There are some good eggs in the local food movement. One has established a network of locally owned farms, small food purveyors, commercial kitchens, warehouses, grocers, all involved in feeding people in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, and New York metropolitan areas. And they really deliver.

Via their website and delivery service, Good Eggs connects residents in those communities to local producers and farmers, enabling them to receive goods directly from the source. But their offering goes far beyond providing easy access to local foods.

They provide people with a choice, with knowledge of where their food comes from, and ultimately with food security.  As awareness about the possible health and environmental risks presented by the massive industrial food complex grows, so does the demand for an alternative. Those who care and can afford it, go to healthier markets and pop by their local  farmer’s markets when available.

But aside from access to fresh local foods, a major limitation is time. Most farms aren’t located close to city centers, farmer’s markets are generally once a week and not always conducive to everyone’s schedule, and markets that carry fresh local foods aren’t always close by or may be too costly for some.

Full Belly Farms

Good Eggs is very rigorous when selecting farmers and food makers. Integrity is key. Every one of their producers must stand by these principles:

• They serve their local community
• They pay their employees and vendors fair wages and treat them with respect
• They ensure environmental sustainability, especially by practicing or supporting sustainable agriculture
• They know their suppliers and their practices
• They’re completely transparent about their practices and ingredients

Orwashers Bread

Blue House Farm

The beauty behind Good Eggs is that they are working for more than just getting local foods to those who want them. They see food not only as nourishment but also as a central force to community relationship building. A relationship grows between owners who care about the food they make, the people they employ, and the community of customers they feed. Further, by eating foods that are made with integrity, Good Eggs believes we are made more aware, more nourished, more grateful and, in all senses, more alive.

With the Good Eggs alternative, people can opt out of supporting food grown with pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, the inhumane treatment of animals in factory farming, and the enormous amount of waste that big agriculture creates. On a lighter note, eating local food also allows people to experience the great diversity in regional foods while enjoying seasonal products.

In accordance with their ethos, Good Eggs is independently run and employs teams of local folks who know their cities inside out. In their own words, “Everyone at Good Eggs wants to change the world by changing the way we eat. And whether their impact is measured in lines of code or bushels of kale, everything we do is in service of our mission.”

Good Eggs’ SF food hub

Yep. The people of Good Eggs are good eggs.

Visit them at www.goodeggs.com.