuming you have time in your life to work 2.75 hours every 4 weeks). Yes, at 13,000 members, it feels less communal than it used to (it was around 5,000 when I joined), but it still manages to a be a thriving community where I constantly meet people and run into the same people again and again, and I work with the same people every 4 weeks!
dage gillan: It can be annoying that there are almost always people stocking shelves while you're shopping. The reason for this is there are so many people shopping! If you reduced the amount of work, the shelves would be empty too often.
pharoah: You said that the coop won't "expand" into "more progressive" ways of operation. What are you referring to? Certainly it's progressive to have 13,000 members work together to run a store, providing real ownership and low prices, as well as to actively compost, work directly with a soup kitchen, recycle plastics beyond what NYC recycles, use 100% wind power, provide good benefits for the paid staff, focus on relationships with local farmers and honestly label all produce with region of origin, actually allow members to bring items to the General Meeting and participate in voting on their outcome. Members are working now to eliminate bottle water sales and possibly eliminate plastic bags at the checkout. Who else would do that? Certainly not a store driven by profit motive.
Members are contributing changes to the coop constantly. Stay involved, attend GM's. It's a huge, complex place, so ANY changes tend to take a while to implement.
PARK SLOPE
It once had bars and churches
Baseball players and bowlers
But now if someone searches
He finds just kids in strollers.
A homespun smalltown setting
Like a film by Darryl Zanuck
The result of couples getting
Fruitful from food that's organic.
I am looking for a food co=op in Hoboken, Guttenber or West NY, New Jersey.
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