Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Lunch Hour Interview

So, a few weeks ago, I was sitting down eating lunch on the steps of the NBC building, overlooking the Thursday afternoon farmers' market in Horton square, when I was approached by Kevin Leahy, an intern at KPBS, who asked if he could ask me a few questions about shopping at the farmers' market. Undoubtedly, he spied the three full bags of produce at my feet, (and maybe, I wonder, the colorful tupperware container full of One Local Summer leftovers that I was chowing down on?) and figured I was an easy target.

I wouldn't be surprised if I was the most willing interviewee he met--I went off for the next 15 minutes or so on why I was shopping there, what made produce from this market better than that from the grocery store, and why I hoped more people would join in on the trend. I was surprised at how easily the words came out of my mouth, how well-versed I had become over the past year or so on the issues that surround eating locally, and how adamant I sounded about why I was buying my food from these farmers and not from some nameless mass producer. I excitedly brought up politics, taste, farmers' well beings, and the environment, not necessarily in that order, (and not necessarily in that order of importance).

In the end, our conversation was cut down to about 10 seconds (for a 1 1/2 minute clip), but I'm still pretty glad to get my voice out there. Here's what Kevin decided to include in his project (click on "here's a taste" - I come up after the crying baby, about 1/3 the way through):

KPBS Local News: Local Farmers' Markets Get Boost from Farm Bill


The context, by the way, I'm clueless about--a friend heard me on the radio at 6:30 am today; the KPBS website neglects to include sound bites of how the clip was framed.


This week I realized that an admired owner of one of my favorite bars signs off all of his weekly emails with the line: "Please don’t forget to ask for local beer everywhere you drink or dine. I do." I'd like to adapt that--Please ask for local food everywhere you drink and dine. I'm trying to!!

1 comment:

Melanie Lytle said...

I heard the story yesterday morning and as soon as they said "Lauren" and "Horton Square" I knew it must be you! Congratulations! So pleased you're getting the word out!