Restaurants

Food Network Has it the Right Idea

OK, admit it. You’ve watched from time to time. Food Network is a guilty pleasure of a lot of people. But what, exactly, does Food Network have to do with Occupying Main Street?

Consider the shows you may have watched: “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives,” “Restaurant Impossible,” “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.” Pretty much any show you watch during the evening highlights great restaurants, pubs, taverns, diners, eateries, drive-ins, holes-in-the-wall - think back though, how many episodes do you remember that featured something like a TGIFridays?

Now, I’m not saying I don’t enjoy a plateful of Jack Daniels Ribs, but the fact is, that’s not going to make the cut at Food Network. And imagine getting your restaurant featured on Food Network as a small business; it’s probably the best advertising you can get. And Food Network does an awesome job of finding both the expensive and haughty eateries, and the $5/plate blue-plate special diners. And - they’re almost all on Main Street U.S.A.

During an episode of DDD, you’ll be taken down some local road to some small little local joint that the regulars loved so much they’ve sent the info to Guy Fieri. Not to a chain restaurant, not to a fast-food joint, to a little spot tucked away that only the locals know about (for now). You’ll probably visit the kitchen with Guy, meet the owners, meet the cooks, and meet the locals who frequent the establishment. If that doesn’t give you the warm and fuzzies for Main Street, I don’t know what will.

Even the more “educational” shows such as Good Eats expound upon the importance of getting to know your local fishmonger or butcher, or the glee of finding a local produce such as peaches at the height of their perfect ripeness. It’s all good advice. And it fits perfectly with the goal of this page - shop locally. Whether it’s a butcher, a local farmer’s market or a local restaurant - it’s an easy change to make to start to shift your focus away from giant box stores and corporate-run cookie-cutter restaurants.

And it will help keep your money local, and your neighbors employed.

Why food matters

Not all of us can grow all our own food with enough left over to barter for what we can't grow and have enough to sell to sustain our other needs. Not all of us=not many of us.

What we can do is buy from farmer's markets. We can support the local section in our grocery store or even switch from a big grocery store to a smaller one who buys the majority of its produce (or other items such as pasta, meat, dairy, etc) locally.

It truly does start with one step.