Creating Connection through Education
Many of our producers mentioned that part of creating this connection between people and the food they eat involved educating their customers about what produce was in season and encouraging them to try new things. P8 said that part of the motivation behind creating his CSA was to encourage people to eat seasonally and “be in tune with what is going on with farming and the way farming flows.” He said it was important “to introduce people in more of a natural way and easy way” to the cycles of the seasons, and he emphasized creating a visual connection for consumers: “Just seeing it,” he said, “how a garden starts and how it proceeds though the season and eating accordingly.”
In addition to eating with the seasons, some producers often found they needed to actively encourage customers to step outside of the box and try something new. P9 touched upon the reluctance he found among many customers to purchase uncommon foods when he said, “Many people are not into eating certain foods. It requires people to stretch their taste buds.” This reluctance also became apparent through some producers’ descriptions of their ‘ideal customer.’ By describing their ideal, they often hinted at their frustration with some current types of customers. For P9 it was “someone who is steady, and who is willing to buy a diversity of things” and for P6 it was “somebody who's enthusiastic about the product and interested in trying a variety of new things.”
One producer, P11, focused not only on educating her customers about the seasons and her products but also on encouraging customers to ask different kinds of questions, questions getting more at the story behind their food and the producer who grew or made it:
In addition to eating with the seasons, some producers often found they needed to actively encourage customers to step outside of the box and try something new. P9 touched upon the reluctance he found among many customers to purchase uncommon foods when he said, “Many people are not into eating certain foods. It requires people to stretch their taste buds.” This reluctance also became apparent through some producers’ descriptions of their ‘ideal customer.’ By describing their ideal, they often hinted at their frustration with some current types of customers. For P9 it was “someone who is steady, and who is willing to buy a diversity of things” and for P6 it was “somebody who's enthusiastic about the product and interested in trying a variety of new things.”
One producer, P11, focused not only on educating her customers about the seasons and her products but also on encouraging customers to ask different kinds of questions, questions getting more at the story behind their food and the producer who grew or made it:
“We’re training them to ask different questions than they’re used to asking. We really encourage them to taste cheese. Instead of saying I want a cheddar say well we have this other cheese, it’s not really a cheddar, it’s kind of made like a cheddar…but they’re using Jersey milk they only have 4 cows. We’re training them to ask about the cheesemakers and ask about the animals. They’re looking at it from the grass instead of from the style of cheese. ‘I want a washed-rind or a soft cheese.’ That’s part of it but we really want it to be the last question.”