Slow Food Atlanta recognizes 2024 Snail of Approval and Snail of Support grant awardees

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At Slow Food Atlanta’s annual meeting, a gathering and community potluck hosted on April 29 at Southern National, the organization recognized 17 businesses and organizations through their Snail of Approval and Snail of Support programs. 

Snail of Approval

This honor recognizes businesses that are making significant contributions to our city’s food culture by practicing good, clean, and fair food values. From 25 applicants, 12 were chosen to be a part of the 2024 cohort of winners committed to excellence in the culinary world and beyond:

Of these, Slow Food Atlanta also granted Love is Love Cooperative Farm a $500 grant to use at their discretion for scoring the highest in the approval process. The organization is known for their commitment to cultivating love and community through their organic farming practices. When asked about what it would mean to win the award in their application, they said:

“We have always appreciated the good work and consumer education that Slow Food Atlanta has done in the community. While our farm is only one of many in Georgia working to provide a valuable service and contribution, Slow Food connects just to a larger global movement to do this in communities around the world. This award would help us reflect on what we have achieved while looking forward to the future and would help us demonstrate our mission work.”

Outside of the winners, Slow Food Atlanta also awarded a special grant to applicant Firelight Coffee for their commitment to being a steward of the environment in many ways, including hiring a sustainability officer. This grant will help the business implement recycling or composting efforts to further their path towards sustainability.

Last year, we presented this award to our inaugural cohort of 12 restaurants and producers, including Miller Union, Little Tart Bakeshop, Fresh Harvest, and more—you can read about the awardees here.

Snail of Support

Through Slow Food Atlanta’s grantmaking program, Snail of Support, the organization pledged to award five microgrants of $500 each to individuals and/or organizations that embody Slow Food values.

Here are the awardees announced at the Annual Meeting:

  • Sun Market, which cultivates opportunities of collective economics by partnering with Black farmers, local Georgia farmers, small business owners, artisans, makers, pop-up chefs and community organizations.

  • Davis & Daughter Farms, which cultivates high quality nutrient dense food grown using regenerative, sustainable, and ancient techniques that mimic the natural cycles.

  • ECO-PARADIGM, LLC, which specializes in helping people and communities grow by providing a variety of agricultural services.

  • Metro Atlanta Food, Farm, and Garden Educators Network, a grassroots organization that aims to support local food access by supporting Atlanta’s food educators.

  • Historic Westside Gardens, whose mission it is to advance the wellness of the Westside through Home Food Gardens, Wellness Education, Health Advocacy and Economic Empowerment.

These grants will support initiatives that promote education and access to sustainable food knowledge and practices. Previous grants supported farm rental equipment, stipends for travel to conferences, necessary food and supplies for food distribution programs, and more.

Slow Food Atlanta was featured on Redifin's blog!

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Last year, we were mentioned as a local Atlanta, GA, expert on the Redfin blog! We and other Atlanta locals gave tips and advice for anyone making a transition to our wonderful city and is hoping to dive into all it has to offer. Here’s what we said:

“Atlanta has an incredibly rich community around good, clean, and fair food,” shares Lisa Nguyen, Communications Co-Chair for Slow Food Atlanta, a nonprofit organization that promotes local food and traditional cooking. “There are so many ways to tap into local agriculture and support the region’s farmers and producers. Stock up on local produce at one of the many community farmers markets in Atlanta’s circuit, or follow the trail of snail-approved food and beverage businesses.”

Read more in Redfin’s Locals Reveal 11 Insider Tips for Moving to Atlanta, GA blog post!

Q&A: Paula Seville of Fresh Harvest

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Fresh Harvest is not your average community-supported agriculture (CSA) program. Zac Harrison discovered his passion for agriculture while on a cross-country motorcycle trip in California, and started the business in 2012 to recreate the feeling of a community centered around good, local food. He built this community in the city of Clarkston, where he brings together his neighbors from around the world to operate this ethical food hub.

Their business model is an aggregated version of a CSA program but with added levels of convenience and accommodation for consumer preferences. Sourcing from dozens of local farms all over Georgia and the Southeast, they also offer fridge and pantry staples like eggs and bread, prepared foods, and artisan goods from local partners, and deliver these products directly to people’s homes around Atlanta and Athens. 

Sustainability is a core tenant of Fresh Harvest—beyond their sourcing practices, they’re intentional about alleviating food waste and using packaging that can be reused, recycled, or composted. But on a deeper level, what matters most to the Fresh Harvest team is people. Everything they do is to enrich the lives of communities through food, whether it’s by connecting consumers to farmers, or creating job and growth opportunities for refugees.

Here, we chat with Paula Seville, Director of Sales and Marketing, about Fresh Harvest’s focus on community, companies with strong ethical codes that they admire, and the camaraderie among organizations and people promoting good food in Atlanta.

Why do you support Slow Food?

At Fresh Harvest, we believe that knowing the stories and people behind our food not only adds pleasure to the eating experience, but it also leads to deeper communion with others, our bodies, and the planet. We support Slow Food because we believe that thoughtful eating makes our world a better place on both a small and large scale.

What aspects of your business' practices align with Slow Food’s mission and values? 

Fresh Harvest is centered around local, regenerative farms. One of our highest-priority metrics is dollars spent on the local food economy each year. We accomplish this with no small thanks to the hard work of our amazing team. Roughly 75% of Fresh Harvest's staff is made up of people whose lives have been upended by war, conflict, and natural disasters. This diversity serves to broaden our company's perspectives and abilities while also positioning us to continue to be a valuable resource for refugee families here in Clarkston. And finally, a core value at Fresh Harvest is sharing tables—using slow food as a means to encourage community with families, neighbors, between consumers and suppliers, and within our own team.

What are other businesses you admire that are practicing good, clean, and fair values? 

We love CompostNow. Not only are we partnering with them to turn our food scraps and packaging into soil, but we also admire their single-minded passion and vision to create a healthy planet without landfills. Another business we strive to emulate in many ways is Riverford Organic Farmers, a UK-based food delivery business that operates with a strong ethical code and commitment to local sustainable agriculture.

What’s special about the food scene and Slow Food community in Atlanta? 

While we're not exactly sure what the communities look like in other cities, we love that the Atlanta Slow Food community is made up of members that really champion one another. Whether farmers, chefs, nonprofits, or distributors, there's a palpable sense of camaraderie between the various organizations and people who are promoting good food here in Atlanta. There seems to be an awareness that good, slow food is still the exception here in our city. Those who are involved in this movement really want to see slow food extended to more Georgians and they seem willing to support anyone who's moving the needle towards that end.

What does it mean to you to have won the Snail of Approval award? 

What an honor to have won this award! It's a great encouragement to know that our work is recognized as impactful by Slow Food. And to be included in this recognition with such greats of the Atlanta food scene is exhilarating. We're very grateful and more motivated than ever to continue improving and championing slow food here in Georgia.

Q&A: Elaine Read and Matt Weyandt of Xocolatl Chocolate

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Elaine Read and Matt Weyandt haven’t always been chocolatiers—but they have always been concerned with making the world a better place. When they first discovered the world of single-origin chocolate after moving to Costa Rica in 2013, Elaine had just left a decade-long career working with organizations like the Peace Corps, Relief International, and CARE, and Matt, a role as the campaign manager for Congressman John Lewis (before that, he was Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Georgia).

Meeting cacao farmers and chocolate makers was an eye-opening experience. They came to know the crop as not only an agricultural product with flavors nuanced by genetic variety and terroir, but also as part of an industry dealing with a number of issues like economic equity, environmental protection, and social justice. After committing themselves to a life of crafting chocolate, they evolved from a makeshift operation in their apartment and selling at farmers markets, to opening a 400-square-foot stall at Krog Street Market that doubled as a retail shop and “micro-factory,” to now having a separate, spacious 3,500-square-foot facility for their entire production.

Today, their business is still rooted in social and environmental responsibility, making them a shoe-in for the Snail of Approval award. Here, we heard from Elaine and Matt about why they support Slow Food, sourcing and producing fairly, and becoming a carbon neutral business.

Why do you support Slow Food? 

The Slow Food principles of good, clean, and fair food for all are the same things that drew us from our previous careers in international relief and progressive campaign work to making chocolate. We’ve always believed that fair conditions and pay for producers, fighting climate change and protecting the environment, and access to wholesome, local food are all central to building the type of world we want for our children.

What aspects of your business' practices align with Slow Food’s mission and values? 

We were drawn to chocolate because we saw how it related to all of these other issues we cared about. From buying sustainably grown cacao at above-Fair Trade prices directly from farmer cooperatives, providing health insurance to our Atlanta staff, or measuring and offsetting our carbon footprint, our goal is to build a chocolate company that lives up to our own ideals—which just happen to line up with Slow Food’s mission and values pretty perfectly.

What are other businesses you admire that are practicing good, clean, and fair values? 

On a big scale, Patagonia is always pushing the envelope on sustainability issues. Locally there are amazing restaurants and food businesses around town that go out of their way to source good, clean, and fair (and local!) food. Osono Bread is awesome. Places like Little Bear, Little Tart, Talat Market, Miller Union, Fresh Harvest… basically everyone on the Snail of Approval list!

What goals do you have related to being a more good, clean, and fair business? 

Climate change and our impact on the environment has always been front and center for us, but for the past 2 years, we’ve tried to take a more analytical approach. In 2021, we completed a life cycle analysis (LCA) of our chocolate production process. An LCA measures the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are released in the process of making a bar of our chocolate—and we included everything. 

We gathered information from farmers (on 3 different continents) on the vehicles they use to transport beans to the fermentary, from the mill that makes the paper for our wrappers (good news, they’re 100% recycled paper made in a factory powered by 100% renewable energy), from our own power bills, and dozens of other inputs to calculate the total emissions related to making a bar of chocolate. Once we calculated the results we began working to reduce our carbon footprint and to offset what we couldn’t reduce through things like renewable energy and carbon credits. We’re confident that we’ve gone a little overboard in the pursuit of becoming a carbon neutral business, but we’re still finishing up the certification process. We hope to be officially carbon neutral certified by CarbonNeutral.org by the end of the summer.

What does it mean to you to have won the Snail of Approval award? 

It’s confirmation for us that we’re on the right track and it’s inspiring to see the work of the other Snail of Approval winners. It’s also a great reminder for us that there’s always more we can do. The saying around Xocolatl is, “There is no finish line.”

Q&A: Terry Koval of The Deer and The Dove & B-Side

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Chef Terry Koval is no stranger to the restaurant game—and it shows. Having spent 2 decades working in Atlanta staples like Canoe, Farm Burger, and Wrecking Bar Brewpub, he was primed for opening his dream restaurant The Deer and The Dove with his wife Jenn Kapioski Koval, along with adjoining coffee and wine bar B-Side, where people can also help themselves to wood-fired bagels.

At The Deer and The Dove, Terry specializes in dishes made with regional, in-season vegetables and foraged ingredients, beef and pork from nearby cattle and pig farms, and wild game cooked in a wood-burning oven. He also strives to run a low-waste kitchen, creating plates from leftover ingredients many kitchens would simply throw away.

Newly minted James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Southeast and Georgia Organics Farmer Champion since 2020, Terry’s also known to us as a Snail of Approval awardee. Here, we heard from Terry about why he supports Slow Food, organizations that are important to him, and what’s special about his community.

Why do you support Slow Food?

Slow Food is a way of life for my family and me. We support Slow Food to help give back and educate our communities where their food comes from and the history of it.

What aspects of your business' practices align with Slow Food’s mission and values?

Everything we source is thoughtfully curated. We put our dollars back in our community, supporting our local farmers, ranchers, and cheese makers while supporting local agriculture.

What are some organizations you support that are promoting good, clean, and fair food for all?

Georgia Organics, Wholesome Wave, Decatur Farm to School, Wyld Center are just a few we love to support.

What’s special about the food scene and Slow Food community in Atlanta?

The Atlanta food and farming community has such great talent, and it is a collaborative, thriving city!

What does it mean to you to have won the Snail of Approval award?

To be recognized for doing what we believe in is beyond rewarding, it also brings attention to our practices and our principles. This then gives us the tools to educate our staff, guests, and community about what Slow food is and what it means to us as a family and business!

Q&A: Jarrett Stieber of Little Bear

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Photo via StarChefs

Jarrett Stieber’s been actively working towards Little Bear since he was 15. At that age, he had just started cooking professionally, kicking off a burgeoning career in restaurant kitchens in and around Atlanta. He spent a decade cooking for other chefs before starting Eat Me Speak Me in 2013, amassing a loyal group of followers with his vegetable-forward dishes adorned with “pretentious flowers,” and blondies endearingly accompanied by whisky milk. After 6 years and a few relocations, he closed the chapter on Eat Me Speak Me to build out a little more permanent of a place to call home for himself, his staff, and Little Bear’s namesake, Jarrett’s Great Pyrenees dog Fernando.

“Little Bear in a nutshell is a restaurant focused on making fine dining more affordable, approachable, and less pretentious, with a focus on hyper seasonal cooking,” Jarrett said. “In fact, we source about 95% of our product from local farms, according to audits conducted by Georgia Organics for their Farmer Champion program.”

This practice is one of the many that also secured Little Bear a Snail of Approval Award. Here, we heard from Jarrett about his commitment to sourcing locally, advice for others who might want to take on that same commitment, and what the Snail of Approval Award means to him.

Why do you support Slow Food?

We support Slow Food because we find it's the best way to be connected to where we are, to reflect the sense of place as thoroughly as possible. There is amazing product growing all around by other small business owners like myself—why would I buy luxury ingredients from conventional sources across the globe when I can keep my money right here in my community? 

What aspects of your business practices align with Slow Food’s mission and values?

The aspects of Slow Foods that align with our business practices are mainly through how we source ingredients—locally from small farms around us. We also do our best to minimize waste by finding creative uses for traditional waste by-products (herb stems, melon skins, squash seeds, etc.), both in the kitchen and through our bar program. Another aspect where we align is in creating a positive, wholesome, safe, and sustainable environment for our employees, from paying a realistic living wage to providing our full-time employees healthcare. 

What’s special about the food scene and Slow Food community in Atlanta?

What makes Atlanta’s food community so special is how many restaurants are actually focused on sourcing, at least a little bit, locally. Outside of the Bay Area of California, where local focused, American “nouveau” cuisine started, there isn't another part of the country more committed to reflecting seasonally in an authentic way than the Atlanta area. The climate and soil here also allows for a wide range of produce to be grown and livestock to be raised, and we also have a surprisingly high amount of sustainable seafood businesses from the North Georgia mountains to the Georgia coast. I love how particularly creative and motivated many of the farmers around here are to grow unique, beautiful, and exciting produce that keep us restaurateurs inspired.

What advice do you have for businesses or individuals wanting to commit more to Slow Food principles or be better advocates for food justice?

My advice is 1) to be genuine and not simply use them as a marketing scheme to attract customers who think you're more “farm to table” than you are in reality; 2) to not be afraid to reach out to other businesses walking the walk and talking the talk for advice on how to institute Slow Food practices within our restaurants, so we can grow a sense of camaraderie amongst our small business scene in Atlanta; and 3) to stop hiding behind the crutch of the phrase “whenever possible” (i.e., “We source locally whenever possible.”)—because it's always possible! It just takes some extra effort and commitment to doing things the right way.

What does it mean to you to have won the Snail of Approval award?

The Snail Approval Award is about transparency. When people see the Snail of Approval and the Georgia Organics Farmer Champion Gold Tier decals at our restaurant, I want them to know we stand behind certain values and we put our money where our mouth is. For Little Bear, the way we source isn't just a marketing gimmick—it's an ethos, our backbone. The way we treat our staff and value them as people and essential members of our business is about creating a space where people can push themselves and grow in this industry, but in a comfortable way for their lives inside the restaurant and outside of it.x

Q&A: Steven Satterfield of Miller Union

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Photo by Andrew Thomas LEe

Many people know of Steven Satterfield as the executive chef of Miller Union and an accomplished cookbook author (grab a copy of his newest, Vegetable Revelations!). Fewer people know him as guitarist of 90s indie band Seely—but this role was a pivotal piece of his journey to cooking.

After graduating from Georgia Tech’s architecture program, Steven entered the field only to learn that it was migrating more into computer-aided design. Wanting to work with his hands, he picked up guitar and had a friend show him the ropes, and they eventually connected with a drummer and bass player to form Seely. Between 1995 and 2000, they got signed by a record label in London, cut 3 full length albums, toured around the US, and charted on college radio.

“It was during this time that I started working in restaurants, mostly more casual spots like EATS, Flatiron, and U Joint, all of which were filled with musicians.”

Between records, Steven started paying more attention to food as a respected career and turned to chefs like Anne Quatrano and Scott Peacock to learn from them in their kitchens. After 9 years working under Chef Scott Peacock, he ventured out on his own with now-business partner Neal McCarthy, who had been running Sotto Sotto for a decade.

Now, Miller Union is working its way through its teenage years, with more James Beard nods than you can count on one hand under its belt (among Steven, Neal, and pastry chef Claudia Martinez)—and now a Snail of Approval award. 

Here, we heard from Steven about his history with Slow Food, Miller Union’s practices, and supporting organizations that are promoting good, clean, and fair food for all.

Why do you support Slow Food?

Slow Food’s mantra of good, clean and fair food aligns greatly with Miller Union’s mission. I've been a supporter of Slow Food for over a decade, serving on the board locally, helping to organize food events, and also nationally and internationally. I organized a food waste event at Slow Food Nations in Denver, CO for several years, and I was a Georgia delegate at Slow Food's international gathering Terra Madre, in Torino Italy, in 2014.

What aspects of your business' practices align with Slow Food’s mission and values?

We pride ourselves in our sourcing, selecting as much local and seasonal produce weekly as we can fit into the menu to be paired with local and regional dairy, grains, pastured pork and poultry, grass-fed beef, and sustainable seafood and regenerative farming options. We select wines from small producers, many of which have biodynamic or organic farms, and we cross utilize kitchen castoffs for the bar program to make tinctures and syrups.

We also separate all of our waste. Food scraps that cannot be turned into menu items or served for family meal are diverted from landfill and composted, along with consumer dining scraps and any paper products. We also recycle glass bottles and save all of our oyster and clam shells for Shell to Shore, a nonprofit that collects spent shells to start help develop new oyster reefs on the Georgia coast.

What are other businesses you admire that are practicing good, clean, and fair values?

Check out the other recipients of the Snail of Approval awards and the Farmer Champion program!

What are some organizations you support that are promoting good, clean, and fair food for all?

We work with Compost Now, Haulin' Glass, and Shell to Shore to divert trash to proper outlets and away from landfills, and with Georgia Organics to verify, amplify, and celebrate local purchases through their Farmer Champion program.

What does it mean to you to have won the Snail of Approval award?

It is an honor to be recognized by Slow Food Atlanta and Slow Food USA for our sourcing and practices! I love that we have a growing list of Slow Food-approved restaurants in the Atlanta area. Locals and visitors alike can use this as a guide for good, clean, and fair food and make their way through the ''snail trail" of our diverse area!

Q&A: Sarah O'Brien of Little Tart Bakeshop

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Sarah O’Brien and Members of the Little Tart Bakeshop team in front of their Grant Park location

For owner Sarah O’Brien, “Little Tart is an Ohio girl’s love letter to France.” When traveling there at 14, she was inspired to recreate their buttery, flaky croissants after her first experience eating one that didn’t come out of a tube. That eventually led her to start her pastry business in 2010, which at the time consisted of a tent and table at the now-defunct East Lake Farmers Market.

“I drove around a beat-up station wagon filled with pastries and worked out of a shared kitchen,” Sarah said. “It was a challenging setup, but people loved our rustic French-grandma treats and our focus on using local ingredients. The fact that I sold out at every market made my dream of a brick-and-mortar space seem not so wild.”

Fast forward to now, Sarah and her team run the Atlanta mainstay through three brick-and-mortar spaces. Little Tart Bakeshop’s homebase has been in Grant Park for almost 12 years, with two other locations in Inman Park and Summerhill—where you can also find their “kid sister” soft serve shop Big Softie—and a strong presence at the city’s community farmers markets. They’ve amassed a dedicated group of regulars who’ve been eating their croissants for over a decade, and even watched their regulars’ kids grow up throughout their visits.

What started as a baker in her station wagon evolved into an incredible community of employees, customers, and friends—a community that Little Tart continues to invest in beyond their normal operations, like through the Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice coalition or a Cookie Grab to benefit Planned Parenthood. We’re honored to have Little Tart Bakeshop as a part of Slow Food Atlanta’s first cohort of Snail of Approval awardees.

Here, we heard from Sarah about what Slow Food means to her, what business she admires (which also happens to be a fellow Snail of Approval awardee), and what makes Atlanta’s food community special.

Why do you support Slow Food? 

I learned about Slow Food around 2005. I was living in Iowa completing my MFA, and just starting to really think about where my food comes from. I read Michael Pollan’s books and every interview I could find with Alice Waters, and they led me to Slow Food. I believe firmly in the idea of good, clean, fair food for all as an essential human right. I believe that our food systems should be geared toward these rights.

What part of Slow Food’s mission aligns with your business?

Every day our talented team works to make delicious, thoughtfully-produced pastry with seasonal ingredients, as well as great espresso. We pay attention to all the details, and work in a collaborative, respectful atmosphere, while also maintaining close relationships with our producers. We constantly monitor our work and processes to make sure our employees, producers, and customers are well-compensated and treated fairly, and we also work to create our food with the least amount of environmental impact possible by using compostable and recyclable products.

What goals do you have related to being a more good, clean, and fair business? 

I want to reduce the waste that we generate at the bakery. I think we are doing a great job in terms of making good food, and we have made incredible strides in making sure our workplace practices and policies are fair. Our employees feel valued, respected, and well-compensated. Now I just wish we could use less plastic wrap! We are always trying to improve, and I dream of getting as close to zero waste as possible.

What are some businesses or organizations you admire that are practicing good, clean, and fair values? 

I have always admired Miller Union in Atlanta. Steven Satterfield has a way with vegetables, and you can bet that if something is growing around Atlanta, it’ll show up deliciously on his menu. I know Miller Union built things like composting and waste reduction into their business plan from day 1. I appreciate the way they set the standard for so many farm-to-table restaurants nationwide.

What’s special about the food scene and Slow Food community in Atlanta? 

The food community in Atlanta is incredibly welcoming. When I showed up here and started cold-calling farmers to see if I could get produce and eggs and milk, everyone was helpful and encouraging. I was just telling someone that folks will open doors for you in Atlanta and help you walk through them in a way I haven’t experienced anywhere else. Within my first few months of baking here, I was invited to bake for a farm benefit at Love is Love Farm. Suddenly I was on a ticket with some of Atlanta’s best chefs, at one of its most revered farms. I have never forgotten how much that validation meant to me, and how I felt like people were rooting for my little business. There is a feeling of abundance in the Atlanta food scene, like we’re in this together, and we all want each other to succeed. That’s magic.

Meet our 2023 Snail of Approval winners

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Congratulations to Atlanta's first-ever group of Snail of Approval winners! These restaurants and producers have gone above and beyond in pursuing and practicing Slow Food values, and are committed to the environment, local communities, employees and purveyors, and our core values of anti-racism and anti-oppression.

Capella Cheese

By the time Raymond Hook opened Capella Cheese in July 2022, his resume was stacked with over 30 years of exploring cheese in some capacity, working with producers, retailers, and everyone in between. Now through his cheese shop, he and his team not only seek to help customers find their next favorite cheese, but also they do it while honoring their makers, suppliers, and community. Website | @capellacheese

Condor Chocolates

Condor Chocolates has always been a family affair—brothers Nick and Peter Dale opened their chocolate shop in Athens to pay homage to their Ecuadorian roots. Sourcing the finest cacao from various small farms in Ecuador, Condor produces and sells bean-to-bar chocolate bars, truffles, sipping chocolate, hot cocoa, coffee, iced beverages, gelato and a variety of confections. Website | @condorchocolates

The Deer and The Dove/B-Side

In Decatur, you’ll find Chef Terry Koval and his team cooking with an open flame—whether it’s in-season vegetables, beef and pork from local farms, and game meat entrees at The Deer and the Dove, or Montreal-style bagels, bagel sandwiches, and coffee at his adjoining bagel shop B-Side. Website | @thedeerandthedove

Evergreen Butcher & Baker

For Sean and Emma Schacke, sourcing local ingredients and a no-waste mentality are fundamental values of Evergreen Butcher + Baker. Part whole animal butchery, part bakeshop, their offerings span from pork, beef, and lamb from small Georgia farms, to pastries and bread made with organic flour from nearby mills. Website | @evergreenbutcherandbaker

Fresh Harvest

Fresh Harvest is not your average CSA. They partner with a curated slate of local, organic farms and artisan producers to offer Atlanta and surrounding areas a weekly basket with all the fixin’s. In addition to seasonal produce, Fresh Harvest delivers local meats, pantry staples, rotating entrées, freshly baked goods, and more delivered right to your door. Website | @freshharvest

JenChan’s

JenChan’s is a lot of things—a restaurant, a market, a delivery supper club, a caterer—but to sum it all up, it’s “mostly Southern, mainly Asian” food. Sourcing locally whenever possible, owners Jen and Emily Chan put in a lot of time researching farms and producers for their ingredients. And not only do they use recyclable and reusable packaging, but they also accept some packaging and ice packs back from customers for reuse. Website | @jenchansdeliverysupperclub

Photo: Starchefs

Little Bear

Little Bear’s menu speaks for itself. On it, you’ll find “big hunk-o-flesh” and “pretentious flowers”—but for the most part, Chef Jarret Stieber and his team let the veggies do all the talking. Seasonal, locally sourced ingredients make up clever, eclectic dishes that emphasize the thoughtful work of producers who raise, mill, and grow them. Website | @littlebearatl

Little Tart Bakeshop

There’s much more to Little Tart Bakeshop than what meets the eye. Beyond a bountiful pastry offering made with local, seasonal ingredients, owner Sarah O’Brien and her team have cultivated a business that takes great care in the growth and wellbeing of its employees, maintains well-kept relationships with its producers, and pursues initiatives to enhance access to underserved communities. Website | @littletartbakeshop

Photo: Andrew Thomas Lee

Miller Union

Through Miller Union, co-owners Steven Satterfield and Neal McCarthy expertly demonstrate their dedication to slow food and wine. The season-driven menu embodies an authentic approach to farmstead-inspired cooking, complemented by a dynamic wine program that focuses on small producers with sustainable farming practices. Website | @millerunionatl

The Spotted Trotter

At the Spotted Trotter, owner Kevin Ouzts and his team purvey a divine assortment of charcuterie with sustainability and responsibility in mind. They prioritize sourcing from local farms that practice responsible animal husbandry to ensure that their customers are taking home meat that’s been handled with respect every step of the way. Website | @thespottedtrotter

Talat Market

Talat Market is what you get when you marry Thai food with Georgia ingredients. Exceptionally grounded in a community that helped take them from beloved pop-up to brick-and-mortar, co-owners Parnass Savang and Rod Lassiter reinterpret traditional dishes and cocktails using whatever’s in season, without skimping on the authentic flavors of Thai cuisine. Website | @talatmarketatl

Xocolatl

A lot of intention goes into Xocolatl’s chocolate. From bean to bar, owners Matt Weyandt and Elaine Read are thoughtful about every step of the sourcing and production practices—considering the implications of direct versus fair trade, what kind of paper to use for packaging, how to minimize their carbon footprint, and more—so that they’re a force for social good in their local community and beyond. Website | @xocolatlchocolate

MEET ELIYAHU YSRAEL OF ATLANTA HARVEST

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Written by: Stefanie Garcia Turner, Slow Food Atlanta Board Member

ELIYAHU YSRAEL, PHOTO BY ALYSSA POINTER, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION

Meet EliYahu Ysrael, a New Yorker turned Georgian when his father felt a draw to the state in what EliYahu describes as a “divine calling”. EliYahu is a 2nd generation farmer whose family operates Local Lands Organically Grown Gardens, a 40 acre farm in Dublin, Georgia, as well as Atlanta Harvest, which will be relocating their Jonesboro farm to Ellenwood in the coming weeks. A little more on that later.

I spoke with EliYahu about his journey and inspiration to get into farming. He told me he owes it to his father. That “divine calling” his father had years ago lead them to create an organic farming paradise and bring their passion to Metro Atlanta with an additional farm that would serve the Jonesboro community and create access to healthy and fresh foods. EliYahu and his family did it right, but that also meant it was a labor of love. Local Lands Organically Grown Gardens in Dublin, GA had nothing on it when EliYahu and his father first acquired it. He told me they rented a room at a local hotel at first, then eventually got a camper to be able to stay on the property. They then got the greenhouses built, the barn, and finally the houses. The food that they grow, such as peppers, figs, squashes, lots of heirloom products, japanese eggplant, and asian cucumbers to name a few, grow on about 20 acres. The rest of the land has orchards and animals spread throughout it creating a wonderfully diverse eco-system that nourishes each other.

EliYahu and his family were then taking their freshly grown and picked produce to the farmer’s markets around Atlanta. This helped them create relationships with chefs and gain a loyal following among residents in the metro area. They then were lucky enough to find a location in Jonesboro where they could build a nursery for seedlings and open a farm-stand in the parking lot where they could sell meat, teas, coffee, jams, jellies, honey, seedlings, fruit trees, produce, soil, compost, and more to the community, as well as provide an access point for information on all things farming. EliYahu says they want to teach people and be a resource for them and bringing access and information to the people is the first step.

This thinking ultimately lead EliYahu and his family to start a non-profit called Cultivating Humanity. According to their mission statement, the 501(c)(3) seeks “to decrease incidences of food insecurity in the Clayton county and Metro Atlanta Areas through dignified partnership and educational opportunities for the community at large”. Through Cultivating Humanity, Atlanta Harvest can donate food and raise money for organizations in the food movement to increase accessibility for farm fresh food. Members of Atlanta Harvest also provide classes through Cultivating Humanity on various subjects. Some classes are about learning how to farm, others are on learning how to use produce, learning how to raise animals, learning how to can vegetables and more. The key is to educate and provide information to anyone who is interested. As EliYahu told me, this is his passion in life and as long as there is someone with a question, he will be there to answer it.

We then turned our discussion to the hot topic of the year, the coronavirus pandemic. EliYahu’s father has a background in marketing and business and when things started looking questionable back in early March, he started taking the steps to change their model so they would be ready to adapt. The CSA program became more robust and they had to start doing deliveries. They changed the functions at the farm and the scale of production in order to increase it so they could service families in and around Atlanta. Having this perspective in the beginning allowed them to stay afloat and continue to service the communities. However, things are far from what they were before. Their restaurant business has drastically decreased, the classes that they were offering had to pause as they figure out how to bring them online or whether they can have them at all. The farm was also a popular school trip option for kids where they would get tours of the farm and receive hands-on learning, of course this stopped as well.

Despite the chaos and the rapid changes, there is still growth and opportunity. EliYahu and the team at Atlanta Harvest are preparing for their move to the Ellenwood farm location as I write this. They are thinking of inviting people over to help them build up the property so they can learn and really be a part of the process, and then every time they pass by they can say “hey, I helped build that”. The new location will also have a storefront that will sell other Georgia grown produce and Georgia made goods. EliYahu describes this as having a “co-op vibe”, where customers will be able to find products made from around the south and be able to support other farms, all in one place.

EliYahu and the team at Atlanta Harvest are ready to go and his optimism about the future is palpable. He hopes the new farm will be ready and growing by the Winter and they will continue to be a source of fresh food and farming information for the community. As our conversation wound down, EliYahu told me that sometimes people have a defeatist attitude about having their own garden, or they say they have a black thumb. He tells them that doesn’t exist, they just had questions they didn’t have answers to at the time. His job is to help people and that is why his father put him on the earth.

 

If you are interested in volunteering at Atlanta Harvest you can visit their website https://atlantaharvest.com/ or email team@atlantaharvest.com. You can also reach them on Instagram or Twitter @atlantaharvest or on Facebook.

If you want to learn more about their non-profit you can visit http://cultivatinghumanity.net/