Nothing says free sample like the anniversary of a food store. After making my usual unhealthy choices at Pick 'N Save yesterday, I popped in to the third anniversary celebration of Good Harvest Market. I don't shop there but heard they were doing something special Friday and Saturday. Music from wooden flute players greeted me at the entrance as did samples of Guatemalan coffee.
The produce area and deli is the first thing you see inside the door and I sampled fruits, leaves and a jalapeno brat. A guy from Madison that makes whole grain crackers was there with samples as was Dean from "the cheesecake farm." Dean offers classes to Boys and Girls Clubs and Big Brothers / Big Sisters to educate them about whole foods through hands-on experience at the farm. He uses some of the homegrown food the kids helped with to produce the cheesecakes, which are later sold to help fund the program. Very good cheesecake with a good story behind them. (localcheesecake@yahoo.com)
In all I probably sampled 20 things; bread, chips, wine, caramels, most of which were produced locally. I guess that's the one best thing I learned; that many of the things Good Harvest carries is local, not just organic. I was pleasantly surprised that many of the people behind the free samples were the bakers or farmers themselves or at the least were employed by them.
I was happy to see the gal from Natural Ovens there. For a while it seemed Pick 'N Save quit carrying my favorite granola cereal and I wanted her to check it out. I haven't seen it for sale since the store started their remodel a month ago. She did find it and called to tell me she located it in the cereal aisle. Good Harvest doesn't carry it because it isn't all organic.
Pick 'N Save normally offers more free samples on Saturdays, but yesterday all they offered was a taste of cereal. It would be nice if they occasionally offered samples of the unusual produce they carry.
