CMH Gourmand – Eating in Columbus & Ohio

Thursday July 16th was the Columbus premiere of Food Inc, as a sneak preview at The Drexel hosted by The Ohio Ecological Council and The Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA). The show was sold out. Due to demand, a second showing was set up which sold out as well. I won’t try to add movie reviewer to my repertoire. The movie is good. If you like it, I also suggest viewing a documentary called King Corn.

The premiere included food and snacks from food focused stores. The front of the theatre featured scoops of Jeni’s Ice Cream flanked by two milk companies with samples of delicious dairy available.

Paul Keida from Ohio Organic Family Farms was there with samples of milk, chocolate milk and cottage cheese. I met him for the first time a few days earlier at Weilands Market where he was serving a variety of samples of his products.

His milk hails from the Utica area and is the base that goes into Jeni’s Ice Cream. The chocolate milk in particular was excellent. At Weilands, I gobbled the Ohio Organic Family Farms butter and a big serving of cottage cheese. The cows are all grass fed and you can taste the difference. You are what you eat and many of us are eating junk that is food in name only. Start to know what is in your food and who is selling it to you.

Warren Taylor was present to represent Snowville Creamery. Those that have met Warren would describe him as a whirlwind of energy – you could power a small city with his aura. He roams the state telling people about Snowville Creamery and why milk matters. What goes into the cows goes into us – that is a food chain. There are some things that go into milk that we need to unlink from for our own good. People like Paul and Warren are doing just that – giving us decent dairy. If you see these guys at a store, take a few minutes to speak with them. Try their milk. In the meantime look at their web sites.

Another important aspect is giving to your community. I can say from personal experience that Snowville Creamery and Jeni’s Ice Cream are quick to volunteer to donate time and products to support charity events in our community. That is part of a chain too – what comes around goes around – if you take care of your community, your community will take care of you.