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GOURMET NEWS NOVEMBER 2017 www.gourmetnews.com Supplier News SUPPLIER NEWS 1 0 BRIEFS A Green Leafy Fish Tale Set in Saint Paul BY LORRIE BAUMANN This is a story about what can happen when you tell stories about food. Also, it's a story about how a company is operating an urban farm in the heart of the city, so that the people of Saint Paul, Minnesota, have a new source of fresh, local food. But it's all happening because people told their stories along the way. Telling stories to each other is so embed- ded in our humanity that it might very well be coded into our DNA. "We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories," points out Jonathan Gottschall in "The Storytelling Animal." He goes on to write that, "... story is for a human as water is for a fish – all- encompassing and not quite palpable." Some of the stories we tell are about how we get our food. The famous cave paintings of Lascaux and many other places, dating back as far as 27,000 years ago and longer, clearly de- pict animals hunted for food or for skins. While anthro- pologists debate the purpose behind these paintings, they can certainly be interpreted as story prompts, not unlike the scripts for a Hollywood movie or even those out- lines with the Roman nu- merals that you probably wrote for your high school term papers. The cave paint- ings at Lascaux and in many other places around the world make it easy to imag- ine people gathered around them to tell stories about the hunt for a community's food — its dangers and its rewards — pass- ing on the accumulated wisdom of a peo- ple to a new generation, with the paintings there to help sear those stories into their memories. Urban Organics' Origin Story Today, one of the storytellers in that tra- dition is David Haider. He's now the Pres- ident of Urban Organics, which produces Arctic char and Atlantic salmon as well as nine different packaged salad blends plus a line of herbs that includes basil, cilantro and parsley at a rehabilitated former warehouse in East Saint Paul, Minnesota. But when our story begins, not 27,000 years ago but in 2011, he was building back yard pools and water features, and he was getting sick of it. He was pretty good at it, but he just didn't want to be building water features any more. He wanted to do something that made a difference in the world. Then one day, he came home after a day on the job, and his wife, Kristen, told him, "I think I may have an idea for you." She'd been watching television, and she'd seen a story about aquaculture – fish farming. "She called me and said maybe we should look into an indoor farm in the heart of the city," he said. As Dave Haider tells the story, he knew right away that aquaculture was the idea he was looking for. It called for many of the same construction skills he already had, and it was about a way to grow fresh food in the midst of an urban food desert. In the kind of aquaculture operation the Haiders were just beginning to learn about, fish are raised in tanks. They're fed several times a day, and they excrete waste into the water. That water, now rich with the nitrogen so necessary as a plant nutri- ent, is now pumped out of the fish tank, filtered to separate out waste solids and then directed into a hydroponic farm. It flows through the roots of plants that take up the nitrogen they need to grow and it ends up in a sump. The result is a dual crop — fish and fresh green leafy vegeta- bles — for local tables. Dave and Kristen both liked the sound of it, so Dave started calling friends and family to spread the news and ask for help finding a future fish facility. One of those was Fred Haberman, a longtime food activist and advocate for organics who is also the CEO and co-Founder of Minneapolis-based Haberman, a market- ing agency that has worked with compa- nies including Organic Valley, Annie's Homegrown and Earthbound Farm. An- other was Chris Ames, who grew up in Saint Paul, and who is now the Managing Partner of The Landmark Real Estate Group, which works closely with the city of Saint Paul on many development proj- ects. He knew that the city owned some property that was sitting unused, and he knew how to negotiate with the city to purchase that property for redevelop- ment. "We decided we were going to buy one of these vacant properties owned by the city of St. Paul," Haider said. "They had this Hamm's brewery. It was a good fit for us." The Hamm's Brewery The building that now houses Urban Or- ganics' aquaculture facility has a story of its own. The Theodore Hamm Brewing Company was established in 1865 by Theodore Hamm. The company went through a few changes of ownership and was eventually acquired by Pabst, which traded away the Hamm's St. Paul Brewery to the Stroh Brewing Company. Stroh's operated the facility as a brewery until 1997 and then shuttered it. The property was sold to a real estate investor, who re- developed part of the cluster of buildings into the Howard Gelb office park and sold the rest of the property to the city of Saint Paul. For years, the city tried to convert those buildings into an Asian Pa- cific Cultural Center but was unable to raise state funding for the project, leav- ing the buildings to attract the interest — and the graffiti — of the city's urban explorers. Now the holes in the five- story building have been repaired, the in- terior is painted a tasteful gray, and it's brightly lit with the grow-lights that pro- vide the "photo" for the farm's photosyn- thesis. "The facility is next door to artists' lofts and condos," Haider said. "They were excited and welcomed us with open arms. We're excited to be part of this community. I think it's a great fit for us." The Story Grows The Urban Organics facility in the old Hamm's Brewery is actually the Litehouse Mango Habanero Named Sauce of the Year Litehouse, Inc.'s Mango Habanero was named Sauce of the Year by the Association for Dressing & Sauces in its 16th annual awards event held October 7-9 in Nashville, Tennessee. The dressing, sauce and marinade product won in a blind taste test of industry experts where products were judged on innovative flavor and taste performance Chobani Announces New Food Incubator Class Representing Next Frontiers In Food Chobani, LLC named seven new food startups to join the second class of the Chobani Food Incubator. The group is comprised of companies that are disrupting, innovating and inspiring new food categories in the U.S. – from innovative products like plant-based ice cream, a low-sugar, low-calorie beer alternative, a healthier frozen fruit pop, as well as fresh and sustainable takes on foods that have been around for centuries, like oats, saffron and seafood. They include Chloe's™ Fruit, New York (New York); Farmer Willie's, Boston (Massachusetts); Grainful™, Ithaca (New York); LoveTheWild, Boulder (Colorado); Pique™ Tea Crystals, San Francisco (California); Rumi Spice, Chicago (Illinois); and Snow Monkey™, Santa Monica (California). Hain Celestial Announces Appointment of Steven T. Liedtke as Chief Information Officer The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. has appointed Steven T. Liedtke as Chief Information Officer of Hain Celestial. Liedtke will be responsible for overseeing the information technology strategy and all related departmental operations and initiatives to support the company's enterprise goals, reporting to James Langrock, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Hain Celestial. Wize Monkey Coffee Leaf Tea Launches at Retail The world's first Coffee Leaf Tea company Wize Monkey launched its multi-award winning product in over 330 stores across the United States in October, including Sprouts Farmers Market in 15 states across 285 locations and in Whole Foods in the northern California region, Gelson's, Mollie Stone's and Rainbow Grocery Co-op. Wize Monkey has taken a centuries-old concept from Ethiopia and Sumatra and applied craft processes and fermentation to premium coffee leaves to produce an outstandingly smooth and delicious tea that is very easy to drink, has similar caffeine levels to green tea, no bitterness, and delivers a host of polyphenols that aren't available in traditional tea. Some of their accolades include World Tea Expo Best New Product, Best Mission-Driven Natural Product NEXTY Award, and multiple innovation award nominations. Continued on PAGE 11