Comment Archives: stories: Food & Drink: Dining
Re: “Praise Cheeses”
For a full list of Sonoma and Marin artisan cheesemakers and to find which are open to the public for visits, check www.cheesetrail.org
Re: “Praise Cheeses”
Thank you Stett, for listening so well to my feelings about connection to community and to sheep. And for such a great article.
Re: “Praise Cheeses”
Fantastic article. So proud of my sister Sue :)
Re: “Praise Cheeses”
Nice article...
One small correction: Weirauch Farm & Creamery is located in Petaluma, not Penngrove
Re: “The Quiet Kingmaker”
Mark,
I'm a long-time proponent of the style percentages on Ratebeer, so totally with you on that point. Just didn't have enough time or space (or the appropriate audience) to delve into the nitty-gritty of some things as much as I'd have liked. cheers!,
Ken
Re: “The Quiet Kingmaker”
The bias of beer geeks toward high-alcohol hops bombs is pretty well discussed. But it can be somewhat circumvented in that you can break out the Top 50 beers for each style. That might not favor more widely known beers (Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold gets as far as #2 in the Dortmunder/Helles category, behind the lesser-known LAmère à Boire Montréal Hell, but it gives more beers in lesser-loved styles a fighting chance. And you also have the option to "show only non-retired beers," that is, those that are still being produced so you have a chance of finding them.
Re: “The Quiet Kingmaker”
I spoke with Joe Tucker a few weeks ago. Very nice guy.
Re: “The Quiet Kingmaker”
Nice article Ken. I like Joe Tucker's philosophy of placing emphasis on the beer and not his role. He doesn't make or break a beer - but enables others to provide input and experience trends as they happen.
Re: “By the People”
Thanks for the great article! Reposted on American Worker Cooperative at www.american.coop.
Re: “By the People”
Yes, it's time we're reading about the best kept secret in the alternative business world. Cooperatives are the model we should be learning about. They are the future. We can all support this movement by patronizing our local Bay Area Cooperatives. In addition to the Arizmendi/Cheeseboard bakeries, there is Rainbow Grocery (SF), Jackson Hardware, and Alvarado Street Bakery that sells organic breads to stores in the Bay Area and throughout the country. (I have written an article about Bay Area Coops on the Huff Post): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgia-kell…
Praxis Peace Institute, the Sonoma non-profit that I direct, will take a group for a study tour of the Mondragon Cooperatives in Spain, Sept. 9 - 15, 2012. Information is available on our website: http://www.praxispeace.org
Re: “By the People”
I'm glad to see you covering the growing movement of worker-owner businesses in our area. This is a much needed alternative to what is seen as the “norm”, which is, working for the business owner who actually is focused on the stockholders of the business. That focus is on the bottom line, if that bottom line doesn't continue to improve, then the stockholder / investor moves on with his capital.
To help improve that bottom line, jobs have been sent overseas, businesses have consolidated, leading to displaced wage earners. Over the past several decades, the “worker bees” have watched their salaries stagnate as their workloads increased to accommodate the layoffs of fellow employees. More and more of the earnings of labor is not going to the laborer, but to those who oversee the businesses in inflated salaries and obscene bonuses.
Catholic Social Teachings have offered an alternative path which Father Arizmendi studied and taught to his students in Mondragon, Spain. His students founded the first factory in the mid-'40s making small cook stoves. Since then the cooperative movement has grown to include other factories, banks, schools, housing, markets, hospitals, a whole community, based on the worker-owner concept.
The Emilia Romagna region of northern Italy is another community that has been recognized as an example of a successful cooperative economy. The region has developed over time and now one third of the region's GDP is derived from co-operative enterprises.
I encourage your readers to support this movement and see it as a clear alternative to what has been seen as the only source of employment. The future generations deserve better than what Wall St. has to offer.
This Week's Issue
Re: “Praise Cheeses”
Enjoyed reading all about Northern California cheese and its history. Last weekend I took the kids out to a Tomales Bay Oyster -que with some friends and we stopped of at the Marin French Cheese Co. since it was on our way. Great experience for us all. They had lots of samples out for us to try and french bread for sale too. We sat by their lake and it was lovely. Thanks for the informative article.