Hotels Embracing the Local Food Movement

Note: This post was inspired by the following nytimes article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/business/19garden.html?ref=local_food

While exploring the nuances of our blog topic, I came across an article detailing an interesting new trend: hotels embracing the local food movement. I can see both positive and negative sides to this trend.

The article is centered around several examples. David Garcelon, the executive chef of the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto runs a rooftop garden that includes honey bees. Several hotels have not started their own gardens, instead opting to cooperate with nearby farms for unique, evolving menus. Jason McLeod, the executive chef the Elysian Hotel in Chicago, says that the hotel places orders with 20 to 30 farms on some nights.

On a small scale, this works. The customer is happy, the chef is happy, and the environment is happy. What does this mean in the scheme of innovative food distribution? I see a few points. These examples show that businesses are really catching on to the "slow food" and "local food" movements. Whatever the motivation, even if it is money (luring people to the hotel), these type of gardens and menus demonstarte that it is possible to integrate local food into anyone's diet. My followup question is: will this trend inspire larger changes? I say maybe. Here's why:

1.) You have to look at the financial side: Hotels generally have money to spend on lavish things. These examples aren't springing from local community centers. It may be hard to set up these types of gardens and to sustain them. They seem to have dedicated caretakers. In addition, only the richer are acessing these gardens. If you don't have money to spend on vacations, you may never even realize that these kinds of changes in foodways are even happening.

2.) Is it just a selling point? : I really have to wonder if these hotels are creating these gardens solely for the attention, or if someone involved genuinly cares about what they stand for. I feel like this could be the start of a fad, but I could be wrong. Time will tell if these gardens are just going through the motions or if they are community assets.

3.) Location, location, location: A rooftop is a great place for a garden, if you consider the fact that it's in a city. However, a city is an unnatural place for a garden. I can't help but think that the model won't apply to all locations. The adaptive nature of a local food system is part of its value, but running a city garden clearly takes near full-time work.

In the end, does this story inspire me? Yes, yes it does. Although hotels embracing "local food" are not going to change the world, they are indicitive of a larger movement. Change will be slow. But it's instances like this that make me think we're moving in the right direction.