edible PRINCETON
Situated at the heart of the Garden State, Princeton is nourished
by the synergy between its local farms and local food purveyors.
BY FRAN McMANUS

Financial wealth is an important, but limited, measure of the true health of a community. The vibrancy of a town’s life is greatly enhanced when the community cultivates and appreciates prosperity in broader, less tangible ways. The value of safe streets, school gardens, ease of biking, and public parks is difficult to quantify, but all contribute to quality of life. By this measure, the town of Princeton is rich in many ways.

Through a fortunate combination of history and geography, Princeton is endowed with an abundance of intellectual and cultural wealth. Princeton University and McCarter Theatre bring world-class lectures, dance, theater and music to town. The historic town has been home to two signers of the Declaration of Independence and two U.S. presidents as well as many renowned authors, researchers and scientists. It was even our nation’s capital for several months. But it is the richness of Princeton’s social capital that is helping to expand and enhance the town’s culinary assets.

A growing group of Princeton’s food businesses are coming together to forge relationships based on cooperation, reciprocity and trust. They meet to discuss ways they can work together to get more locally grown products into town. They share their contact lists of local farms, and let each other know when there is a new grower in the market. They sometimes combine orders to meet minimums and they often work together in fundraising and educational efforts.  This may seem like an odd strategy for restaurants and stores that sit just blocks apart. But these businesses are banking on the idea that working together will benefit the community, the local farmers and their own bottom lines.

Princeton is full of small, independently owned food businesses. There is an artisan bakery, a French pastry shop, a fish market, a natural foods store, a coffee roaster, a brewery, a gourmet food store and more [see sidebar]. Even the town’s grocery store is locally owned.  Princeton’s European-style mix of small specialty food businesses may seem out of date in the era of everything-under-one-roof shopping.  But what these culinary entrepreneurs lack in scale they make up in passion and focus. And together they represent everything one can find in a large store.

Located midway between New York and Philadelphia, Princeton rests in close proximity to fertile farmland and a hardworking, dedicated band of farmers and food artisans. Grass-fed beef, local pork, free-range chicken, pasture-raised eggs, and handmade farmstead cheeses can be purchased straight from farms that lie within ten miles of Nassau Hall. Farmers drive to town to deliver organic vegetables, heirloom cranberries, local apples and farm-made potpies. Fresh seafood is brought straight from the docks to town. Even grains and dried beans grown in New Jersey and New York State make their way onto local menus and store shelves.

Locally raised foods are featured in a number of Princeton’s restaurants and stores. At Princeton University, 60 percent of the food purchased for the dining halls comes from within a 200-mile radius of town.  Chefs and retailers are eager to increase their local offerings, but first they must confront the logistical and supply challenges posed by seasonal crops, varying scales of growers and minimal wholesale infrastructure.

Over the past eight years, addressing these challenges has been the focus of much discussion among Princeton business owners and the impetus behind an ongoing series of community meetings—the Farmer-Buyer Quarterly Meetings. These gatherings bring food buyers and farmers to the table to discuss how to work together in a way that is mutually beneficial. The hope is that, by coming together to talk, both sides get a better sense of each other’s challenges and needs.  And that, collectively, Princeton chefs, retailers and institutional buyers can create a sizable and steady enough demand for local farm products that the town is seen as a valued market by the growers and as a farmer-friendly community by the residents.

The challenges are many. What is the best way to build an efficient, profitable ordering and delivery system? How much acreage planted in what combination of crops is needed to meet the town’s needs? How do we ensure fair compensation for the farmers without losing customers because of price? What role can residents play in making Princeton a farmer-friendly town?

These questions are complex and solutions are often elusive. But the desire and willingness of Princeton’s restaurateurs, retailers, institutions and residents to work together in support of local farms brings far more to the community than just good food. Building reciprocal relationships that support the viability of local agriculture and local businesses helps to create a strong foundation for the community’s long-term economic health. And it helps to preserve one of our most valuable community assets—Princeton’s unique character and charm.