Organic Who
Berries makeS
Your
Food?
•PICKED DAILY•
B
Come see
us at the
farm stand
GROUNDWORK
ORGANICS
THURSDAY - SUNDAY
9AM-6PM
91360 RIVER ROAD,
JUNCTION CITY
GROUNDWORKORGANICS.COM
uy local: It’s a mantra repeated with such
frequency in the bountiful Willamette Valley
that it’s almost lost all meaning. Let’s take
a step back and look at some numbers.
According to the Willamette Farm and
Food Coalition, a 2010 analysis estimated that Lane County
consumers are spending less than 5 percent of their food money
on locally produced food.
“OK, but locally produced food is hard to find,” you scoff.
Actually, that’s wrong! Lane County has an astonishing vari-
ety of locally grown foods — milk, veggies, fruit, herbs — and
now that the Lane County Farmers Market is open on Thursdays
as well as Tuesdays and Saturdays, locavores have even more
opportunities to buy fresh produce.
The Willamette Valley is also home to numerous food mak-
ers that distribute their products locally as well as nationwide.
We have granola makers, salsa crafters, chocolatiers, juicers,
yogurt producers — you name it.
That’s why EW decided to do this issue of Chow a little dif-
ferently. Instead of highlighting new restaurants, we’re taking a
look at local businesses, people and companies that make food.
There are so many that we couldn’t possibly list them all in one
issue, but we’ve tried to at least provide a snapshot of what local
food production can offer. You can find many of these products
in local grocery stores, farmers markets and even online.
So dig in and find out what delicious things your neighbors
are making.
DrinkS
Blue Lotus Chai, founded in Eugene by Barbara and
Stephan Cameron in 2010, makes it easy to brew a cup
of milky, rich chai with its packets of powdered mix.
It only takes one-fourth teaspoon of the mix added to
water, milk and sugar to brew spicy, sweet goodness. The
powder dissolves in hot water, making the entire cup of tea
smooth and uniform in flavor. Find Blue Lotus Chai at a
vast number of local establishments, including Red Barn
Natural Grocery, Sweet Life Patisserie, Noisette, The Kiva
and more, or check out bluelotuschai.com.
992 Willamette • Eugene, OR 97401
343-9661
2
CHOW SUMMER 2016
ORGANIC LEMONS ROLL
UP THE PRODUCTION
LINE AT GENESIS JUICE
Eugene hosts a number of tea purveyors, including
Yogi Tea in Springfield (yogiproducts.com), with its iconic
herbal blends — seriously, its “Throat Comfort” tea is a
godsend — and Labrang Tea Traders, which offers a
tantalizing black tea blend called “Daydreamer’s.” It is
sweet, mellow and comforting, with vanilla beans, red-rose
pedals and cardamom pods. Head over to labrangtraders.
com for more blends. Meanwhile, J-Tea International,
which opened its second teahouse last month on 19th
Avenue, sells tea from Taiwan and China, giving Eugene
a glimpse into Eastern tea culture. Founded in 2004 by
Josh Chamberlain, J-Tea has an enormous selection of tea
blends, including “Eugene Breakfast,” an orange pekoe
black tea with smooth texture and tangy taste. Find more
at jteainternational.com or head to 2778 Friendly Street.
EUGENEWEEKLY.COM/CHOW