described - Willy Street Co-op

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A Publication of willy street co-op, madison, WI
Volume 40 • Issue 10 • october 2013
Following Your Money through the Co-op
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IN THIS ISSUE
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
POSTMASTER: DATED MATERIAL
1882 E. Main Street • Madison, WI • 53704
PRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
MADISON, WI
PERMIT NO. 1723
Sustainability; Palm Oil; Fair Trade; In Praise of
the Perfect Fruit; Digestion Aids; AND MORE!
"Does your porch or
deck need repair?"
Darryl Hall,
Handyman Extraordiniare
608-839-1349
darrylghall56@gmail.com
Loyal Co-op Member
since April 2013
WILLY STREET CO-OP
MISSION STATEMENT
Reader
The Williamson Street Grocery
Co-op is an economically and
environmentally sustainable, cooperatively owned grocery business
that serves the needs of its Owners
and employees. We are a cornerstone of a vibrant community
in south-central Wisconsin that
provides fairly priced goods and
services while supporting local
and organic suppliers.
Published monthly by Willy Street Co-op
1221 Williamson Street, Madison, WI 53703, 608-251-6776
EDITOR & LAYOUT: Liz Wermcrantz
ADVERTISING: Liz Wermcrantz
COVER Design: Hallie Zillman-Bouche
Sale Flyer Design: Hallie Zillman-Bouche
GRAPHICS: Hallie Zillman-Bouche
PROOFREADER: Valerie Secaur
RECIPE SELECTION: Serenity Voss
Sale Flyer Layout: Liz Wermcrantz
Printing: Wingra Printing Group
The Willy Street Co-op Reader is the monthly communications link among the
Co-op Board, staff and Owners. It provides information about the Co-op’s services
and business as well as about cooking, nutrition, health, sustainable agriculture and
more. Views and opinions expressed in the Reader do not necessarily represent those
of the Co-op’s Directors, staff or Ownership. Acceptance of advertising does not indicate endorsement of the product or service offered. Articles are presented for information purposes only. Before taking action, you should always consult a professional for
advice. Articles may be reprinted with permission from the editor.
SUBMISSIONS
All advertising submissions must be reserved and arranged with the editor by the
10th of the month previous to publication. All advertisement copy must be submitted by the 15th of the month. Submissions should be emailed to l.wermcrantz@
willystreet.coop or mailed to Willy Street Co-op according to submission requirements.
CUSTOMER SERVICE: EAST: 608-251-6776 WEST: 608-284-7800
BUSINESS OFFICE: 608-251-0884
FAX: 608-251-3121
SEAFOOD CENTER: EAST: 608-294-0116 WEST: 608-836-1450
GENERAL E-MAIL: info@willystreet.coop
WILLY STREET CO-OP
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Marti Ryan, President
Mike Engel, Vice President
Courtney Berner
Rick Bernstein Dawn Matlak
Raechel Pundsack Karen Bassler
George Hofheimer
Holly Fearing
Daniel Ramos Haaz
BOARD CONTACT INFO:
board@willystreet.coop
all-board@willystreet.coop (includes the GM and Executive Assistant)
BOARD MEETING SCHEDULE
October 15th (East)
(All regular meetings are held in the
Community Room unless otherwise noted. All
meetings begin at 6:30pm)
GENERAL MANAGER: a.firszt@willystreet.coop
EDITOR: l.wermcrantz@willystreet.coop
PREORDERS: EAST: es.preorders@willystreet.coop; WEST: ws.preorders@
willystreet.coop
WEBSITE: www.willystreet.coop
BOARD E-MAIL: board@willystreet.coop
STORE HOURS: 7:30am to 9:30pm, every day
Juice Bar: 7:30am to 6:00pm
Deli: 7:30am to 9:00pm
Seafood Center–East and West: Monday–Saturday, 8:00am to 8:00pm; Sunday, 8:00am to 6:00pm.
IN THIS ISSUE
3 Customer Comments
4 Business Matters
Sustainability at the 4 Co-op
Your source for local grains
In the bulk aisle
We use grain from ridgetop farms of southwest
Wisconsin. We carefully clean, store and stonemill small grains into flour and mixes. We can do
custom milling and special orders. All local, organic
or sustainable, family-owned.
304 S. Oak St.
Lone Rock, WI 53556
608-583-2100
On Facebook or at
www.lonesomestonemilling.com
2
5-6Community Room
Calendar—West
7Digestive Aids
8
Invasion of the Melters
8-9 Terroirists in the Deli
9-10 In Praise of Imperfect Fruit
Willy Street Co-op Reader, octoBER 2013
22-23By Small Farmers, For Small Farmers: The Next 11Leveraging Your Values Step in the Evolution of Into Your Consumption
Fair Trade
12Reflections on Ownership 24-26Following Your Money 10-11Fair Trade
13-14 2013 Customer Survey
Through the Co-op
15-18 SPECIALS PAGES
26-27 Palm Oil: Making Sense of the Controversy
19Owner Appreciation 28
Specials
20-21B9: Sustainability
Report Executive
Summary
New Products
29Co-op Kids Page
30-31Recipes and Drink
Recommendations
CUSTOMER COMMENTS
Write Us!
We welcome your comments
and give each one attention
and serious consideration.
Send them to customer.comments@willystreet.coop or fill
out a Customer Comment form
in the Owner Resources area.
Each month a small selection is
printed in the Reader. The rest
can be found in the commons
or in the binder near Customer
Service. Thank you!
Mullein
Q: The customer who claimed
that mullein is toxic and causes severe
burns if touched is not correct. There
is no need to destroy it or eradicate it
from public areas. Mullein is a valuable medicinal plant that when properly prepared as a tea or liquid extract
reduces inflammation of respiratory
and urinary passages, and soothes dry
coughs and hoarseness. Some people
experience itching in their throat, nose
or eyes if they inhale mullein. It is
important to educate ourselves about
our native medicinal plants so that
we respect them and understand how
properly to use them, rather than fear
them and thus end up destroying the
natural medicines that nature provides
us. Having mullein and other medicinal plants around the Co-op provides
us a lovely opportunity to teach children about the plants and their value
to us, rather than instilling irrational
fear about their dangers.
A: Thanks for informing us of our
error in responding to an Owner who
wrote in about their concerns regarding
common mullein. Usually our clientele
gives us great information so we were a
little too confident in the information and
didn’t do any research independently.
But, as luck would have it, more knowledgeable owners have now informed us
that the properties and characteristics of
common mullein were misunderstood
by the customer who wrote in and that
there was never a need for us to remove
it. Lesson learned. We have now looked
into the topic ourselves and see that
there should not be any harmful effects
from coming into contact with common
mullein for the general public. It could
still be a plant that the person with the
original concern is allergic to or there is
some other plant on Co-op grounds that
is causing an issue that she misidentified. We are going to ask Bonnie from
Fertile Earth to consult with us to insure
that the plantings we have in our outdoor
areas are safe for all that visit the Co-op.
Thanks again for keeping us on our toes
and for correcting our mistake. -Willy
Street Co-op Maintenance
Recyclable cups & lids
Q: Could you please post reminders
to members that the plastic (and lids)
cups from the Juice Bar are recyclable?
I often see people throwing them in the
trash. Thanks!
A; You are correct. These cups (#7
plastic) are recyclable. The only thing I
would add is that our service provider
(Recycle America) requires them to be
empty and contain less than 5% food debris. The lids should also be removed and
recycled separately. From our custodial/
pest control perspective, rinsing the cups
before recycling them is appreciated.
–Jim Jirous, Maintenance Manager–East
Owner frustration
Q: Hello, I am an owner and I
love you guys, but I am getting super
frustrated! As a new mother, I’ve been
dealing with how difficult it is to continue getting my groceries from you.
I’m hoping you could respond and let
me know of a service you have that can
assist me that I’m not aware of.
The challenges I’m facing when
shopping at your West location are 1.
The car seat takes up so much space
in the shopping cart; there is no room
for groceries. 2. Trying to leave the
store with the grocery cart with my
son in it as well as carrying a bunch
of filled grocery bags results in making me wider than the door, 3. Your
parking lot is on a hill, so it is even a
challenge to get my son safely put in
my car. 4: Trying to fumble around
with the above problems and make it
home again before my son gets hungry.
He doesn’t want to take a bottle, and
I’ve tried nursing at your store before
I leave, but he eats when he wants to,
and doesn’t care what kind of schedule
I am trying to implement.
I knew there would be additional
challenges shopping with an infant,
and I have tried to resolve it the following ways. 1: Your delivery service.
Unfortunately, you do not deliver to
Verona. 2: I thought maybe you’d offer
a service where I could “order” my
groceries ahead and pick it up at the
store. I was told at the front desk that
this service is only available at the East
side location.
At this point it seems like I am
stuck with no resolution. I can’t just
go ahead and get a babysitter anytime
I want to go grocery shopping (see #4
of my challenges listed—not taking a
bottle). Unless I decide to move to the
city of Madison, I’m stuck. I am SO
CLOSE to the city of Madison line; it
makes this whole scenario even more
frustrating. I’d be more than happy to
meet the delivery driver at the edge of
the city of Madison line. I would really
like to continue to shop with you all,
and continue to be an owner. At this
point though, I am paying to be an
owner and not able to use your services
as often as I’d like to. I find it hard to
believe that I am the only owner that
has difficulty shopping at your store
(busy schedule, medical problems, etc.).
I’m sure I’m not the only owner in this
situation. Do you have any suggestions
for me? Again, I’d LOVE to continue
to give you my business, but I don’t
know how that is possible anymore.
Thank you for your time.
A: I sat down with our Operations
Manager Wynston Estis to see if there
were ways that we could address some
of the challenges you are facing as a new
parent and Owner of our store. The very
first thing we discovered was that Willy
West does not have the same carts that are
available at Willy East. Some of the carts
at Willy East have infant seats built in
so that you need not use your car carrier.
We regret that these special carts were
never ordered for Willy West, and are
very thankful that you brought this to our
attention so that we may order the carts
for that site. We hope that this will make
carrying both babies and groceries in our
carts an easier process for you or any
other new parent at Willy West. Please
expect that it will take four to six weeks
for the carts to arrive at the store.
The parking lot grade is set to City
of Middleton regulation standards, and is
designed to reduce stormwater runoff. It
might help to try and park on the east side
of Willy West; the grade is less steep on
that side of the lot. We encourage you to
ask our Customer Service staff for assistance if you have difficulty getting your
groceries to the car. Customer Service
gets requests of this variety often and is
more than happy to help. Calling ahead
will also help staff prepare to assist you.
Regarding delivery, please consider
the We Shop, You Pickup service. The
service is operated out of Willy East,
but you may request use of the service
through Willy West with special permission. Your choices will be limited to
only what is available at both stores, but
theoretically you could do your shopping remotely, pick up the groceries you
ordered at the Customer Service desk,
and get your baby home faster. Contact
orders@willystreet.coop to inquire about
details of service.
We hope that the information we provided was helpful to you and that we will
see you in the store again soon. –Kirsten
Moore, Director of Cooperative Services
Barefoot shopping
Q: I was told by a grocery staffer
yesterday that it was store policy that
customers could be barefoot. It seems
to me that this must violate some sort
of state or federal laws. It’s not legal
to create a policy in contravention to
laws. Surely, this is a health risk for
ALL shoppers. It’s also a potential
liability risk for the Co-op if a barefoot shopper gets hurt. Maybe some
of the PC idiots of the world thought
this policy was about inclusion, but it
really doesn’t make sense on any other
level. Of course, the way the right wing
has re-written the lawbooks it’s almost
impossible to sue any corp or business
for anything anymore, so maybe no
one at the Co-op cares that this policy
is not good sense. It offended me to see
this barefoot person.
A: To respond to your comment, our
Operations Manager contacted the health
department and reviewed whether we are
obligated by any public health code to
require our customers to wear shoes. We
were informed that although some insurance policies may be contingent upon
companies requiring customer footwear,
there are no legal obligations for a requirement. We are routinely inspected
by our insurer and the broker we use as
well, and they have not yet requested that
we develop a policy on customer footwear.
We do not encourage walking barefoot in our stores, but if customers wish
to do so, unless we hear other concerns
from Owners (yours is the first we’ve
had in quite some time) or until we are
otherwise required to force the issue,
customers may continue to walk barefoot
at their own risk. –Kirsten Moore, Director of Cooperative Services
Correction
Q: I love your newsletter and
wanted to point out a factual error
in your “Alternative Animal Husbandry” article in the August edition. I enjoyed your citations of both
Dr. Temple Grandin and Dr. Panksepp’s work in the field of animal
behavior and emotion.... however,
Dr. Panksepp’s first name is “Jaak”
whereas your author has it down as
“Joel.” His son Jules Panksepp
(who was a classmate of mine) is
also a researcher in the field of
animal cognition and behavior and
earned his PhD here at UW-Madison
in 2009. You can see more about
Jaak Panksepp here: www.vetmed.
wsu.edu/research_vcapp/Panksepp/
Just thought you should know! A: Thanks so much for the clarification! –Liz Wermcrantz, Editor
3
GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT
Business Matters
Centralized
Office
We are continuing to investigate options for a
centralized office
space for Co-op
administrative
by Anya
staff. The goal is
Firszt,
two-fold—to free
General
up space in our
Manager
retail locations
for essential site staff and to create
greater synergies and efficiencies
throughout the organization by having
some teams centralized. You might be
hearing more about specific locations
soon, and accordingly I want to keep
this on your radar.
Willy East
Remodel Update
We are so close to having finalized
plans to share with you! Our construction manager and general contractor
are working on final estimate numbers; we know we have a maximum
amount to spend (up to $4 million),
but we need to ensure we have designed a project that falls under that
cap. The goal is to start construction
this month or next, weather permitting, and have an overall phased
approach to construction lasting eight
to ten months. This is a busy time for
the Co-op, and we will do our best to
minimize disruptions to your shopping
experience. Please keep an eye on the
Co-op’s website and social media for
more updates over the coming weeks.
Composting
Did you know that ~28% of U.S.
landfills are made up of food scraps
and yard waste? I’m happy to share
that Willy Street Co-op is going to be
tackling this issue by composting our
stores’ and Kitchen’s green residual
waste! Starting mid-September the
Co-op began collecting organic waste
from our Delis, Juice Bars and Produce departments. Partnering with
Purple Cow Organics, that waste will
become compost, rather than taking up
space in the Dane County landfill. We
are hoping to also expand collection to
the Commons areas this fall.
Google Apps
for Business
We have an exciting internal
development unfolding over the next
year. The Co-op is transitioning to
Google Apps for Business to handle
much of our behind-the-scenes administrative work. This is a big change for
all staff, one that we anticipate will
bring greater ease and versatility in
our workplace.
Co-op Month & Owner
appreciation weekend
Mark your calendars for October
11, 12 and 13 when we’ll be celebrating our Owners—you!
We will be offering samples and
a whole grocery list of great prices
on some of your favorite products
throughout the weekend. And, on
Sunday, come meet your Board of
Directors who will be serving birthday
cake beginning at 11:00am, both retail
locations, until it is gone.
Drafty House? We can Help.
We can also take care of your Kitchen, Bath, Deck,
just about anything on your list.
Comfort . Safety . Efficiency . Appeal
“Thanks for being so easy
to work with while still
doing an exceptional job.”
- Randy B.
Reliable
Renovations
LLC
Eco-Friendly . Design . Remodeling . Repairs
We deliver Home Performance
with ENERGY STAR®
Schedule your Free Estimate Today
(608) 577-9120
www.ReliableMadison.com
4
Co-op
Community
Volunteers opportunities
Please visit our website
at www.willystreet.coop/
CCV for more information and a list of current
volunteer opportunities.
board REPORT
Sustainability at the Co-op
Y
ou may
have read
the remarkable news
that of the waste
generated during
our Annual Meeting and Party, an
by Karen
event attended by
Bassler,
over 4,000 people,
Board
only 57 pounds of
garbage ended up
Member
in the landfill—the
remaining waste
was composted or recycled. That 57
pounds represented only 6% of the
total amount of waste created!
That effort is only one small example of the many ways your Co-op
strives to be sustainable. When we say
“sustainable” we are all-inclusive—
sustainable in our energy consumption,
sustainable in the products we select
to sell, sustainable in finances, sustainable in people. For the past 2+ years,
a team of staff and experts has been
meeting as the Sustainability Committee, taking a look at all aspects of
our organization with an eye toward
improving our ability to run a sustainable business. They’ve been looking
at how our vendors grow their food,
how the packaging used in the store
can be less wasteful, how our human
resources policies and procedures can
create a strong, sustainable team, and
how our stores and offices can reduce
their energy consumption and shift its
sourcing to renewables.
At our August meeting, the Board
of Directors saw the first report generated as a result of the Sustainability
Committee’s work—and it is impressive!
• In the Produce department, 98% of
all items sold are certified organic!
Those items that are not certified organic don’t have an organic variety
available, but are purchased from
producers using sustainable methods.
• All eggs sold in the stores are from
humane producers, and most come
from farms that allow chickens access to fresh pasture.
• The solar thermal water heater
installed at Willy East in 2010 has
saved approximately three tons of
CO2 emissions annually. Willy
East also purchases about 12,000
kilowatt hours of wind energy each
year.[1]
• We’ve been able to recycle all of
our old computers, registers and
other electronics—many through
Cascade Asset Management, which
refurbishes and resells them or
through recycling. Of all those electronics, less than 1% has ended up
in a landfill.
• In our work to be financially accessible, and help our shoppers be
financially sustainable themselves,
we currently offer Access discounts
to 1,026 Owners.
• Our Grocery buyers scrutinize the
packaging, as well as the production
methods for all products we sell,
aiming to work solely with vendors
who themselves follow sustainable
methods.
In this report, we’ve set ourselves
several benchmarks, which we’ll
measure annually to assess progress
toward our sustainability goals for our
community, our environment and economic equity. We’ve had Madison Gas
& Electric conduct energy audits at
both stores, so we can see how future
and continuing efforts to reduce energy consumption are having impacts.
We are looking at our vendors for their
labor policies, to ensure they are fair
and equitable for workers. Staff are
tracking the impact on energy use from
the recently installed night covers on
the Produce coolers. In September, a
partnership with Purple Cow Organics
began collecting compostable waste to
recycle into fertilizer.
For my part, I will continue to
bring my canvas shopping bags, and
I pledge to ride my bike to the store
more frequently. My rain barrel saved
my tomato plants during last year’s
drought, and my chickens enjoy all
the bits and pieces of fresh fruit and
veggies left over from meals. But my
efforts pale in comparison to everything going on at the Co-op toward
sustainability from farm to shelf and in
all areas of operation.
For a more detailed look at our
Sustainability Report, see Stephanie
Rickett’s article on pages 20-21.
Willy west class calendar
N
CALE
DA R
For all classes, the cost for Owners is $15, and $25 for all others, unless otherwise
noted. Payment is required at registration; please register by stopping at the Willy
West Customer Service desk, or by calling 608.284.7800. For more information
about individual activities and classes, see w i l l y s t r e e t . c o o p / c a l e n d a r .
CALEN
DA R
Refund Policy: If we must cancel a class for any reason, we will contact you and
refund your tuition. If you must cancel your reservation for a class, notify us at
least three days in advance for a full refund. There will be no refund less than
three days prior to a class.
While Willy East undergoes a remodel, Willy East’s Community Room
will not be hosting classes and lectures. However, we are taking that
time to re-evaluate our classes, and we are planning to introduce new
class formats and offerings upon the remodel's completion! Please
send class and lecture ideas to Dawn Matlak at d.matlak@willystreet.
coop.
GREEN THURSDAY
Thursday October 3rd , 7:00pm–
9:00pm. Melissa Malott, environmental advocate and attorney, will speak
about how we as a community and as
individuals can protect and promote
clean, safe water in Dane County and
throughout Wisconsin. Melissa was
previously the Water Program Director
at Clean Wisconsin, and now serves as
Executive Assistant to Dane County
Executive Joe Parisi, specializing in
environmental issues. Sponsored by the
City of Middleton Sustainability Committee and Willy West. Free refreshments provided. Visit www.tnsmonona.
org for more information. Free for
everyone.
FALL CANNING: JAM
Monday, October 7th, 6:00pm–
8:00pm. Instructor Lee Davenport will
teach participants the simple art of
canning with fall fruits. She will demonstrate and prepare pear jam, apple
spice jelly, and pumpkin butter, while
sharing tips that will help you dream up
flavor creations of your own.
MOTHER SAUCES
Tuesday, October 8th, 6:00pm–
8:00pm. Food styles are like genres of
music: BBQ is bluegrass, diner food is
doo wop, Californian fusion is smooth
jazz. Consider this class, taught by
Chef Jennifer Jones, to be Beethoven.
Mastering the “Mother Sauces,” as they
are referred to, is the basis of endless
possibilities. Learn to make bechamel,
viloute, espangnole, hollandaise and
tomate. After taking this class you will
be able to place the impressive names
with the often deceptively easy sauces!
VEGAN CHEESECAKE
Tuesday, October 15th, 6:00pm–
8:00pm. Learn the secret to the Green
Owl’s dense and creamy vegan cheesecakes in one evening. Vegan pastry
chef Cara Moseley will show you her
technique and explore endless flavor
combinations. She will take apart all
components of the basic recipe and
show how to vary the crust, the filling,
and the toppings to make the perfect
vegan cheesecake. Class participants
will enjoy samples and take home
several recipes and ideas from the class
discussion. Gluten-free options will be
demonstrated and discussed.
INDIVIDUAL NUTRITION
CONSULTATIONS
Thursday, October 17th, 12:00pm3:00pm. An individual nutrition consultation is your opportunity to learn how
optimal food choices for your body can
enhance your well-being. A one-on-one
session with Katy Wallace, Nutrition
Consultants of Human Nature, LLC
includes a consultation regarding your
health goals and lifestyle; and food
choice suggestions geared toward addressing health goals and developing
sustainable change. The cost is $15
for Owners and $45 for all others. To
register for the next available opening,
email k.oconnell-jones@willystreet.
coop or call 284-7800, ext. 509.
SOUPS ON, VEGAN STYLE
Thursday, October 17th, 6:00pm–
8:00pm. Fall is upon us and so is soup
season. Come learn the secret to mak-
Information
The Willy Street Co-op Community Rooms are available to you! The
Community Rooms are available for gallery space, private rentals, and
public functions and classes. If you would like to submit a class proposal, rent the room, or show your artwork in the gallery space, please
contact Dawn Matlak at (608) 251-6776 or d.matlak@willystreet.coop.
For more information, see willystreet.coop/calendar.
ing cream-based soups without using
dairy products. In this class, Chef Kristie Chijimastu will show participants
how to make delicious and healthy
vegan soups, such as: Broccoli Bisque,
Red Beans and Rice, and Roasted Butternut Squash. All recipes are glutenfree and sure to warm you through the
winter months.
SATURDAYS FROM SCRATCH
Saturday, October 19th, 11:00am–
2:00pm. This free 15-30 minute
cooking class series showcases a
kitchen skill or recipe that you can take
home to prepare your own foods from
scratch. This week, Max Wilke will
warm us up with delicious and easy
ways to enjoy local fall root vegetables.
Stop by to pick up some quick tips
and enjoy tasty samples of some fall
favorites.
FERMENTED FOODS
Sunday, October 20th, 2:00pm–
4:00pm. Instructor Linda Conroy will
share ways to promote health through
time-honored preservation practices.
Fermented foods are made by a technique that relies on the breakdown
of carbohydrates and proteins. When
herbs are combined with fermented
foods, their nutritional density increases, and thus their healing potential.
During this time we will make and/or
sample a wide spectrum of fermented
foods. Participants will leave inspired
with cultures and recipes for future
experimentation.
ALL THINGS MISO
Tuesday, October 22nd, 6:00pm–
8:00pm. Miso is a must-have in our
food pantry, serving as a savory, high
protein seasoning made from soybeans,
grains, salts and culture. Miso has
become one of the essential elements
in America’s evolving cuisine. Chef
Paul Tseng will introduce you to soba
noodles; daikon greens with sesame
miso dressing; miso soup with tofu
shitake mushrooms; and miso rice pudding with toasted pecans and candied
ginger. Participants will also learn tips
on how to incorporate Miso in everyday cooking.
SATURDAYS FROM SCRATCH
Saturday, October 26th, 11:00am–
2:00pm. This free 15-30 minute
cooking class series showcases a
kitchen skill or recipe that you can take
home to prepare your own foods from
scratch. This week, Maleah Moskoff
will highlight a highly versatile vegetable—pumpkin. From delicious baked
goods like vegan pumpkin pie to hearty
soup, pumpkin delivers it all.
HOME CHEESEMAKING:
A LOST ART
Sunday, October 27th, 10:00am–
3:00pm. Join cheesemaker and whole
food cook Linda Conroy and discover
how simple it is to make cheese in your
own kitchen. This introduction will
offer an opportunity to explore the lost
art of cheesemaking. Class participants
will create and sample cultured butter,
feta cheese, mozzarella, and several varieties of soft cheese. After learning to
make kefir, participants will transform
this fermented milk beverage into soft
spreadable cheese and a soft condiment
that can be used in place of sour cream.
Students will also learn some cooking
ideas for whey, a byproduct of cheesemaking. Class includes a light lunch
with cheese and cultured butter made in
class, as well as samples and a culture
to get everyone started. Cost is $65 for
Owners, and $75 for all others.
GLUTEN-FREE AUTUMN
FEAST
Monday, October 28th, 6:00pm–
8:00pm. Embrace the autumn harvest
with healthy gluten-free recipes that
you’ll be making all season long! Join
Hallie Klecker, cookbook author and
Holistic Nutrition Educator, to learn
how to pull together a nutritious and
flavorful meal with simple and easy-tofind ingredients. Hallie will teach how
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5
to draw inspiration from the season’s
bounty and turn simple ingredients into
mouthwatering dishes. On the menu:
Chicken Strips with Maple Mustard
Dipper; Spiced Quinoa & Vegetable
Pilaf; Kale Salad with Dates & Almonds; and Crustless Pumpkin Pie
with Cinnamon “Cream.” (All recipes
are free of gluten, dairy, refined sugar,
and soy).
KIDS IN THE KITCHEN:
FALL PIZZA AND CUPCAKE
PARTY
Wednesday, October 30th, 4:00pm–
5:30pm. Join instructor Lily Kilfoy in
this exciting cooking class series for
kids ages 5-13! Lily gets kids cooking
in the kitchen and introduces them to
unfamiliar foods through delectable
dishes and themes, all while having
a hands-on fun time! Kids of all ages
will have a blast as they prepare fresh
toppings and homemade tomato sauce,
grate cheese and hand stretch dough
to create their own pizzas. Participants
will also make carrot cupcakes for dessert! The cost for children of Owners is
$10 and $20 for all others.
SUMPTUOUS VEGETARIAN
DISHES FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Wednesday, November 6th,
6:00pm–8:00pm. This holiday season,
eat well and be merry with Chef Paul
6
Tseng. Impress your family and guests
with interesting vegetarian dishes that
are simple and delicious. Chef Paul
will share his extensive food knowledge with participants as he prepares
Lentil Pasta with Toasted Cashews;
Green Risotto with Red Pepper Coulis;
and Carrot Cake with Avocado Ice
Cream and Ginger Applesauce.
all while having a hands-on fun time!
November is pie season, and in this
class participants will enjoy preparing
a variety of delicious and nutritious pie
fillings. Kids will also roll, fold and
crimp dough as they create their own
sweet and savory pocket pies. The cost
for children of Owners is $10 and $20
for all others.
SIX SPICES WITH
NEETA SALUJA
PIE PARTY
Friday, November 8th, 6:00pm–
8:00pm. Chef Neeta Saluja, author of
Six Spices: A Simple Concept of Indian
Cooking, presents another classic
menu of inspired dishes native to her
homeland in India. Neeta’s informed
and interactive style creates a pleasant
learning experience along with generous tastings of the dishes prepared in
class, including recipes for the following: Chicken Biryani; Cabbage and
Tomato Salad; Cucumber Raita; and
Srikhand (Yogurt-Cheese Pudding).
POCKET PIE PARTY
Saturday, November 9th,
10:00am–11:30am. Join instructor
Lily Kilfoy in this exciting cooking
class series for kids ages 5-8. Lily
gets kids cooking at a young age and
introduces them to a variety of foods
through delectable dishes and themes;
Saturday, November 9th, 1:00pm–
2:30pm. Join instructor Lily Kilfoy in
this exciting cooking class series for
kids ages 8-13. November is pie season and in this class participants will
enjoy preparing two different types of
delicious pies, all from scratch! Class
participants will make the scrumptious
fillings and crusts for chocolate chip
pie with whipped cream and apple
pie with streusel topping. This sweet
class is not to be missed! The cost for
children of Owners is $10 and $20 for
all others.
MAKE OVER YOUR HOLIDAY
Sunday, November 10th, 2:00pm–
4:00pm. Ever wonder how to transform
indulgent holiday recipes into healthier
dishes that still pack in loads of flavor?
Wonder no more! In this class, Hallie
Klecker, cookbook author and Holistic
Nutrition Educator, will share her tips
and tricks for taking the guilt out of
classic holiday favorites without sacrificing great taste. You’ll learn ways to
swap unhealthy oils for healthier fats,
enhance sweetness without refined
sugar, and create comforting dishes
without white flour or butter. On the
menu: Go Green Stuffed Potatoes; Best
Ever Brussels Sprouts; Maple Spiced
Nuts; Warm Pear & Apple Chutney;
and No-Bake Pumpkin Gingerbread
Thumbprints. (All recipes are free of
gluten, dairy, refined sugar, and soy.)
VEGAN SIDE DISHES
Thursday, November 14th, 6:00pm–
8:00pm. Learn how to prepare the
harvest season’s bounty with a vegan
twist! Chef Kristie Chijimastu presents delicious vegan side dishes that
will have your dinner guests savoring
every bite. Learn to create a creamy
green bean casserole from a homemade
dairy-free cream of mushroom gravy; a
seasonal Brussels Sprout Salad topped
with a dijon mustard dressing, and finally a Cranberry Sauce jazzed up with
sweet pomegranate seeds and orange
zest. All recipes are gluten-free and
refined sugar-free.
IN THE GALLERY
JJ D’Onofrio presents “Sleeping
in Quicksand.” Featuring local landscapes, abstracts and posed studies.
WELLNESS news
Digestive Aids
W
e’re
quickly
approaching fall and winter
holiday season,
which for many of
us spells overinby Angela
dulgence. While I
Pohlman,
could give you lots
Wellness
of tips on how to
Staff
avoid overindulging
this season, I’m not
going to, mostly because I don’t plan on
following that advice
either. So, I’ll just share what I know
about helping things along—because I
care about your belly and I want you to
eat a lot and share with me.
In the supplement department, we
have what I call the Quadforce of digestive supplements—bitters, enzymes,
probiotics, and fiber. All of these could
be taken separately or in combination to
aid your belly.
Bitters
Just like it sounds, bitters are bitter.
That’s where the magic is. While they
can cause all sorts of attractive facial
expressions, they also more importantly
prime the digestive pump. Taking bitters stimulates your system—activating
digestive juices and secretions that all
make digestion go swimmingly. You
can either take ’em straight, or mix
with a bit of sparkling water, or make
yourself a little apéritif, about 10-20
minutes before a meal. We have bitters
from Urban Moonshine, Four Elements,
Flora and Source Naturals.*
SAVE ON
ART SUPPLIES
QUALITY ART SUPPLIES AT
COMPETITIVE PRICES
Enzymes
These little guys break down all the
components of food—proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. While they are already present in foods, some of us could
use a bit more, and that’s where supplements come to the rescue. We have
single enzymes for helping you digest
certain foods, e.g. dairy, gluten, etc, or
we have complexes that contain many
types of enzymes to help with multiple
foods, thus covering your enzymatic
bases. We have digestive enzymes from
Enzymatica, Rainbow Light, Natural
Factors, American Health, and our
Willy Street Co-op brand.*
Probiotics
Not all bacteria are bad! There are
lots of bacteria that live in our body that
provide essential digestive functions.
They help us break down foods, and
help balance our systems to prevent illness and infections. You can definitely
get them from fermented foods (enzymes too, btw), but of course supplements are here to help. The Co-op has a
large variety of probiotic supplements
and drinks. Most probiotics need to be
refrigerated to guarantee potency. We
have probiotics from companies such as
Mega Foods, New Chapter, American
Health, UAS Labs, Florajen, Natural
Factors, Kevita, Nutrition Now, and our
Willy Street Co-op brand.*
shouldn’t be there. My favorite thing
about fiber is that you get to eat it!
Fiber is found in fruits, vegetables,
beans, and whole grains. It’s not always
easy for some of us to meet our fiber
needs (around 25 grams a day) on food
alone, so you can definitely supplement to get a few extra grams in pills
or shakes for an extra boost. We carry
fiber supplement options and high
fiber powders from companies such as
Garden of Life, Vega, Yerba Prima, and
our Willy Street Co-op brand.* Some
folks experience gas and bloating from
consuming some high-fiber containing
foods such as beans. For y’all, I would
suggest trying bitters or enzymes (see
above), especially enzyme complexes
that contain the bea- destroying enzyme
alpha-galactosidase.
There you have it. Try one, or collect them all—your previously inflamed
guts will thank you.
Did you just overindulge and forget
to take any of these steps to prevent issues? Well, no worries, you have a few
options to assist with existing digestive
discomfort as well. Here’s a couple that
I will highlight:
Herbs—bitters can often help, and
so can herbs such as fennel, ginger,
and peppermint. Try peppermint in a
tincture, drip a couple drops directly on
your tongue for an intense and refreshing soother, or dilute it in a small glass
of water if you prefer. The tea forms of
all these are also nice. You can also find
some supplements that contain these
kinds of herbs in combination, such as
Herb Pharm’s Intestinal Soother, Enzymatic Therapy’s Peppermint Plus, and
Terry Naturally’s Cool Breath Mints.
Baby wipes and witch hazel. When
your discomfort reaches this level, you
have got to take care of your tushy.
Another option for tushy pain relief is
MotherLove’s Rhoid Balm—a salve
made with witch hazel and other lovely
herbal ingredients that sooth and heal.
I’ll leave you with a little recipe
using bitters from Jovial King at Urban
Moonshine. Keep this one around for
after a big meal this winter:
Holiday Bitter Digestif
1 oz organic ginger ale
1 teaspoon Urban Moonshine Citrus
Bitters (or the bitter of your choice)
Garnish with a cranberry on the side of
the glass
Combine and enjoy.
*Keep in mind that both East and
West have different options for digestive care, be sure to call ahead if you
have a specific product in mind.
Consult your physician
As always, be sure to consult with
your physician before you undergo any
dietary changes.
Fiber
You may recall from previous
articles I have written that I am a big
fan of fiber. Fiber is an essential part
of digestion, it literally “sweeps”
your insides, moving things out that
Alaffia is collecting unused
eyeglasses, reading glasses
or sunglasses. Drop them off
in the donation box in Willy East
or West’s Wellness Department, Oct. 2nd–31st and they’ll
go to those in need in Togo.
Stopping at Willy East
on Thursday, Oct. 17th.
Presentation &
refreshments 11am-12pm.
ART SUPPLIES, STITCHERY, FRAMING,
CLASSES FOR CREATIVE PEOPLE
m–th 10-7, f 10-6, sat 10-5
5928 odana road, madison 608.274.1442
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7
Widmer’s Lagerkase
CHEESE news
Invasion of the Melters
T
he cooler
weather is
here, and
most of us
get inspired at this
time of year to whip
out our casseroles,
by Stuart
and prepare all
Mammel,
those rich, gooey,
comforting dishes
Cheese
Coordinator– that help warm our
stomachs and our
East
hearts, and put the
chill at bay. The
all-important question arises of, “Which cheese should I
use?” Often the simplest solution may
not always be the most interesting.
Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, Colby,
and mild Cheddar are the usual go-to
cheeses, and for the most part, they
do their jobs adequately and reliably.
However, we carry an impressively
expansive range of delicious, semisoft cheeses that are absolutely perfect
for melting over or into any variety of
tasty baked dishes you may be creating this fall. Sometimes trying a new
cheese is exactly what you need to
make an old familiar meal a bit more
exciting.
Maple Leaf
Yogurt Cheese
At the beginning of this month
we are featuring our lovely Maple
Leaf Yogurt cheese, from the Maple
Leaf Cheese Cooperative in Monroe,
Wisconsin. The Maple Leaf Cheese
Cooperative has been a farmer-owned
co-op since 1910, and they continue
to this day to have close relationships
with the small family farms who supply their milk, often second- and even
8
third-generation connections. Certified Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker
Paul Reigle specializes in crafting his
uniquely delicious yogurt cheese. It
has a wonderful bright creamy taste
with a touch of tartness, and a perfect
tender texture that makes it an excellent cheese for grating and melting
over any number of baked dishes.
Enchiladas, lasagnas, all varieties of
layered, baked casseroles will be just
that much more special with its unique
character added. And Maple Leaf Yogurt cheese has other benefits as well.
The acidophilus bifidus cultures added
to the cheese are not only healthful for
digestion, they also consume the lactose, making it a younger, more moist
cheese that is lactose-free for those
with lactose intolerance issues.
Cheesy substitutions
Beside the superb Maple Leaf
Yogurt cheese, we encourage you to
explore our shelves—with the help
of one of our capable cheese department employees if needed—for the
many other unique semi-soft melting
cheeses that we carry. Remember,
most recipes are much more flexible, in terms of the cheeses called
for in them, than they might at first
seem. You can easily substitute Emmi
Roth’s Sole Queso Quesadilla for
Monterey Jack, and the difference in
flavor will surprise and delight you.
Try our terrific Emmi Roth Havartis,
our Billi Farmer Cheese, Felix Thalhammer’s Moo Bear Muenster, Pastureland’s delicious Peace of Pasture
graziered Gouda, or perhaps Renard’s
Morel and Leek Jack for a really
interesting variation on the Monterey
Jack theme.
And if you are adventuresome,
and seek depth and complexity, as
well as a little more pungency, explore
the world of semi-soft washed-rind
cheeses. Joe Widmer’s incomparable
aged, surface-ripened Lagerkase
just won a prestigious award at the
American Cheese Society Competition this year. And there is always
Chalet Cheese Cooperative’s wonderfully rich, complex Limburger. If
you haven’t been to Baumgartner’s in
Monroe, Wisconsin for one of their famous signature Limbuger sandwiches,
you can make one right here in your
own kitchen! Your creativity is bound
only by your own imagination and the
choices available to you, and we in
the cheese department can supply you
with choices aplenty!
FAQ additions
In perusing our FAQ printed in
last month’s Reader, we noticed a few
imprecisions that we’d like to clarify.
First, and most important, the FAQ
could not have been created without
the substantial research and writing
done by Patrick Schroeder, our Willy
West cheesemonger. Second, in the
answer to the question about Gorgonzola, we failed to mention the importance of the mold, penicillium Glaucum as a culture added to traditionally
prepared Italian Gorgonzolas. While
penicillium Roqueforti is quite often
used as well or instead, p. Glaucum
is part of what gives many traditional
Gorgonzolas their unique character. In
the answer to the question about Camemberts and Bries, we similarly erred
in not recognizing the importance of
the mold, penicillium Camemberti,
which gives many traditional French
Camemberts their character, often coloring their surface mold a pale gray.
As always, learning is an on-going
affair, and we continue to learn so that
we may better help you.
prepared foods news
Terroirists in the Deli
T
he French
have an old
word for the
importance
of a connection to
the local environment in choosing
by Josh
and enjoying food
Perkins,
and drink—terroir.
Prepared
Quite often used
in wine circles, it’s
Foods
also an instrumenDirector
tal term for that
culture’s approach
to the valuation
of food. In a nutshell, terroir is the
concept that the soil, water, sun and
air of a given growing region act to
shape the essential nature and flavor
of a food, that a chardonnay grape in
New Zealand cannot be the same chardonnay grape as one grown in Napa
Valley. More, though, it’s the idea that
a person’s identity is interwoven with
these things, that you literally cannot
be as fully attuned to or nourished by
the flavor and value of a food grown
1000 miles away as you can be with
food grown where you and your
tomato get the same kind of tan and
drink from the same watershed.
At Willy Street Co-op’s Deli and
Kitchen, this way of valuing food is a
tradition and one we strive to amplify
with every succeeding year. There are
unique challenges in doing this when
production batches are large and prices must stay feasible for an everyday
shopping experience. A point of reference from my restaurant life: Buying
great local products when you need
to run 25 orders of a dinner special
and charge $20-$30 plate is one sort
of transaction. Buying it when you
need to make 300 lbs. of food over
the course of two weeks and keep the
price below $10 per lb. is another. The
Willy Street Co-op Kitchen looks for
large amounts and at a great price we
can pass on, and this isn’t always easy
to find—in any corner of the food
world, but especially from our smaller
local growers who don’t depress their
pricing through farm subsidies, need
a living wage, and prefer to grow a
variety of crops rather than go for a
bumper harvest on only one.
This year, we’ve made our biggest
strides yet, both in the inclusion of locally grown produce in our Deli foods
and in our ability to communicate
the farms involved to you. This has
been the result of the hard work and
commitment of our Kitchen buyer and
rounder, Dustin Skelley. I sat down
with Dustin to hear about how these
improvements were made possible and
what we can look forward to in the
coming year:
Dustin, you took over a buying
system largely predicated on a
single-vendor relationship (with
Albert’s Organics, our longeststanding organic produce vendor
in both Kitchen and retail sites).
What were your first steps in diversifying that vendor pool?
I started by forming relationships
I had already had with other farms
through previous work experience.
I started out working in a kitchen in
Minnesota where there was no ordering per se—farmers dropped their
products off and we decided the menu
based on what was available. Because
that farm was in Minnesota, I became
very familiar with the rhythms of the
season and continued that while working at the Goodman Center. Networking with other farmers from there was
the next step in finding out what all
our options were. I think we provide
a unique outlet for farmers who have
products they want to sell in large
amounts and all at once—some of our
growers really value that and some
less so, but it provides an opportunity
for them and for us.
What has worked well in taking on
new vendors and what do you find
difficult in managing it?
We have a lot of drop dates during
the week, which allows us to keep everything very fresh and to avoid outof-stocks. The main difficulty is coordinating that larger pool of vendors
and deliveries—it’s a lot to keep track
of. If there’s a problem with a harvest
and I made a pre-order, it might mean
we just don’t get the product since
it’s directly from a grower and not a
warehouse.
above regarding frequent deliveries—
your slaw might have cabbage in it
from more than one local farm!
What’s on tap for next year?
Which local products do you think
we’ll be able to use that we aren’t
using now—or use more of?
I’d love to see us getting a local
chicken source for next year—Bell
and Evans is great, but we go through
a lot of chicken and it would be a
great local buy. I’d like to arrange
with local growers to make large buys
of product and freeze it for extended
availability—like berries and rhubarb.
It’s a big project to imagine, but if we
could consider replacing our tuna with
a local whitefish source, it would be a
great thing to shoot for.
LOCAL VENDORS
SUPPLYING Willy Street
Co-op Kitchen IN 2013
Harmony Valley
Vermont Valley
Morning Star Farms
Sunny Side Produce
New Century Farm
Country Lane Organics
Happy Hidden Acres
Sassy Cow Dairy
Renaissance Farms
Organic Valley
Scenic Acres
Twin Spruce Farms
Miller Family Farm
Andersen’s Maple Syrup
Some Honey
RPs Pasta
PRODUCE news
In Praise of Imperfect Fruit
by Andy
Gricevich,
Produce
Staff–West
First,
the fig
“The figs are
falling from the
trees; they are good
and sweet; and, as
they fall, their red
skin bursts. I am a
north wind to ripe
figs. […] It is autumn
about us, and pure sky and afternoon. Behold what fullness there is
around us! And out of such overflow
it is beautiful to look out upon distant
seas.” (Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra)
It’s rumored that Plato called
figs “the philosopher’s fruit.” Makes
sense to me. Hailing from the Middle
East (philosophy’s birthplace, in the
Greek colonies), they’re now thought
to be one of the first cultivated
foods, predating wheat by perhaps
a thousand years. Their deep past
is matched by their symbolic futurity: cut one open and you’ll see the
strands of innumerable flowers hid-
den inside, like a mysterious knowledge awaiting the burst into ripeness,
the nectar released just prior to decay.
Not for nothing do we find figs
amidst the piles of fruit and bones
in the Dutch still-life paintings that
pair abundance with mortality. Then
there’s the fig wasp; the opening at
the bottom of each fruit evolved as a
door for these visitors, who pollinate
the flowers and carry out their own
reproduction inside—a suggestive
symbiosis between creatures associated with pain and the pleasure of
natural luxury.
If the idea of wasp babies in your
food concerns you, don’t worry. The
fig varieties we carry are all parthenocarpic, which means they don’t
have to be fertilized—thus, no wasps.
Eating a ripe fig is likely to drive other concerns from your mind anyway:
nothing tastes like the honeyed, soft
and slightly tangy flesh of the Black
Mission, the brown sugar tone of the
chewier green Kadota, or the subtly
grassy flavor of the Brown Turkey. I
What could local vendors do to
make it easier to buy more from
them, and include even more of
their products in the foods made
for Willy Street Co-op Delis?
Better communication is always
great, some farms are very good at it
and some farmers seem too strapped
for time during the growing season to
really stay in touch. Growers should
get their name out there as much as
they can, so they become part of the
local network and they are on my radar—farmers should ask to have their
name connected with their products. If
the business knows that’s something
customers need to know, they can
help promote the farm and serve the
customer at the same time.
How can customers find out more
about which locally grown foods
are in their Willy Street Co-op Deli
purchases?
Both Delis now have signs indicating which vegetables are in your food
weekly, but currently we don’t have
the space to show individual farms. It
can be difficult to be completely specific, too, because of what I mentioned
9
have to exercise some willpower to
keep from eating dozens of them at
a time. The philosopher Walter Benjamin appears to have felt the same
way: “I couldn’t stop eating them
and was forced to get rid of the mass
of plump fruits as quickly as possible. But that could not be described
as eating; it was more like a bath,
so powerful was the smell of resin
that […] impregnated the air through
which I carried my burden.”
Fortunately for us, the fig is
highly nutritious, one of the best
plant sources of calcium, fiber, and
various minerals. Both the flavor
and the high antioxidant content
increase with ripeness. A firmer fig
is fine, but can’t compare with one
that’s very soft, about to split, releasing beads of clear nectar. If you’re
squeamish about squishy fruit, just
think of it as nature’s jam.
Figs are wonderful with prosciutto, blue cheese and fresh goat
cheese. I’ve been eating them with
labneh, a fresh homemade yogurt
cheese. Poach them in red wine or
brandy, and try the syrup over ice
cream. They’re delicious with balsamic vinegar and arugula. Firmer
figs will ripen if left unrefrigerated
on a plate, but I usually toss them
into my oatmeal; they melt down
and sweeten the pot. For me, though,
nothing beats just eating them, thin
skin and all, and letting them my
thoughts drift toward where little
animals of possibility shine like
sweet figs, baubles on the skin of
what’s to come.
As I write, at the beginning of
September, the crop in California is
doing well, and there should still be
figs available here by the time you
read this.
While I’m trying to convince you
to eat squishy figs, let me sing the
praises of imperfect-looking fruit
in general. If fruit looks perfect, it’s
usually been grown less for flavor
than for successful storage and shipping. Especially in the local season,
I’m drawn to spotty apples with a
more burnished look. They smell
like an orchard or an apple barrel,
with complex flavors and surfaces
that reflect all the sun, wind, rain
and insects the tree has welcomed or
endured, the whole year compressed
into the ripe harvest of autumn.
Many of our fall apples and pears
come from farms in southern Wisconsin (including Future Fruit and Ela
Orchards). Here, forward-thinking
growers are rediscovering or inventing sustainable practices that produce
delicious fruit formerly thought
foreign to our region. They’re experimenting and sharing their knowledge,
and those delicious spotty apples
reflect work that’s substantially
changing the food map of the U.S.,
producing beautiful places and leaving a legacy for the future.
My work has taught me to find
exceptional flavor in other places I
might have missed, even with a sense
of imperfection as essential to beauty.
For example:
• The best cantaloupes and muskmelons have started to soften and
darken in places.
• A soft, yellowing lime is juicier
than a firm, shiny one.
• The pale “ambering” on late-season
green grapes means great sweetness. Also, try the little shriveled
“raisins” that sometimes show up
on the bunches.
• Plums and pluots, when they start
to wrinkle on top and soften, turn
into balls of delicious juice.
• A ripe ataulfo mango looks ugly
on the outside, but these small,
wrinkled yellow mangoes are very
sweet and tart.
• Look for the rare Blenheim heirloom apricots next time they come
around. The exceptional flavor may
make their pale, gold duskiness
more attractive than the rosy blush
of the usual apricot.
• When the winter brings persimmons back around, treat yourself
to a ripe Hachiya. If it retains any
firmness, expect a mouth-puckering, unpleasant astringency—but
wait until it feels like a water balloon, maybe even with some black
spots, and you’ll find the sweetest
custard-like fruit inside.
Amazing tastes and smells wait
in wildness, in the ways we ate when
PRODUCE news
Fair Trade
O
ctober
is Fair
Trade
Month at
Willy Street Co-op.
This is a great time
to actively remember
the workers who
by Nate
help bring resources
Smith,
to our tables evGrocery
eryday. These are
Staff–West
the people in countries like Peru and
Ghana—people we
may never meet in
our lifetimes—who
work hard to help us enjoy a cup of
coffee or a piece of chocolate. Fair
Trade seeks balance in an industry that
has often exploited farmers and placed
profits before people, whether it’s
their working conditions, pay, sustainable agricultural practices or helping
small, independent farmers grow their
businesses. When you stroll the aisles
of Willy Street Co-op, you’ll notice
several companies that practice Fair
Trade. Here’s a small handful of the
companies that have made Fair Trade
part of our collective lexicon.
What Exactly is
Fair Trade?
According to the World Fair Trade
Organization, the practice of Fair Trade
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Contact Mark Zipperer at
mark@zip-it.us or 608-213-4640
10
we had to pluck fruit right from the
tree. Those sensuous experiences
may show you beauty in places you’d
found ugly. You may taste the history
and the rich thought in a soft, sweet
fig, or—biting into a locally-grown
apple or pear—smell it in this year’s
autumn the future’s ripening.
began in the late 1940s when a nonprofit called Self Help Crafts started
buying needlework from Puerto Rico.
A lot has happened since then. Several
companies around the globe offering
Fair Trade products have stepped into
the picture, so it’s important to note
that Fair Trade is many organizations
utilizing the Fair Trade principles of
helping workers in poor countries.
Dean Kallas, Grocery Category Manager at Willy Street Co-op, has this insight: “I feel like the whole idea behind
Fair Trade is to empower small farmers
and their cooperatives, so they have
more of a say in their future and the
future of their children. It is an avenue
to help people progress in a democratic
fashion and take control of their lives
economically. In what way would
someone working on a plantation be
empowered by their boss receiving
more money for their products?” The
emphasis of Fair Trade then, as Dean
expresses, is equality for workers of
small-scale operations.
Just Coffee
You may have witnessed Just Coffee Cooperative workers delivering
their organic wares around Madison
utilizing cargo bikes. You may have
also noticed the graphic on each bag
of Just Coffee that depicts the conventional coffee product chain and
the Just Coffee product chain. While
the conventional chain involves eight
steps including estates, brokers and
wholesalers, Just Coffee’s is all of
four steps: the farmer cooperative, the
importing cooperative, Just Coffee, and
lastly, Willy Street Co-op. Just Coffee
is registered with the Small Producer
Symbol, or SPP (Símbolo de Pequeños Productores) as it’s known, a Fair
Trade certification that guarantees their
products originate from small-scale
farmers. Just Coffee “supports the
original vision of fair trade that aims
to help small-scale producers stay on
their land and off of the plantations.”
Again we see the mantra of Fair Trade:
small-scale.
Equal Exchange
Equal Exchange, aside from its fitting name, is a worker-owned, democratically operated co-op that provides
an inspiring example of the broadness of Fair Trade products and the
way companies work together to help
workers. Willy Street Co-op sells an
assortment of Equal Exchange items,
including olive oil, chocolate, coffee,
candy bars and Geobars, among others.
In case you’re wondering what Geobars are, they’re sweet cereal bars and
you’ll discover them in the granola bar
sections of both stores. Choose from
Apricot, Mixed Berries or Chocolate
Raisin. To bring the Geobars to market,
Equal Exchange works together with a
United Kingdom alternative trade company called Traidcraft. The mission of
Traidcraft is, “to fight poverty through
trade, practicing and promoting approaches to trade that help poor people
in developing countries transform their
lives.” So when you purchase a box of
six Geobars, you’re directly helping
South African grape farmers, Pakistani
apricot collectors, Chilean beekeepers, and rice farmers from India and
Thailand. Each box of Geobars also
has a diagram on the back that shows
you where each of the ingredients
originated. Wouldn’t it be great if other
companies practiced this?
Equal Exchange is also registered
with the Small Producer Symbol.
Phyllis Robinson, the Education and
Campaigns Manager for Equal Exchange, recently said this about the
SPP program: “This bold step forward
reflects the fact that today the very
folks for whom the Fair Trade movement was built are taking a leadership
role in shaping their own destiny.
The potential impact this new system
will have on small farmers, their cooperative organizations, and the entire
Fair Trade movement could be quite
profound indeed.”
Lotus Foods:
An International
Effort
Our next company, Lotus Foods
out of San Francisco, works with “Fair
For Life,” an organization located in
Switzerland known for its stringent
quality control measures. Remember,
Fair Trade is an international endeavor.
Lotus’ Heirloom Volcano Rice, for
example, is grown by the Simpatik
Farmer Cooperative in Tasikmalaya,
Indonesia, and is the first rice in the
United States to be labeled “Fair for
Life.” It’s also organically grown.
Lotus utilizes the “System of Rice
Intensification” which uses less water
and seeds without the use of chemicals.
This rice is available in both bulk sections of Willy Street Co-op.
Heavenly Organics
For more than 30 years, Heavenly
Organics has been assisting farmers in India by practicing Fair Trade
and sustainable farming, as expressed
in their mission: “to produce and
market 100% organic products with
sustainable methods that preserves
and nourishes the biodiversity of our
planet, as well as the traditional people
and cultures where our products are
harvested and produced.” In short:
the epitome of Fair Trade. If you’re
wondering why you would purchase
THIS MONTH’S
WELLNESS WEDNESDAY
IS OCTOBER 2ND
honey from India, here’s a reason.
The land where Heavenly Organics
honey is harvested is free of exposure
to GMO’s and toxins. Also, more than
500 families in the Kashmir region of
India are supported through Heavenly
Organics’ efforts. Willy Street Coop proudly sells Heavenly Organics’
honey, sugar and trick-or-treat-ready
chocolate and honey patties. The workers at Heavenly Organics—as with the
companies listed above and the myriad
that weren’t mentiond—are the people
who now have a voice with Fair Trade.
These are the people who may never
set foot in a Willy Street Co-op. They
are the reason Fair Trade exists. This
October, let’s remember them.
WEST news
Leveraging Your Values into
Your Consumption
B
ehind the
scenes in
a business
there is
usually someone
or even multiple
people who are
occupied with
by Mike
Byrne, Store analysis about the
business. They
Manager–
may be forecasting,
West
planning ahead,
comparing trends,
or theorizing. They
use all sorts of tools
developed to do this
and as you might expect there is heavy
use of data. Business classes from
many universities teach this science.
At Willy Street Co-op we’ve undertaken some of this investigation and it
has certainly helped us.
What we know about how much
rice and beans you all might buy can
be understood with some certainty.
I’d like to talk about something more
esoteric today. I want to challenge
everyone to think about their values
in relation to their consumption.
Recently I viewed the movie “Detropia” which is a documentary about
the decline of Detroit. The movie was
shown in the Community Room as the
kickoff movie for Green Thursdays,
which will be the first Thursday every
month.
The movie described how the
choices Americans made with their
automobile purchases propelled
Detroit to unheard of levels—one of
the fastest growing cities in the world
at one point—and certainly a city
that helped lead the post World War
II rise of what we all call the middle
class. And then something happened.
Historians may debate it for years to
come. The choices Americans preferred changed. Outsourcing became
a real situation with catastrophic
consequences. Now Detroit is bankrupt and it finds itself with a shrinking
population and whole neighborhoods
becoming vacant. The movie shows
the decline but stops short of a solution. Detroit’s economic model was
just not sustainable. So what can be
done about it?
At Willy Street Co-op we resist
the tendency to outsource America’s
food supply. I’ve seen the diminishing farms of America consolidating by
the square mile. I think our model can
emerge as another choice. That choice
has to do with values.
What do we know about how
consumers connect their shopping to
their values? I just saw an infographic
published by the Hartmann Group,
DANCE/MOVEMENT THERAPY
HEALTH & WELLNESS EDUCATION
1st w e d n e
Next month’s Wellness
Wednesday is November 6th.
ay
d
s
onth
ea m
off
Celebrating
30 years
New groups forming for fall:
music therapy & dance therapy for women
therapy groups for children
movement group for adults with DD
Board certified and state licensed.
Hancock Center is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization
h a n c o c k c e n t e r . n e t
( 6 0 8 ) 2 5 1 - 0 9 0 8
11
an organization that studies consumer
preferences. Their graphic illustrates
that when asked the following question “Which of the following has the
greatest impact on society?” respondents answered this way:
• 34% said it was their purchasing
decisions
• 40% said it was their voting decisions
• 27% said it was involvement in their
local community
So considering our Co-op lets us
all purchase food and returns significant amounts of support to the local
community, we can all feel pretty
good about our business model and its
commitment to sustainability.
This year will be as challenging
as any other for our Co-op. I’m sure it
will be another successful one for us
because I believe that people joining
every day and choosing to shop here is
a powerful assignment of money that
is offered for value. We offer greattasting food from great vendors whose
businesses are maintaining a commitment to sustainability. Staff here see
themselves as local people working to
change America’s food system to an
enduring and sustainable model and
that, friends, is an incredible value.
Please join us by participating in
our Equity Drive. See article at the
right for more details.
COOPERATIVE SERVICES news
Reflections on Ownership
IT’S NICE TO
MEET YOU
It is my pleasure
to serve as our new
Director of Cooperative Services. With
the support of staff,
by Kirsten
I strive to advocate
for Owners and to
Moore,
utilize the CoopDirector of
Cooperative erative Principles
to foster healthy,
Services
sustainable food
and community
choices via Owner
participation, education, and community outreach. In this global economy,
being an informed consumer and good
steward can be very complicated.
The road to sustainability is a lifelong journey and we will all travel it
a little differently, as best we can. As
Owners, we have a lot of work to do
together to keep making better food,
health, and community choices.
NATIONAL CO-OPS
MONTH—OWN IT!
Speaking of you and me: the Owners, it’s National Co-ops Month, it’s
Willy Street Co-op’s 39th birthday,
and it’s a wonderful time to think
about Ownership. In this new role,
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about
Ownership myself. During Willy
Street Co-op’s humble 1973 beginnings, in the basement of Nature’s
Bakery Cooperative as a buyer’s club,
the reasons for Ownership between
Owners were probably very similar
because the Co-op was Owned by a
small group of relatively like-minded
individuals who could usually come
to some consensus about dietary and
12
lifestyle choices to pursue via their
purchasing power. Flash forward,
thanks to the investment from our first
generation Owners, today’s Willy
Street Co-op sports over 31,000 Owners with a vast variety of reasons to
Own: a desire for affordable natural
foods; a leaning towards a particular dietary lifestyle; a connection to
community; supporting the local
economy; an appreciation for cooperative structures; neighborhood convenience; a commitment to sustainable
practices; the list could go on forever.
With 31,000 Owners, there are 31,000
reasons to Own.
ONE OF 31,000
REASONS TO OWN
I chose to Own in August of 2000,
three years after I started college. I
was already an Owner of the historic
Mifflin Street Community Co-op,
but I moved east of the capitol, and
so Willy Street Co-op became more
convenient for me. It really seemed
that pure and simple a decision at the
time. In my early adult years, as I began to experiment in my own kitchen,
I started to realize that food tasted
better to me when it didn’t travel very
far first, and it certainly tasted better
when I made as much from scratch as
possible. I also began to realize that I
didn’t really like what I had to think
about while shopping the big supermarkets: did I really need to select
from 30 different brands of tomato
sauce, and where did they all come
from anyway? Why does the bakery
department have such a strong sugary odor pumping through the store?
And why would l want another plastic
bag of rice when I can put it directly
into my favorite antique jar? I decided
to Own because I knew that you, the
other Owners, had already thought
about these things and so much more.
Thanks to almost four decades of
Owner-driven decisions, we now have
two Willy Street Co-ops that smell
naturally good, have fantastic bulk
departments where we can use all of
our favorite jars, and selecting tomato
sauce is fairly easy. My journey to
Ownership was born out of my quest
for clean eating choices and a natural
simplicity that looking back now really resembled an overall yearning for
sustainability. Not only was Ownership able to provide that for me, it also
gave me an avenue to deepen my food
philosophies: provoking my individual
responsibility to look at labels; continuously question the vegetables and
animals I do or do not eat; learn how
certain growing, farming, economic,
and business practices affect the life,
land, water, and habitat for ours and
the next generations; and understand
that I am my own best health and
economic advocate. The best part of
Ownership is that I am not alone. I
have 31,000 other Owners supporting me in my personal health choices
while I support theirs. Owning is
pretty incredible stuff, if you ask me.
OWNING: GO ALL IN
So why Own, and why Own in
full? Because you take a stake in your
health, and the health of the people in
your community. Because you strive
to eat and live sustainably and consciously, and your Fair Share Equity
increases your Co-op’s economic
leverage and buying power to do just
that. Because you get a vote in who
governs your store, who will advocate
for the food and health choices you
want to have, and what major investments in the future and growth of the
Co-op we will make together. Because
your shopping choices and feedback
help your Co-op staff decide what
food, health, sustainability, and community issues are the greatest priority.
Because your economic backing helps
keep your Co-op primed to support
the greater community and continue
growing our ability to do so.
If you are asked during our Equity
Drive this month to consider paying
in full, I say go all in, and make your
co-op a stronger place to shop and a
stronger steward for the community.
You’ll be glad you did.
THANK YOU
As a newcomer to the Co-op
staff, I am very grateful for the help
I have received getting my feet on
the ground. Special thanks to Co-op
Services: Dawn Matlak, Liz Hawley,
Katie O’Connell-Jones, and Tamara
Urich for being warm, welcoming,
and very helpful and honest as I learn
the many intricacies and values of our
Co-op community; and to Anya Firszt
and the entire management team, who
have all been very patient and kind as
I find my place.
WE ALL PLAY OUR PART
I believe each Owner brings
diverse strengths and desires to our
store. We all contribute, in our own
individual ways, to the larger goal
of greater food sustainability. I look
forward to continuing to share in our
Ownership and to deepening my food
and community connections with you.
2013 WILLY STREET CO-OP CUSTOMER SURVEY
We would greatly appreciate it if you would answer the following questions. Every comment is studied carefully and will be used to make our classes,
newsletter articles, customer brochures and other materials more relevant to your needs The privacy of our Owners is extremely important to us; names
and Owner numbers are removed before any examination and analysis of the results. Please use a ballpoint pen to avoid ink leakage.
Name: ________________________________________________ Owner #: ________________
Phone number*: _____________________ E-mail address*: ____________________________
*Is your Owner contact information up-to-date? We will call/email if you win a gift card.
1. At which Willy Street Co-op store do you shop more often?
a. Willy East
b. Willy West
c. I shop at each of them equally
2.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
Please rate your customer service experience in the following areas:
poor
at Co-op events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
bulk aisle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
Customer Service desk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
checkout lanes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
dairy/frozen/packaged grocery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
deli. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
health & wellness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
juice bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
meat counter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
produce department. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
overall customer service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
excellent
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n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
3.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i
How likely would you be to use the following educational resources?
Least
classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
cooking demos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
in-store brochures & handouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
moderated online forums. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
reading/discussion group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
specific store tours. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
social media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
videos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
other: __________________________________________ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . .
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
Most
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. . . . . . . . . 3. . . . . . . . . . 4. . . . . . . . . .5 . . . . . . . . . 6. . . . . . . . .
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
4.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Would you like to see the Co-op provide education or guidance on any of the topics listed below? (Please circle all that apply.)
avoiding GMOs
g. cooperative business models
m. gluten-free
s.
backyard homesteading
h. corporate ownership in natural foods
n. herbalism
t.
balancing weight
i. fair trade
o. home food preservation
u.
benefits of Willy Street Co-op Ownership j. food allergies
p. label reading
v.
children's nutrition
k. food workers' rights
q. lactose intolerance
w.
controversial ingredients
l. foraging
r. organics
x.
5.
a.
b.
c.
How important is it to you that the Co-op stock products with these qualities? (Please circle your top three qualities.)
fair trade
d. low-priced
g. organic
j. other: ___________________________
gluten-free
e. minimally processed
h. vegan
k. other: ___________________________
locally sourced
f. non-genetically modified
i. sourced from small/cooperative business
6.
a.
b.
c.
Which causes do you see as the most important focus for Co-op outreach efforts (via donations, tabling, education, etc.). (Please circle your top three causes.)
animal rights
d. environment/conservation
g. visual/performing arts
j. other: ___________________________
anti-discrimination advocacy
e. food justice (via racial & economic justice) h. workers' rights
cooperative business development
f. sustainable farming
i. other: ___________________________
prenatal nutrition
special diets
sustainable farming
veganism/vegetarianism
other: ___________________________
other: ___________________________
7. The Co-op is drafting criteria for what characteristics a third store might have that would hopefully serve a portion of our Owners and customers that currently use
our Williamson Street location. What service(s) might you want expanded or enhanced in a third site? (Please circle your top three characteristics.)
a. bulk
e. housewares
i. prepared foods
m. wine & beer
b. cheese
f. kitchen classroom
j. seating (exterior)
n. wellness
c. floral & garden
g. meat & seafood
k. seating (interior)
o. other: ___________________________
d. frozen
h. produce
l. wider aisles
When finished, use the enclosed envelope to mail in this survey, or drop it in
the kiosk near the store exit and you will have a chance to win one of ten
$100 Co-op Gift Cards! If you would rather complete this online, please go to
www.willystreet.coop/customer_survey/2013.
8.
a.
b.
c.
Do you follow any of the specific diets or diet restrictions listed below? (Please circle all that apply.)
diabetes prevention
d. lactose intolerance
g. pregnancy/prenatal
food allergies
e. low sodium
h. vegan/vegetarian
gluten-free
f. paleo
i. raw
9. Have you ever formally submitted a customer comment?
Yes
j. other: ___________________________
k. other: ___________________________
l. other: ___________________________
No
10. How would you rate our responses to customer comments?
Poor
Excellent
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . 3. . . . . . . . . . 4. . . . . . . . . .5 . . . . . . . . . 6. . . . . . . . . n/a
11. How likely are you to promote the Willy Street Co-op to your friends, family, or colleagues on a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 is most likely and 0 is least likely?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
12. Please share a wish you have for Willy Street Co-op: _______________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
13. How long have you been an Owner of the Co-op?
14. Your age:
a. Younger than 17
a. not an Owner
b. 17-22
b. less than a year
c. 23-30
c. over one year
d. 31-44
d. over five years
e. 45-59
e. over 10 years
f. 60 plus
15. What is your zip code? ____________
16. How large is your household?
Number of adults: _______
17. What is your approximate household income?
a. Less than $20,000
Number of children: _______
b. $20,000–$49,999
18. What percent of your total household grocery budget do you spend at Willy Street Co-op?
a. less than 20%
b. 21–40%
c. 41–60%
d. 61–80%
19. How often do you shop at Willy Street Co-op?
a. a couple of times a year
b. once a month
c. once a week
c. $50,000–$74,999
d. $75,000 plus
e. more than 80%
d. several times a week
e. once a day
FairShare CSA Coalition sends a big wet (chilly)
THANK YOU
to our riders, sponsors, volunteers, and farms for
making Bike the Barns 2013 a fantastic community
event in support of Fresh Food for All.
Special thanks to our co-presenter Just Coffee Cooperative
and to our Brandywine and Black Prince sponsors:
American Family Insurance, Death's Door Spirits,
Heartland Credit Union, Metcalfe's, Organic Valley,
REI, SRAM, Whole Foods Market,
Williamson Bicycle Works, and Willy Street Co-op
Check out all our amazing sponsors at csacoalition.org
Photo by Sarah Lang, Lovely Ember Photography
Policy B9: Sustainability Report Executive Summary
by Stephanie Ricketts, Executive Assistant
T
his past June the Willy Street
Co-op Board of Directors
approved significant revisions to Policy B9. Originally
called the “Green Policy,” the Board
amended the title to “Sustainability
Policy” and, at the recommendation of
the Co-op’s Sustainability Committee,
instituted a new, more comprehensive
degree of focus for the organization. In
August of 2013, the Board approved
the very first Willy Street Co-op
Sustainability Report. We all learned
a lot over the course of writing this
monitoring report. Since this is your
Co-op, we wanted to share both the
Policy language and some highlights of
the report with you!
Sustainability
Committee
Policy B9: The Sustainability Policy has two discreet sections. The first
states that the General Manager shall
“manage and utilize a Sustainability
Committee as needed.” In the spring
of 2011 Anya Firszt, Willy Street
Co-op’s General Manager, formed the
first Willy Street Co-op Sustainability
Committee. Comprised of nine Owners
with experience and expertise in various “green” topics (green building, energy conservation, process facilitation,
etc), the committee also included a few
key staff (the Director of Cooperative
Services, the Operations Manager, the
GM and the Executive Assistant). The
Committee had three initial goals:
1.) Define what “sustainability” means for our Co-op
2.) Select focus areas for our sustain-
ability efforts (detailed below).
3.) Identify monitoring baselines and some initial opportunities for fur-
ther action in those key areas.
The Committee’s work culminated
in the revised Policy B9 language approved by the Board in June.
products that will reduce overall packaging and/or can be reused or recycled
but also fit its desired function.”
Key Areas of Focus for
Willy Street Co-op
Did You Know?
Since January of 2013 both East
and West Delis have been using rPET
plastic containers, which are 100%
recyclable in the cities of Madison and
Middleton.
After many months of research
and discussion, including reviewing
sustainability policies and reports from
other co-ops, the committee selected
ten key areas of focus for the Willy
Street Co-op. The order in which they
appear in the policy is not indicative
of any sort of ranked important—they
are equally significant. Management
is charged with achieving progress in
each of the areas of focus. The policy
language for each key point is included
below, along with one interesting “Did
You Know?” piece of info from the
full sustainability report. If you’re
curious to learn more, check out our
website—the full report is posted at
www.willystreet.coop/files/sustainability-report.pdf for your review.
#1: Distribution & Sourcing
“Maintain commitment to sourcing products from cooperatives, local
vendors and reputable companies that
function in responsible, ethical and
environmentally sound ways.”
Did You Know?
The Willy Street Co-op Produce
Departments worked with over 33 local
produce vendors in the 2013 growing
season (not including local produce
sourced through regional distributors).
That accounts for a total of roughly
20% of the produce offerings over the
course of the year and that percentage
continues to increase!
#2: Packaging
“Produce sustainable packaging
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#3: Consumer Education
“Provide information in multiple
formats and arenas concentrating on
opportunities for Owners and others to
economize their food buying options
into the foreseeable future. Address the
growing awareness across social and
economic consumer demographics with
respect to increasing wellness through
the foods we eat and their origins.”
Did You Know?
The Co-op has an entire department
devoted to providing consumer education, called the Cooperative Services
Department. In addition to the many
other services they provide, the Co-op
Services team organizes classes and
store tours, provides in-store resources
on a wide variety of topics, and also
provides information on key health
concerns, like a gluten-free product list
and a non-GMO project list.
#4: Labor
“Implement company policies, procedures, trainings, and internal reporting structures to ensure commitment to
sound labor practices. Work with growers and producers to assure labor rights
for farm workers and communities.”
Did You Know?
The Co-op offers a robust benefits
package that includes (among other
things), health and dental insurance at
three months with access to domestic
partner coverage, a living wage compensation model, metro and bike travel
benefits and personal leaves of absence
for up to six months. The Co-op Board
also has another monitoring policy
called “Policy B1: Staff Relations,
Compensation and Benefits Policy,”
that tracks our Co-op’s labor practices
in greater depth each year.
#5: Organic & Animal Welfare
“Promote organic production,
processing and consumption through
product choice and education within
the bounds of affordability and availability. Prioritize animal welfare in
animal product selection.”
Did You Know?
Approximately 98% of produce
offers are certified organic, and the
majority of the conventional sales in
that department is for non-certified
produce that isn’t available organically
(think young green coconuts, jicama,
etc.). When sourcing non-organic local
product, buyers are careful to work
with growers that practice sustainable
agriculture.
#6: Climate Change
“Minimize direct and indirect emissions of greenhouse gases.”
Did You Know?
Natural gas consumption at the Coop has been reduced by approximately
450-500 therms per year since the
spring of 2010, when a solar thermal
system was installed on the Willy East
store to supply hot water. This saves
about 3 tons of CO2 annually.
#7: Energy
“Reduce energy consumption associated with all aspects of operations
provided that can be accomplished
without compromising the Co-op’s
primary mission.”
Did You Know?
Night covers have been installed
on produce coolers at Willy West and
Willy East. The energy savings from
these night covers is being tracked, but
is already significant enough to result
in additional covers being phased in on
other open-air coolers at both locations.
#8: Water
“Reduce our use of city water, raise
awareness of regional and local water
issues through education and information sharing, and reduce storm water
runoff from our sites.”
Did You Know?
The Willy East store uses an extensive rain garden to reduce storm water
runoff from the rooftop and side parking lot. Although the Willy West location does not afford the opportunity
for a rain garden, Store Manager Mike
Byrne has installed many planters that
consume some amount of rainfall.
#9: Waste
“Minimize waste generation and
divert waste from the landfill through
strategies of reducing, reusing and
recycling the materials involved in its
operations.”
Did You Know?
This past July the Co-op hosted a
zero-waste AMP and diverted 96% of
waste at the event away from the landfill! The total waste produced during
the party was 1,198lbs; of that amount
1,040 (86%) was composted and 101
lbs (8%) was recyclable. Only 57 lbs
(6%) was landfill trash.
#10: Finance
“Maintain a financially viable
business in keeping with the Co-op’s
values and Mission. Focus on strengthening community capital.”
Did You Know?
The Board has a standing Finance
Committee comprised of Owners,
Board Members and the GM. This
group meets monthly to monitor the
Co-op’s finances and vets the financial
merits of various budgets and opportunities.
wisconsin union
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START SOON!
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ATTORNEY
PAUL O’FLANAGAN
Coop member,
PROGRESSIVE & LOCAL
LAW FIRM OFFERING:
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21
By Small Farmers, For Small Farmers:
The Next Step in the Evolution of Fair Trade
By Phyllis Robinson, Education and Campaigns Manager, Equal Exchange
Coming Soon: FarmerOwned Fair Trade!
The first Fair Trade farmer-owned
certification system, referred to as the
Small Producer Symbol (SPP, for its
Spanish acronym) will arrive this fall
on Equal Exchange coffees in food
co-ops and natural food stores across
the country. Ten years in the making,
the SPP certification system represents
the small farmers’ persistent attempt
to ensure a more just trade system
for their fellow farmers everywhere.
The colorful SPP logo will initially
appear on Equal Exchange coffee bags
and bulk coffee bins, and will soon
become more prominent throughout
stores. While the SPP itself is just
a little logo, in actuality, the real
symbolism of this new Fair Trade seal
is anything but small. This bold step
forward reflects the fact that today the
very folks for whom the Fair Trade
movement was built are taking a
leadership role in shaping their own
destiny. The potential impact this new
system will have on small farmers,
their cooperative organizations, and
the entire Fair Trade movement could
be quite profound indeed.
The Roots of
the Conflict
In the early 1980s, a division in the
Fair Trade movement resulted in the
creation of one international certification system with two distinct ideologies. The early founders of Fair Trade
recognized that small farmer organizations trying to access the market were
operating on an unfair playing field.
The founders’ goal was to create a
system that could right the wrongs of
hundreds of years of colonialism and
unjust trade. Once the system was underway, other traders wanted a faster
way to put Fair Trade products on the
shelves and decided to open up the
system to large-scale plantations. The
fact that plantations have one owner
(versus being owned collectively by a
democratically run, small farmer organization), and generally have more
access to resources, it is usually faster
and easier for them to move products
from origin country to market. This
means that plantations, with their ease
in accessing bank loans, infrastructure, market information, technical
assistance, and networks, will almost
always carry the same advantage over
small farmers that Fair Trade was
designed to address.
Eventually, the international Fair
Trade certifying system, Fairtrade
Labelling Organization (FLO) allowed
plantations to become a source for
traders, and other Fair Trade activists,
all of whom were tightly packed in a
room at the Hynes Convention Center
listening to the words of Paul Rice,
CEO of Transfair USA, FLO International’s U.S Fair Trade certifying
agency (today known as Fair Trade
USA).
Rice was lobbying for a change
in standards; he believed plantations should be allowed in the Fair
Trade system as sources of “Fair
Trade” coffee. He claimed that large
companies and corporations wanted
access to plantation products and that
there wasn’t enough small farmer
Fair Trade coffee on the market. The
crowd was wild with outrage. Most
small farmer organizations had far
more coffee than they could sell on
Fair Trade terms and many more
organizations of small coffee farmers
were waiting for buyers to get themselves listed on the Fair Trade register
of certified producers. Finally, against
a storm of protest and outrage, Rice
acquiesced and agreed to drop this
controversial strategy.
almost all Fair Trade products, with
the exception of coffee, cacao, and
a few other categories. Small farmer
coffee and cacao organizations, typically the most advanced and successful Fair Trade producers, have been
living with the fear since the division
occurred that the Fair Trade system
will one day open their products to
plantations as well. Should this happen, many believe that they will once
again become marginalized and lose
their hard-won market access. After
all, if it’s easier to source coffee and
cacao from large-scale plantations and
still call it “Fair Trade,” why wouldn’t
multinational corporations simply take
the easier route and ignore the small
farmer? In coffee, it took 15 years
of Fair Trade before coffee farmers
began to see a positive impact on their
businesses and in their lives. Sourcing
from plantations in tea and bananas
has prevented the growth of a strong
small farmer movement in these two
categories. (For more on how the
prospects for small farmer-grown Fair
Trade tea was inhibited by plantations,
see http://tinyurl.com/lsmxxcl.)
The farmers’ fear became more of
a reality 10 years ago. At the 2003 annual Specialty Coffee Association of
America conference in Boston, coffee
certainly wasn’t all that was brewing.
Alongside the aromas emanating from
the brewing of exotic coffees, big
trouble was simmering as well. The
foreshadowing of conflict was evident
from the loud voices and angry faces
of representatives of small farmer
co-ops, Fair Trade roasters, alternative
Although Rice publicly backed
down at the SCAA conference, small
farmers, roasters, and other Fair
Trade activists knew it was just a matter of time before the issue came up
again. The pressures to grow a system quickly, the needs of plantations
and big corporations, and the money
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behind it all, were heavy reminders
of how decisions are made and how
trade typically occurs. Sure enough, in
September 2011, Transfair USA announced its decision. Taking the name
Fair Trade USA, the organization left
the international Fair Trade system
that had given it birth. Just days later,
it announced its new strategy, “Fair
Trade for All,” with a certification
system allowing plantations in coffee
and cacao.
Small farmer organizations
weren’t idle. The Coordinating Body
of Latin America and the Caribbean
(CLAC) had been meeting for 10
years to strategize how to keep Fair
Trade from being stolen out from
under them. Finally, they had their
solution: the Small Producer Symbol
(SPP). CLAC has now created its own
certification system, run by the nonprofit group, the Foundation of Organized Small Producers (FUNDEPPO).
The system is impressive, with
General Standards incorporating four
dozen criteria for small farmer member organizations, including maximum
individual farm sizes and a maximum
percentage of farm work performed by
hired farm workers. Buyers who use
the SPP must meet nearly three dozen
criteria, including a minimum of five
percent annual volume growth in program purchases. Perhaps most impres-
sive, the SPP is run and governed by
the farmers themselves. After decades
of this movement being essentially
managed by offices thousands of
miles away from source, farmers are
now in the driver’s seat.
This fall you will begin to see the
first Equal Exchange coffee products
appear with the SPP symbol on them.
Trust that while other Fair Trade
products may come from plantations,
SPP coffee will never sell out. It will
always be authentic. It will always be
small farmer.
Phyllis Robinson is Education and Campaigns Manager at Equal Exchange, a workerowned co-op that sells Fair Trade coffee, tea
chocolate, bananas and a variety of other
foods. www.EqualExchange.Coop
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Following Your Money through the Co-op
by Martha Claassen, Newsletter Writer
I
t’s October and we’ve entered the
season when we’re most likely
to ask ourselves, “Where does all
the money go?” I can’t answer
that question for your household, but
in this article I’ll address “where the
money goes” that you spend at the
Co-op.
Food expenditures:
The macro view
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service
(ERS) compiles a mind-boggling
array of statistics on food consumption, prices, individual and household
food expenditures and costs. In 2011,
the last full year for which statistics
are available, Americans spent 1.3 trillion dollars on food at and away from
home, or about $4,229.00 per capita.
We spent 9.8% of our disposable
personal income on food; that breaks
down to 5.7% on food consumed at
home, and 4.1% on food purchased
and consumed away from home. The
total percentage of disposable income
spent on all food has remained below
10% since 2000, with the proportion
spent at home and away from home
varying by only a few tenths of a
percent from year to year. Americans
spend less on food, as a percentage
of income, than citizens of any other
country in the world.
So, where does over a trillion dollars spent on food actually go? The
ERS compiles another set of statistics,
called the Food Dollar series that provides that information. These numbers
also provide some useful insight into
the impact of our spending and eating
habits.
The ERS series tracks the food
dollar three ways:
1.The Marketing Bill Dollar is a
simple division between farm share,
the amount of the food dollar that
goes back to the farmer, and the
amount that goes to all the post-farm
activities, or marketing, it takes to
put food on the consumer’s plate.
In 2011, this split for the total (food
consumed in and away from home)
food dollar was 16 cents farm share,
84 cents to the marketing share
(rounded to the nearest whole cent).
The farm share number includes
24
the farmer’s costs of production;
when these costs are removed, the
amount that the farmer “makes” is
reduced to about 7 cents. The farm
share of the total food dollar has
been decreasing since 1993, when it
was 18.4 cents, remaining below 16
cents since 2000.
The split between farm share and
marketing share is dramatically different between food purchased for
home use or eaten outside the home.
The consumed-at-home food dollar
returns 24 cents to the farmer; food
eaten out returns only four cents of
each dollar to the farmer. The farm
share of food eaten out has also been
decreasing for the past two decades,
and the amount of the food dollar
spent away from home has climbed.
The implication is clear: the more
we eat out, the less money reaches
the farm, making a bad situation
worse for small and mid-sized
farmers. Similar
numbers obtained
for processed
foods, the more processed a food
item is, the less money returned to
the farmer.
2.The Industry Group Dollar allocates the food dollar among ten industry groups that comprise the supply chain it takes to move food from
farm to plate: farm and agribusiness,
food processing, packaging, transportation, retail trade, food services,
energy, finance and insurance, advertising, and legal and accounting.
The majority of the total food dollar
is split between food processing, 22
cents; food services, 31 cents; and
retail trade, 12 cents. As you might
expect, the numbers change when
allocated to food consumed at home
versus food eaten out. For example,
food eaten at home returns 21 cents
to the retail trade, food eaten out returns less than 1 cent to retail trade
but 71 cents to food services.
3.The Primary Factors Dollar allocates the food dollar to U.S. worker
salaries, rents to food-industry property owners, output taxes, and imports. Salaries and benefits take 50
cents of the total food dollar, with a
drop to 45 cents for food consumed
at home and an increase to 56 cents
for food away from home. The labor
force includes workers and executives in the ten food chain industry
groups. The farther the food travels
from the farm to
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
OUT
OUT
OUT
OUT
OUT
OUT
IN
IN
IN
IN
OUT
OUT
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OUT
plate, the more
labor sectors are
involved. When
you choose locally produced food, you eliminate
many of these middlemen, returning
more money to the farmer.
Let’s go shopping
Let’s follow the money spent on
a shopping trip at the Co-op. We’re
going to spend $20.00 on ingredients
for a meal, buying locally produced
and organic products when possible.
After all, in the most recent customer
survey, our “emphasis on natural and
organic products,” and “focus on local
products and vendors” were the top
two reasons you gave for shopping at
the Co-op, so the shopping trip should
reflect your values.
Starting in Produce, we’ll pick up
an amazing bunch of fresh, local green
kale (I’m writing this in August),
one of our ESP, Everyday Sale Price,
items. Right now, an employee of the
farm delivers our kale to our store in
a returnable, reusable bin. No middleman distributor, minimal transportation miles and green packaging too.
Cost: $2.29. Add a half-pound of
Wisconsin-grown button mushrooms,
also ESP priced and delivered to us by
the grower, for $1.49, and a couple of
nice-sized fair trade organic bananas
($.99/lb) for $1.70. A package of Madison’s own
RP’s Pasta linguini costs $3.29, it
pairs nicely with the Italian Sausage
prepared by our own Willy Street
Co-op Kitchen, a 1/2 pound (two large
sausages) will run $3.49. Be like the
French! Add a local baguette from
Batch Bakehouse, $3.75. Coffee’s
never cheap, but you can buy beans in
bulk here and grind them in the store.
For our needs today we’ll buy 1/3
pound of locally roasted Just Coffee
beans for $3.99.
Our basket contains:
Kale $2.29
Mushrooms $1.49
Bananas $1.70
Pasta
$3.29
Sausage$3.49
Baguette$3.75
Coffee
$3.99
Total: $20.00
How it breaks down
Our fiscal year ended on June
30th, and the following numbers are
current for FY 2013. A comprehensive
presentation of the Co-op’s financial
information is distributed to all Owners in the Annual Report. The Annual
Report for FY2012 is available online,
the report for FY2013 will be sent
to members in late fall. I urge you to
read the Annual Report as a supplement to this article. Owners should
feel free to contact our management
staff or Board of Directors at anytime
about financial matters.
In FY2013 the Co-op sales were
$38.78 million dollars. Our cost
of goods sold was 63.7% of sales,
or $12.74 of our basket. Personnel
expenses (including wages, benefits,
taxes, workers comp insurance, training, perks, and profit-sharing) were
the next biggest chunk of expenses
at 24.9% of sales; add $4.98 to the
basket breakdown. Occupancy and operating costs expenses, which are the
cost of keeping the lights on, property
taxes, and recurring variable costs like
paper towels, linens, credit card fees,
and gasoline, consumed 5.5%, $1.10
of the basket. Depreciation and amortization amount to 1.1%, 22 cents of
the basket; administrative costs, governance, and promotions make up the
rest of our expenses at 2.8% of sales,
.56 cents, bringing our total expenses,
not including labor, to 9.4% of sales
for the fiscal year. Our income statement concludes with a few additions
and subtractions for taxes, interest,
and miscellaneous income. We are left
with a net income from this purchase
of 2.3%, or 46 cents out of $20.00.
Net income is an important investment of your food dollar. It is money
that allows us to finance more of our
own future expansions and improvements, less from outside borrowing.
It is also the source of the patronage
refund, surplus income that’s returned
to Owners in the form of store credit
and retained patronage equity. Patronage refunds, which is money returned
to Owners based on purchases, have
been possible in 2010, 2012, and
2013 (NOTE: The 2013 patronage
won’t be approved until October 1st.
It would be very unexpected if the
Board did not approve another patronage refund). The Board of Directors
determines when and how the refunds
are allocated to owners. In FY2012
the patronage refund was $474,267.
These are dollars not subject to federal
or state income taxes, which means
more money stays in our community,
increasing the impact of your local
purchases, improving the Co-op’s financial health and securing its future!
Going farther:
Your money beyond
the Co-op
The Co-op retains only a small
portion of your food expenditure for
the future use of the business. Most
of the money goes out in the form of
payments to vendors, service providers, and employee salaries. And, since
such a large percentage of our product
mix is local, your food dollar spent
here has a bigger impact on the local
economy than it would if spent at a
national chain store.
Cost of Goods:
keeping it local
It is the stated policy of the Co-op
to be a cornerstone of a vibrant,
economically sound community by
working in partnership with, and fostering the success of locally and cooperatively produced food and other
goods. (Ends Statement, Policy A3).
Our $20.00 sample basket contains
91% local product, some produced
within blocks of the East location.
Our commitment to local products
(defined as made within 150 miles
of the Capitol, or within Wisconsin)
goes beyond choosing what goes on
the shelf. We also provide a “vendor break” to the pricing of local
products. Small business production
costs are almost always higher than a
large manufacturer, which is usually
reflected in a higher consumer price.
The vendor break means we apply a
lower margin (markup) to determine
our retail price so the local product
can compete in price with national
or regional brands; the competitive
price increases the sale of the product and thus income to the local company. The ESP, Everyday Sale Price,
program provides a similar price
adjustment to increase the affordability of many staple natural products.
Each January the Produce buyers get together with local growers
to plan purchases for the following
growing season. Our preseason meetings provide growers a purchase
commitment for their planning
purposes, and we have an assured
supply of the fresh, organic, local
products shoppers demand; as allowed by the weather, of course! Our
buyers actively seek out new items
and growers each year. According to the 2012 Annual Report, the
Co-op bought produce from 34 local
growers, 25% of our annual produce
purchases, or nearly $900,000 going
into the local agricultural community
from one department alone.
More importantly, through this
process your dollars go directly from
the Co-op to the farmers, or in some
cases farmer cooperatives. The farmers control their costs of production,
processing and transport, and there
are no middle distributors, so the
“farm share” of the food dollar spent
in the Co-op can be, seasonally, far
above the national data splits given
at the top of this article. It’s worth
noting too that organic farmers make
higher incomes; studies from Purdue
University and others show organic
farmers benefit from higher prices at
the farm gate, and lower production
costs. (www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/jun06/organic_farming.php)
According to Independent We
Stand, a local business advocacy
group, “Locally owned businesses
reinvest in the local economy at a
60% higher rate than chains and
Internet retailers.” Jeff Milchen,
co-founder of the American Independent Business Alliance, says that on
average shopping at locally owned
establishments can leverage community funds times three. This is an
economic reality supported by numerous studies. Across the board, if
you shop at the Co-op and especially
if you buy local products, much more
of your food dollar stays in Wisconsin with the food producers.
Labor: we pay a
living wage
Almost $5.00 of the shopping
basket pays for personnel costs here
at the Co-op, including wages and
benefits, profit sharing, and mandated payroll taxes. In FY2012 we
had 289 employees. They were paid
an average wage of $13.51, reflecting our commitment to paying a
living wage, as well as the longevity
of many of our staff members (we
retain our employees at a very high
rate of 78%). We establish pay rates
for staff positions using a model
developed by the Cooperative Grocer Information Network (CGIN).
Starting pay for all positions meet or
exceed the CGIN living wage rates
after 3 months of satisfactory employment. By contrast, a Wal-Mart
employee in 2011 earned $8.81.
(NOTE: Our entry level positions
do not meet the Dane County living
wage as Dane County sets that wage
excluding any consideration for benefits that employees may receive.)
Co-op employees may also
receive profit-sharing payments, as
allowed by the financial status of
the Co-op, and criteria approved by
the Board of Directors. Profit shares
are authorized by Board policy B1,
which calls for “some portion of staff
compensation contingent upon the
financial performance of the Co-op,”
and recognize the positive contributions of employees to the financial
success of the business.
Promotions: Giving
back, helping out,
having fun
Although a small part of the
shopping basket, just 34 cents, the
cumulative effect of the promotions
expense is large. Your money is felt
by the wider Madison community,
through our sponsorship of large, entertaining events like the Waterfront
Festival and the Willy Street Fair,
and institutions like WORT Community Radio and Wisconsin Public
Television. It also touches the community at a personal level through
Access Discounts given to eligible
low income Owners in order to make
natural foods available to a wide
population. We annually provide cash
and food donations, over $64,000 in
FY2012, to dozens of deserving nonprofit organizations, all of which are
listed in the Annual Report. (These
items are separate from the Community Reinvestment Fund grants
and your contributions to the CHIP
program.)
Some advertising costs, and
funding for this newsletter and the
website, both essential vehicles for
communicating with 31,000 active
Co-op Owners, reside in the promotional budget. I hope this article has
communicated a better understanding
and appreciation of the ways your
food dollar is used by your Co-op to
operate our unique community asset.
Slotting fees and rack jobbers:
Ways the Co-op doesn’t spend your money
A cooperative is a singular business model; the Willy Street Co-op is
no exception. Our business is founded on seven guiding principals dating back to the 19th century, updated and restated in 1995 for the 21st
century, and none of them include “seek income by creating a hidden
unequal advantage” in the text. We are also committed to a “cooperative
and transparent relationship with your food providers.” We’re also a small
business that deals extensively with other small local businesses; we adjust
to their needs in numerous ways and pay a higher price for their goods.
The annual Owner survey tells us that high prices are the top reason survey
respondents don’t shop at the Co-op more often, a problem our buyers and
managers continually work to resolve within the principles, bylaws, policies and guidelines established by our Owners and the Board of Directors.
We can reduce some prices by adjusting our markup, and providing benefits to Owners in the form of discounts and patronage refunds. One thing
we can’t do is act like a lot of other retail grocery stores. Large supermarket
chains and warehouse stores are able to cut their product costs by buying
huge quantities of goods and then storing and distributing it to retail outlets
as needed. Some of the biggest chains
dictate wholesale prices to their supplicontinued next page…
ers. Our Co-op doesn’t have the buying
25
power or the ability to backstock enough product, especially refrigerated
product, to last for days or weeks. Many of the shipments we receive have
surcharges added to cover volatile transportation costs.
We make product choices guided by a product selection philosophy
developed and approved by the democratically elected Board of Directors.
The full text of the selection philosophy, including reasons we will add
or discontinue a product, can be found online at www.willystreet.coop/
cooperate-your-co-op.
Shelf fees
Other groceries use a different approach, charging (or, “accepting”)
suppliers “shelf fees,” also called slotting fees, to put a product on their
shelves. The Food Marketing Institute refers to such fees as slotting allowances. These fees may also be euphemistically referred to as trade promotions, paid for by the supplier. They appear to have been introduced in the
mid-1980s, becoming more prevalent in the 1990s.
Generally, suppliers pay slotting fees under an agreement that guarantees them shelf space for a period of time. Some fees are charged only
for the introduction of new products, some to keep existing shelf space
(so-called pay to stay fees), to obtain premium product placement, or to
exclude a rival product. The cost of these fees is typically negotiated privately, and no industry-wide numbers, apparently, are available. The FTC
and other economists have mounted periodic surveys to try to assess the
practice, but not much hard data have been developed. The FTC found in a
survey it conducted in 2003 that the average amount of fees paid (per item,
per metropolitan area, per retailer) for five new grocery items ranged from
$2,313 to $21,768. In the same study the FTC reported suppliers surveyed
indicated, “that a nationwide introduction of a new grocery product would
require $1.5 to 2 million in slotting allowances.” The FTC also believed
that the frequency and amounts of slotting fees paid to retailers their survey
reported almost certainly underestimated the practice. Retailers argue that
slotting fees help offset the cost and risks of introducing a new product,
and to recover some of the money the retailer shells out in advance if a new
product fails. The American Antitrust Institute testified to the US Senate in
1999 that slotting fees were detrimental to smaller retailers who “may pay
more than their larger rivals for goods on their shelves, thereby becoming
uncompetitive in their resale prices…” Detractors also believe fees may
also be unfairly passed on to consumers in the product price, and stifle innovation.
A pair of Penn State economists conducted a survey in 2009 to determine how prevalent slotting fees were for organic grocery products. They
sent their survey to 900 retailers, including all 200 cooperative grocery
stores listed with the National Cooperative Grocers Association. They
received 159 responses (of which only 1% were cooperatives.) They concluded that 31% of the surveyed stores accepted slotting fees for organic
packaged and prepared foods. (Slotting Fees for Organic Retail Products:
Evidence from a Survey of US Food Retailers, by I. Julia Marasteanu,
Penn State University. Draft: May 2011.)
Slotting fees are not part of the Co-op’s business model. As Dean
Kallas, our Grocery Category Manager, has said, “We put products on the
shelf based on our product selection philosophy, not the manufacturer slotting fees. Our first responsibility is to our Owners, not to the vendor who
can pay the most.”
Rack jobbing
Another industry practice the Co-op does not engage in is called rack
jobbing. Rack jobbers can be product resellers, wholesale representatives,
or product manufacturers. The rack jobber pays a fee to a store to use floor
space, then sets up and maintains their own display of goods, typically, as
the name implies, using their own racks, although sometimes they may use
store shelf space. In addition to renting the store space, the rack jobber may
split revenues with the store, i.e., there may be a consignment-type agreement put in place. Rack jobbers are common in convenience stores, selling
anything from CDs to potato chips, and the practice can be beneficial to
small product manufacturers or craftspersons. But we prefer to use our foyers for community newspapers and other free information.
26
PALM OIL: MAKING SENSE
OF THE CONTROVERSY
by Kirsten Moore, Director of Cooperative Services
I
t’s human nature that when we
find seemingly great solutions,
we want to apply them to everything and share with everyone we
can. We also have a great tendency
towards the “all-or-nothing” strategy
of sharing ideas and making decisions.
Usually, these tendencies ignore a
lot of the grey area, which is always
worthwhile to explore. It is in this
context that we need to understand
the intricate and complex controversy
surrounding the ever-growing use of
palm oil.
Our relationship with palm oil began in the mid-1800s in Indonesia and
Malaysia, where we discovered the oil
palm was very rich in oil that could
serve multiple purposes from making
soap to fueling a steam engine. Palm
oil yields average about 6000 liters per
hectare, far beyond other edible oils
(more than eight times that of soybeans), making it an oil that requires a
lot less space to farm and a very cheap
oil in the global market. Palm oil
also has a longer shelf life than other
oils. Virgin red palm oil has recently
earned a healthy reputation for a very
high antioxidant capacity of betacarotene, tocotrienols, tocopherols
and Vitamin E. Sounds great, right? A
catch-all solution for a lot of food and
fuel needs.
NOT SO FAST
Use as much palm oil as we can
has been the philosophy for well over
a century. The overall use of palm
oil has grown exponentially since the
1960s, rising from about a half million
to over two million tons in the 1980s,
and over 48 million tons in the mid2000s. In 2005, palm oil surpassed
soya as the world’s most produced
vegetable oil. The increase in demand
isn’t forecasted to end anytime soon—
it’s expected to triple by 2050. What
accounts for this serious spike in use,
and is there a real cost that’s being
overlooked? Here comes the grey
area…
Palm oil had long been regarded
as unhealthy, since most of the palm
oil available until recent years was
very refined. However, remember
about a decade ago, when we woke
up to the health risks of trans fats and
the industry caved to demands for
their removal from our diet? Palm oil
has been keeping us off those trans
fatty oils. Processed palm oil has the
right proportions of saturated and
unsaturated fats to replace trans fatty
oils without sacrificing the flavor and
texture of our most favorite processed
treats such as breads, crackers, chips,
cereals, candies, and vegan dairy
substitutes. This added demand, in
addition to palm oil’s already known
potential as fuel alternative, has had
many consequences. The concern that
has perhaps received the most media
attention pertains to the production of
palm oil and its effect on wildlife, in
particular, the orangutan. Most of the
palm industry favors the same rainforest lowlands that orangutans favor as
their only suitable habitat. Alaffia, a
fair trade palm oil vendor, noted in
an official statement “there are less
than 60,000 orangutans currently and
nearly 5,000 of them are killed or die
yearly over the past few years as palm
oil plantations take up their habitat.”
Conservation and economic justice
experts also cite overuse as causing increased tropical deforestation;
increased greenhouse gas emissions;
soil erosion and loss of biodiversity
due to monoculture plantations; water
pollution due to poor nutrient management and use of toxic herbicides;
and causing social and human rights
atrocities that often stem from product
globalization: low pay among workers; an uptick in use of child labor;
and the forced eviction and illegal
acquisition of land belonging to indigenous people to make room for more
product. Another consideration: since
the demand has surpassed the supply,
we in the West are competing with the
locals for use and driving up the cost
for this important food source, making it unaffordable for other families
around the world that depend on it.
Given the detrimental impacts the
palm oil harvest seems to have on our
land, water, animals, and people, do
we really need to use this much of
it? Just how valuable is the palm oil
resource really?
HOW HEALTHY IS
PALM OIL?
Local Naturopath Katy Wallace of
Human Nature, LLC says “it depends
on how [palm oil] is processed and
how much you consume. The more
processed … the more destructive to
our health it becomes because oils
tend to be unstable once pressed
from their source… Vegetable oils
like unrefined coconut and palm oils
are gaining recognition for health
benefits and have a relatively lower
component of polyunsaturated fats…
Research demonstrates these oils
must be consumed in moderation.
Palm oil contains 49% saturated fat,
37% monounsaturated fat, and 10%
polyunsaturated (9% omega 6 and
0.2% omega 3 fats). This means that
palm oil is a balance of saturated and
unsaturated fats. The health impacts
essentially come down to whether it
is virgin (first-pressing) or a processed product. Although palm oil
is relatively low in polyunsaturated
fat, the versions typically used in
industrial food purposes can be as
dangerous as trans fats because they
become oxidized as the oil is refined
for culinary purposes. Conversely,
virgin red palm oil, like Alaffia’s,
shows astounding health benefits.
With its high saturated fat content,
red palm oil has surprised researchers
by reducing oxidative stress in people
with chronic disease including heart
disease and cancer.”
WHAT ABOUT THE RSPO?
A group called the Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) formed
in 2004 to address areas of concern by
developing certification standards that
would reward good stewardship and
create greater competition for companies that did not adopt best practices.
The RSPO is a conglomeration of
traders, manufacturers, retailers, and
growers. They claim their unity will
make palm oil more eco-friendly by
requiring plantations to set aside land
for jungle regeneration and engage in
other sustainable practices. In 2012,
13.9% of global palm production was
RSPO certified sustainable, according
to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The RSPO has no intention to promote the halt the expansion of the
palm oil industry, in fact, the WWF,
a key member of the RSPO, believes
the industry will grow regardless, but
that the RSPO should ensure palm oil
production becomes more sustainable
for the environment and the people.
The RSPO’s credibility depends on
its stakeholders implementing best
practices and adhering to prohibitions of new palm plantings on high
conservation valued areas, on primary
forests, and on the local people’s
lands without proper consent.
Recently, questions arose pertaining to the RSPO’s credibility, and
whether the RSPO is green washing
the palm oil dispute. While some of
the RSPO’s members have met the
sustainability standards, which National Geographic claims are some of
the toughest for vegetable oil production, the GreenPalm certificates developed by the RSPO to tout sustainability only claim that companies need
to support sustainable palm oil, they
do not need to source sustainable palm
oil. This is seen by critics as a way to
confuse consumers rather than force
the industry to address their own palm
oil supply chains and force a demand
for sustainable palm oil production.
It is very confusing indeed. Large
companies typically do not purchase
directly from the grower, they purchase from processors and traders.
There is no segregation of sustainable
vs. non-sustainable supply. So even
when our favorite food and cosmetics
companies try to make their products
with RSPO certified oil, there is no
way to really know whether that is
true because currently the sustainable
oil is mixed with all the rest. Producers can show with certification how
much sustainable oil they have purchased, but that doesn’t mean that the
consumer can ensure they are purchasing a 100% sustainable product.
Pressure on the RSPO to come
forward with a better way is on the
rise, and the WWF is now starting
to shift its focus to a new group: the
Palm Oil Innovation Group, hoping
they will resolve to ensure credibility,
and that certified sustainable palm oil
will become the demanded standard,
not the exception.
town of Tsevie to Kpalime. The oil
is extracted by our fair trade cooperative in Sokode using traditional
methods… Oil palms are native to
West Africa, and have been grown
as part of multi-cropped sustainable
small farms for centuries. Furthermore, it is important to point out
that Orangutans do not exist at all in
Africa.” The Sumatran orangutan
Society suggests that future expansion of plantations can be redirected
to non-forest land in Indonesia that
is equally as suitable to growing oil
palms as the rainforest. In summary:
production of palm oil is not inherently detrimental; it is only detrimental in the way the majority is sourced
now, and in the quantities being
sourced.
With all the considerations to
make, one thing is clear: palm oil
production is not going away. The
demand is only growing. A consumer boycott may slow down the
rate at which production increases,
but it won’t completely resolve the
matter. It may be best to invest in the
companies that do palm oil right. A
boycott is also made more difficult
due to weak labeling standards, since
palm oil can currently be included in
the list of other oils that the industry
need only list as “vegetable oil” on
their labels. Efforts may be better
used to put pressure on the FDA to
change the labeling standards.
WHAT ABOUT A BOYCOTT?
IS THERE HOPE?
SO WHAT’S AN
OWNER TO DO?
Is everything about palm oil
wrong? What are some of the benefits
of producing palm oil, aside from its
health value in its virgin state, its ability to get the processed food consumer
off trans fats, and its potential as a key
biodiesel component?
As noted, the oil palm is a very
productive source of vegetable oil per
hectare. Investing in sustainably harvesting palm oil in plantation-free and
orangutan safe conditions may protect
other forests and wildlife habitats
from becoming agricultural lands that
take up more habitat. Oil palm, with a
lifespan of about 25 years, causes little
impact in annual cultivation, resulting
in less need for fertilizer, pesticides,
and diverting water. Some companies,
like Dr. Bronner’s and Alaffia, are
sourcing palm oil from West Africa,
where palms are native, and can be
purchased from family and fair trade
sources where no forests have been
cleared. Alaffia has expressly told
Willy Street Co-op that they do not
use palm oil from plantations where
orangutans live. “Our natural West
African palm oil is grown and harvested by small-scale farmers in the
Maritime region of Togo, from the
Make no mistake, Willy Street
Co-op carries Alaffia’s Red Palm
Oil and we also carry and make
processed products that contain palm
oil. Up until recent weaknesses in the
RSPO came to light, our purchasing
department had been relying on the
GreenPalm certification to determine which companies’ products
contained sustainably harvested oil.
We are considering how to source
products containing palm oil moving
forward. A lot of products containing palm oil are very popular, and it
will be up to all of us, as Owners, to
stay informed regarding this important, but controversial ingredient.
We need to do our part to urge palm
oil-associated companies to adopt
better practices or get out of using
palm oil, reward companies that play
fair and sustainably, support efforts
for stronger labeling standards, and
inform our staff of our opinions
regarding this matter through continued dialogue and voting via what
we put through the checkout line. It’s
not an all-or-nothing matter. We look
forward to being part of the solution,
and hearing your ideas about how to
move forward.
Family Dharma
Classes
The compassionate
teachings of Buddha
for the entire family
Join us each month on
Saturday 10:30-11:30am
See online calendar for dates!
Everyone is welcome!
Akanishta Buddhist Center
17 N. Fifth Street
Madison, WI 53704
608-661-3211
meditationinmadison.org
Grass-Fed Attorney
Daniel J. Krause
100% local-sourced
Trusts
Wills
Probate Services
Estate Planning and Administration
Asset Protection
Co-op Member, Organic Wisconsinite,
Family Man. Practicing estate planning
and probate law since 1999.
Get your affairs in order. Protect your
assets. Disinherit that special someone.
Housecalls Available
608-268-5751
27
Ember Arts
A company with a partnership with 28 Ugandan women, all survivors of war and poverty, who hand make every piece of their jewelry
from recycled paper. Both East and West carry their necklaces, bracelets and earrings.
Qet Botanicals
A Wisconsin-based body care company who uses certified organic and sustainably wild-harvested ingredients in
each unique, effective formula. Every step of their process—
from formulation to shipping—is done with the environment
and our health in mind. The Co-op is carrying a wide variety
of their products, including complete facial care systems.
Check out the Hydrating Cleansing Oil with Lavender—great for
removing excess oil and impurities to balance and hydrate your skin.
Available at East and West.
BullDog Sensitive shaving cream & moisturizer
The men’s facial care company now has a sensitive
shaving cream and moisturizer! You can find those and the
original line at East and West.
Malpighi Prelibato White Balsamic Vinegar
White Balsamic Vinegar serves as an equally tasty alternative
to the traditional dark aged balsamic vinegar, and it boasts
a truly unique flavor. White balsamic vinegar, or Prelibato,
graces the palate with a delicious experience for the fine foods
enthusiast. Its delicate yet savory essence makes it the ideal
companion for seafood and fresh fruit. Available at East and
West.
Rolling Meadows Sorghum Berries
Sorghum is a field crop that looks like a cross between corn and wheat.
It is tall with a thick stalk like corn but instead of tassels and corn cobs,
it has thick bunches of sorghum berries that looks like wheat berries.
Sorghum has more protein, calcium, iron, and vitamin A & B than rice.
Sorghum berries are now available in the Bulk aisle. Available at East.
Immaculate Baking GLUTEN-FREE fudge brownie
cookie dough
This Gluten Free/Dairy Free Fudge Brownie Cookie
Dough is for serious chocolate lovers. Chewy, fudgy, and
full of deliciousness. You won’t even know they’re glutenfree! Available at East.
Sweetie’s Lefse
Introducing Sweetie’s Sweet Potato Lefse! A modern take on a classic
lefse made with sweet potato instead of the traditional white potato. These
great tasting lefse are made locally in Fort Atkinison. Available at East and
West.
Fresh Source 100% grass-fed organic beef
By popular demand, Willy Street Co-op now offers 100% grass fed
organic ground beef and beef cuts. Pasture raised, no added antibiotics or
growth hormones. Available at East and West.
Cherry Chipotle Beef Strips
Gourmet grass-fed beef strips made with organic dried cherries. Pasture
raised, no added antibiotics or growth hormones. Available at East and
West.
East Side Ovens pumpkin cupcake 2 pack
Back in season! Available at East and West.
Source Naturals Spray Melatonin
It’s back! Each spray delivers 1.5 mg of Melatonin! Available at East and West.
28
Cuppow BNTO Lunchbox adaptor
For use with wide mouth canning jar. Made in the USA
from 100% recycled materials, BPA-free plastic. Separate
dressing from salad or keep dips separate from veggies etc.
Life factory Straw bottles
The same glass bottle with silicone sleeve now with a straw
cap lid. Available in 22oz, 16oz, and NEW 12oz. Available at
East.
Kleen Kanteen
We’ve introduced the whole line of Kleen
Kanteen stainless steel water bottles, tumblers and
food storage containers. So much info on kleenkanteen.com! Available at East and West.
Pat Troyer Pottery
Local handmade mixing and serving bowls and baking dishes.
Great for entertaining and as gifts for the upcoming holiday season.
Tea Tibet
Organic and Fair Trade Certified. This not-forprofit company offers tea with all profits benefiting
Tibet. 16 tea bags in each box. Choose from Darjeeling, Oolong and Green, among others. Available at West.
Goodonya Bars
These energy bars are raw, non-GMO and
gluten-free. Packed with protein, not fillers. Perfect for a workout or mid-afternoon
snack. Four bars to choose from: Breakfast, Peanut Butter Honey,
Peanut Butter Chocolate or Superhero for your fall marathon training.
Available at West.
Eden Bonito Flakes
This sashimi quality dried mackerel supplements any
savory dish. Fat free and low sodium. Ideal for soups,
noodles, stews and sauces. Available at West.
Eden Hot Pepper Sesame Oil
Unrefined and expeller pressed. Loaded with
red-hot chili peppers. This oil is HOT! Use frequently. Available
at West.
October, 2013
put s om e perspect ive on our plet h ora of pr oduce
I’m one of the
world’s most
powerful agents
in the silent war
against that arch
villain - Cancer.
I may be
disguised as a
tasty vegetable,
but behind my
awesome flavor
lies an army
of nutrients ready
to protect you
against our
common foe.
Recipe
PARMESAN ROASTED BROCCOLI
2 large heads broccoli, cut into thin florets
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbs. olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Toss broccoli florets and garlic with oil. Spread on a baking
sheet, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast in the oven until broccoli
is crisp tender and slightly browned, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan
cheese and serve immediately.
Recipe
BROCCOLI BITES
1 head broccoli
2 eggs
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup breadcrumbs
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400º F. Chop broccoli into bite-size pieces, including florets
and stems. Then steam the broccoli until bright green. In a large bowl, mix the
steamed broccoli with the eggs, cheese and salt.Form the broccoli mixture into
small patties with your hands, approximately 1/2” thick. Dredge both sides of
patties in breadcrumbs and place on a baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes, flip, and
bake 10 more minutes, until cheese is melted and patties are golden brown.
F ACT S
-Broccoli is a part of the cabbage family.
-Tom “Broccoli” Landers holds the current world record for eating one pound of broccoli in 92 seconds.
-Americans eat an average of 4 1/2 pounds of broccoli a year—900%
more than 20 years ago!
-California produces almost all the broccoli sold in the USA.
-Thomas Jefferson was such a broccoli fanatic, he imported seeds from
Italy to plant in his Monticello gardens in the 1700s.
-Broccoli has more vitamin C than an orange.
-Broccoli gets its name from the Italian “brocco,” meaning “sprout” or
“shoot,” which comes from the Latin, “brachium,” meaning “arm” or
“branch.”
-Broccoli originated in Italy off of the Mediterranean. It has been eaten
there since the time of the ancient Romans in the 6th Century BC.
J OK E
A guy walks into the
doctor’s office.
A banana stuck in
one of his ears, a
broccoli stem in the
other ear, and a carrot
stuck in one nostril.
The man says, “Doc,
this is terrible.
What’s wrong with
me?” The doctor
says, “Well, first
of all, you need
to eat more
sensibly.”
Kids, want to be part of the next issue?
Send submissions to: coop-kids@willystreet.coop
November’s vegetable is Brussels Sprouts, December’s is Squash.
Please email us art/craft ideas, jokes, recipes, fun facts & more.
Q: What is Michelle Obama’s favorite vegetable?
A: Barackoli Obama!
29
RECIPES AND
DRINK RECOMMENDATIONS
DRINK RECOMMENDATIONS FROM STAR LIQUOR, 1209 WILLIAMSON
Take 10% off recommended beverages… Just show your Willy Street
Co-op Owner card at Star Liquor!
Roasted Chicken with Cippolini
Adapted from www.williams-sonoma.com.
When roasted, cipollini onions turn sweet and flavorful. Serve this dish
with a big green salad and mashed potatoes for a heavenly fall meal.
2 Tbs. minced fresh rosemary, plus 1 sprig
1/4 tsp. coarse salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 chicken, halved, backbone removed
5 Tbs. olive oil, divided
3/4 cup dry white wine, divided
1 lb. cippolini onions, peeled and trimmed
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chicken stock
Directions: Combine the minced rosemary, salt, and pepper in a small
bowl. Gently loosen the skin from the chicken and spread half of the rosemary mixture under the skin. Coat the outside of the chicken halves with a
tablespoon of olive oil each, then rub with the remaining rosemary mixture.
Place each chicken half in a resealable plastic bag and add 1/4 cup of white
wine to each bag. Seal the bags tightly and place in the refrigerator for 2
hours.
Reserving the marinade, remove the chicken from the bags. Pat the
chicken dry with paper towels, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 375˚F.
In a wide, deep, ovenproof frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil
over medium heat. Place the chicken halves breast side down in the pan
(one at a time if necessary) and brown for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a
dish and set aside.
In the same pan, sauté the onions for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden. Reduce heat to medium-low, add
the last tablespoon of olive oil, and stir in the minced garlic. Pour the
reserved marinade, the last 1/4 cup of wine, and the chicken stock into the
pan. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Transfer the
chicken halves back into the pan, cover, and place in the oven. Roast about
an hour, basting occasionally, until a thermometer inserted into the thickest
part of the thigh, away from the bone, reads 170˚F. Remove chicken from
oven and place on a cutting board. Loosely cover with aluminum foil and
allow to rest for 20 minutes.
Return the pan to the stovetop over medium heat. Add the sprig of rosemary and cook 3-5 minutes, until aromatic. Discard the rosemary. Season
the sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Carve the chicken, and serve with
the sauce. 4 servings.
Star Recommends: Argiolas Costera—Ruby-red in color, aromas
of ripe black cherries and tree fruits complement undertones of
pepper and licorice. On the palate, a full body and velvety tannins
make for excellent texture and ageworthiness.
please drink responsibly.
30
Balsamic-Glazed Cipollini with Lemon
and Bay Leaves
Adapted from www.foodandwine.com.
Coated in a tangy vinegar glaze, these are called cipollini agrodólce in
Italian (agro means sour, and dólce means sweet). Serve alongside any rich
roasted meat dish.
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs. water
4 Tbs. butter
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar, divided
11/2 lb. cipollini onions
Zest of 1 lemon
2 bay leaves
3 cups chicken stock
Salt & pepper
Directions: Stir the sugar and water together in a large pot, and heat over
a medium flame. Cook without stirring for 5 minutes, until an amber caramel
forms. Remove from heat, then stir in the butter and 1/2 cup of the balsamic
vinegar. Return to heat and cook until the caramel melts. Add the onions,
lemon zest, bay leaves, and chicken stock to the sugar and butter mixture, then
bring to a boil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then lower the heat and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the onions are
very tender and the liquid is syrupy. Stir in the last 2 tablespoons of balsamic
vinegar, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve. Serves six.
Star Recommends: Baroli Quattro Fratelli Barbera d’ Asti—On the
nose it offers aromas of ripe forest fruits and undertones of vanilla
while on the palate this wine is close-texture, mouth-filling with
aromas of ripe raspberries and blackberries. There is a nice balance of
acidity, alcohol and tannins followed by a long-appealing finish.
Apple Pancake
Adapted from www.loveandlemons.com.
In spite of its name, this is really more of a baked custard, redolent with
apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
2 Tbs. butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbs. flour (any variety)
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
Directions: Preheat oven to 375˚F. Combine the cinnamon and brown
sugar in a small dish. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and
milk. In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking powder together. Add the
flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir. Melt the butter in an oven-proof
skillet over medium heat. Place the apple slices in the skillet and sprinkle
with 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture. Cook, stirring
occasionally, about 5 minutes. Pour the egg mixture over the apples, then
sprinkle evenly with the remaining brown sugar mixture.
Bake 18-20 minutes, until lightly golden and puffy. Serve hot, sprinkled
with some powdered sugar if you’d like. Makes two large portions.
Star Recommends: Snoqualmie Naked Riesling—This organically
grown Riesling bursts with fresh aromas of apple and pear characters
accented with a touch of lime and mineral notes. A crisp, off dry finish captures the pure elegance of this varietal.
Chopped Salad with Quinoa,
Sweet Potatoes, and Apples
Adapted from www.foodandwine.com.
This is a substantial and filling autumnal salad that can easily be served as
a main dish.
2/3 cup quinoa
1 lb. sweet potatoes, diced
6 1/2 Tbs. olive oil, divided
Salt
Pepper
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 large apples, diced
8 cups baby greens
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
Directions: Preheat oven to 400˚F. Rinse the quinoa with cold water in
a fine-mesh sieve. Transfer to a medium pot and cover with 1 1/3 cups of
water. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to a simmer, cover, and cook until
liquid has absorbed, about 15-18 minutes. Fluff the quinoa with a fork, transfer to a large bowl, and set aside. Spread the sweet potatoes out on a rimmed
baking sheet, and drizzle with a tablespoon of the olive oil. Sprinkle with salt
and pepper, and toss gently to coat. Bake in the upper third of the oven until
golden and tender, 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool at room temperature.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining 5 1/2 tablespoons
of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper. Add the roasted sweet potatoes to the quinoa. Add the diced apples, baby greens, chopped
parsley, and sliced red onion. Drizzle with the dressing, and toss well to coat.
Serve immediately.
Note: If you’re preparing this salad ahead of time, combine everything
except for the baby greens and parsley. Toss with the greens and parsley just
before serving. Serves 4.
Star Recommends: Domaine Cazes La Canon du Marechal Syrah/Merlot—The palate is medium to full in body with a velvety texture. The
pure, juicy plum and strawberry flavors make this extremely easy to
drink, with the supple but fine tannins providing a classy, long finish.
Honey and Thyme Roasted Pears
Adapted from www.sproutedkitchen.com.
Sprinkle this delicious dessert with some granola, and it could pass for
breakfast, too.
3 ripe pears, sliced in half lengthwise, seeds scooped out
2 Tbs. butter
1/2 cup honey plus 2 tablespoons
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1/3 cup thyme sprigs, fresh
8 oz. whipping cream
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 cup plain yogurt, preferably Greek
Directions: Preheat oven to 450˚F. Heat a heavy, ovenproof skillet.
Melt the butter, then stir in half a cup of the honey, vanilla, brown sugar,
thyme sprigs, and a pinch of salt. Bring to a gentle simmer, and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.
Arrange the pears cut side down in the skillet. Simmer for 2-3 minutes,
then flip over and transfer the skillet to the middle rack of the oven. Bake
12-15 minutes, until the pears are tender and the sauce is deeply golden and
caramelized.
While the pears are in the oven, beat the whipping cream with an electric mixer until stiff. Fold in the remaining 2 tablespoons of honey, a pinch
of salt, and cinnamon. Beat one more minute, and then fold in the Greek
yogurt.
Serve the pears piping hot, drizzled with some of the honey-brown sugar
sauce and topped with the yogurt cream.
Star Recommends: Trimbach Riesling—Fine mineral fragrance with
ginger, caraway seed, underripe pineapple and flowers. Flavors of
white peach, quince and lemon on the palate with a lingering, clean
and dry finish.
Pear and Buckwheat Pancakes
Adapted from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce.
These pancakes are gently scented with pear. For best results, make sure
the pears you use are ripe and fragrant.
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 Tbs. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
4 Tbs. butter, melted, cooled, divided
2 large, firm pears, peeled if desired, grated
1/2 cup honey
Directions: Sift the flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a
large bowl. Stir well. In a medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, milk, and
half of the melted butter. Fold in the grated pears with their juices, then add
the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir just until combined—don’t
over-mix. Heat a cast iron pan or griddle over medium heat. Add the batter in 1/4-cupfuls. When the tops of the pancakes start to bubble, flip and
cook other side until golden brown. Wipe the pan in between batches, and
if needed, add a little butter to the pan. Stir the honey and the last 2 tablespoons of melted butter together in a small bowl.
Serve the pancakes hot, with honey butter. Makes 12 pancakes.
Star Recommends: Revelry Riesling—This is a gorgeous wine with an
impeccable balance of minerality, honey, fresh peach nectar, and
juicy grapefruit supported by a refreshing acidity.
Know of a local
non-profit focusing
on food, agriculture,
environmental issues
or cooperatives?
To say “Thank You” for what
these groups do for our
business and community,
we are offering non-profit
organizations in these
areas a 20% discount on
catering food orders.
* Does not include delivery charges. All
catering service restrictions apply.
See www.willystreet.coop/catering for details
and download a menu or call (608) 237-1201
31
Co-ops make our
communities stronger.
Join Summit Credit Union and 20+ local cooperatives
for the 3rd annual Co-op Connection, celebrating
cooperatives and community.
Saturday, October 5
8:30 am – 1 pm
Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
Madison (next to the Farmer’s Market!)
Free and open to the public!
Enjoy family activities, live entertainment, prize drawings and product samples.
Live music by:
Children’s entertainer:
Pat McCurdy
The Disclosures
David Landau
Her visit will include a fundraising dinner put on by
Eat for Equity Madison on 10/19 at the Mermaid Cafe.
Check our Facebook page, facebook.com/justcoffee.coop,
for her final schedule details and check out our new
and improved "Solidarity Blend" available in stores now.
One dollar of every bag sold goes to benefit Outside
the Bean's work with FEM and other coffee communities.
hosted by
platinum sponsors
In October Just Coffee Co-op and Outside the Bean are
excited to bring to Madison Cristian Merlo from FEM's
Las Diosas coffee cooperative. Cristian will be spreading
the news about climate change in Nicaragua and
“LaRoya"-- the fungal disease killing coffee plants and
causing economic ruin in coffee country.
gold sponsor
Visit SummitCreditUnion.com/coopconnection for more details.
For more information on our affiliated non-profit
Outside the bean, please see outsidethebean.org.
THIS MONTH’S
WELLNESS WEDNESDAY
IS OCTOBER 2ND
1st w e d n e
Next month’s Wellness
Wednesday is November 6th.
LIGHT ROASTED COFFEE FROM
LA FEM IN ESTELI NICARAGA
s
y ea
a
d
month
off

described - Willy Street Co-op

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