Yes, I did ask if you know the history of the potato; and, no, I am not joking. An interesting facet to the history of potatoes is that the history includes

Potatoes did not originate in Europe, Russia or Africa. While a great many of edible tubers do originate from those parts of the world, the potato in all of its many forms, flavors, colors and textures actually originated in South America. Akin to corn, tomatoes, and other present day North American / European kitchen vegitable staples, potatoes were brought back from South America by early explorers. Although these explorers did not have the tools or technology to assess or quantify all of the nutritional values and benefits potatoes can offer, through direct observation of the native peoples’ eating habits and overall health, explorers correctly assessed that potatoes could be an excellent food source for the masses “back in the old country.”

But, despite all of its nutritional values and benefits, potatoes were not exactly an instant hit with those masses. In fact, potatoes initially received staunch resistance and great skepticism by those very masses who were to benefit from eating potatoes. From a branding or communications perspective, potatoes suffered from a significant image or public perception problem. Potatoes were completely new and entirely unknown. Not only did they look strange if not bizzare, but people did not know what or how to prepare them for consumption. When confronted with this strange and bizzare thing, the masses reacted with fear and skepticism, rumoring potatoes to be poisonous among other things, and deeply entrenched resistance to potatoes.

The important question to ask is: what happened? How did the potato go from evil food vilan to much loved and prized food staple?

Persuasion

Or, by other standards, very cunning trickery.

As the story goes, Antoine Augustine Parmentier – a pharmacist, chemist and employee of Louis XV, was came up with a fairly surreptitious way of persuading local French peasants to overcome their resistance to potatoes. Apparently, he planted 50 acres of potatoes just outside of Paris in a poor neighborhood. “During the day, he set a guard over it. This drew considerable attention in the neighborhood. In the evening the guard was relaxed and the locals came to see what all the fuss was about. Believing this plant must be valuable, many peasants “acquired” some of the potatoes from the plot, and soon were growing the root in their own garden plots. Their resistance was overcome by their curiosity and desire to better their lot with the obviously valuable new produce.” (from Potato!- History)

According to Robert B. Cialdini, “Scarcity can not only increase the perceived value of an entity, it can also influence the perceptions of an item (emotional, flavors, intensity, etc.)” and “when increasing scarcity – or anything else- interferes with our prior access to some item, we will react against the interference by waiting and trying to possess the item more than before.” (Robert B. Cialdini, Influence Science and Practice, 4th edition 2001, p. 209).

So, by placing soldiers around the potato fields and restricting access, Parmentier significantly increased the perceived value of the potatoes.

Would such a technique apply today? Yes. Current examples include limited edition bottling of wines or spirits. Other examples include limited availability based on geography, seasonality or specified growing conditions such as certified organic. Simply put, by restricting access, availability or creating exclusivity, perceived value can be added to a product, even if it that product is just a lowly potato.

Each day it becomes easier and easier to record and post video onto any number of social media sites. Not long ago, putting video on the web required special equipment and software. Now, many still and video cameras are designed to post video to the web with the “click of a button.” At the same time, video software such as Apple’s iMovie provides fairly robust editing tools that are easy to use at a very affordable price.

But, just because it is easy to do something, does not mean that it should be done.

When you post something to the web, it then becomes a part of your overall web presence and your “image” or brand. Just as it is not a good idea for gold medal swimmers, college co-eds or law school students to put video, photos, or written comments on the web that may present them in a bad way, you do not want to post things to the web or your website that do not match with how you want your company to be perceived.

Take a look at the videos shown below and note how they portray two entirely different brands or personas.

Artisean Beef

Organic Spirits in Loudon County, VA

It seems many people see buying organic / local foods is something done by others. What “others” is, I have no clue. But, I imagine it is entirely based on perceptions and stereo types such as: young hipsters, DINKS, “smarter” or “prettier”, urban-over educated, liberal loving and nearly socialist, Pruis or not American made/truck drivers, and other completely superficial and baseless things.

While there is probably a grain of truth to all of those stereotypes, the facts paint an entirely different picture.

According to a recent posting at Save Our Food, the USDA’s 2008 Organic Production Survey reports Virginia’s 180 certified or exempt organic farms occupied a total of 12,308 acres with 5,884 acres used for harvested cropland and 5,164 acres used for pastureland.

For the people owning, working on, and working with those 180 certified or exempt organic farms, ”40 percent of Virginia organic sales took place within 100 miles of the farm; nearly half took place within 500 miles of the farm.”

I gotta repeat this:

Half of the sales for the food from those 180 farms happens within 500 miles, a day’s drive, of those farms.

And;

“40 percent of Virginia organic sales took place within 100 miles of the farm…”

So, what does this mean?

It means that when you make an effort to buy organic and/or local foods, you are giving your dollars to your neighbors!

Still think rganic or local farming is something reserved for “them”?

Remember:

Local farming is “… as personal as your NEXT MEAL.”

P.S. The Virginia Farm Bureau’s website www.SaveOurFood.org is a great resource for information about farming in Virginia as well as finding local farmers, farmer’s markets, and CSA’s where you can receive locally produced food.

Don’t you agree it is a wonderful day in the neighborhood? Well at least it was a wonderful day in the neighborhood.  With fall finally showing some gusto over the last few days, Wife, Dog, and I took a trip out to the Northern Neck area of Virginia.

We ended up camping at the Westmoreland Virginia State Park campsite.  It is very beautiful there and definitely worth checking out, especially now while the days still offer some warmth and the crowds are not around.  If you have time, make sure to hunt for fossils on Fossil Beach, look for Osprey and Eagles from the cliffs near the visitor center, and then remark on the ironic fact that George Washington and Robert E. Lee were born and raised approximately 10 miles from each other.

More to the point of this blog, we toured around the area on Sunday and ended up stopping at the Ingleside Winery as well as the Westmoreland Berry Farm.  Two very special but very different places.

Pulling into the Ingleside winery was a very pleasant surprise.  After a very short but picturesque cruz down the gravel driveway along vines flirting with fall colors on the leaves, a turn into the parking area reveals a happy but simple entrance marked by old oak foudres and an ivy covered silo.

Deciding to leave Dog in the car, we parked in the shade with the windows rolled down and water in his dish. Walking through the entrance revealed a pleasant outdoor seating area with a bubbly fountain in the middle and tables with umbrellas and fall leaf garland wrapped around each post.

After a quick sugar snack of delicious shortbread cookie and coffee cake, the pre-wine tasting snack of champions, we stepped back into the winery tasting room and shop, after all we were there for the wine as well as the atmosphere.

Wife choose the regular tasting for $3 and I chose the full, $10. Both tastings came with a complementary glass form the winery. The full allowed me to taste the regular, and the reserve wines while Wife was limited to regular wines only.

As it turned out, Wife didn’t seem to enjoy the few sips of reserve wines she mooched from me.  Although I thought the reserve reds were good and very food friendly, she wasn’t all that impressed.  We both agreed the merlot was a little of a let down compared to Merlots from Western Virginia we sampled recently and the Syrah seemed to be a mutual favorite. I also thought the Petit Verdot was another good food wine, seeing how I could easily pour it with smoked ham or turkey, roast pork or beef, and winter vegetables roasted and served with a sweet and tangy mustard.

With our mutual dislike for heavily oaked Chardonnay, we both were surprised and happy with their Chesapeake Chardonnay.  It was light with acids, having just enough to not be too sweat, and just enough mineral to go with and not against oysters, heavy cream or blue cheese, tangy asian chicken, summer melon wrapped in prosciutto, or even roasted figs with pancetta. At the same time, by avoiding the curse of oak barrel aging, oak is good for some wines but not and especially Chardonnays, the Chesapeake Chardonnay doesn’t offer the same woody and thick taste as many of its counterparts, including Ingleside’s Reserve Chardonnay.

All in all I had a great time and was pleasantly pleased with the wines.  I greatly look forward to going back and trying their wines as well as the many wines offered by the wineries of the Northern Neck sometime very soon.

As a kid, my friends and our parents would head out to Sauvie’s Island to pick berries in the summer, pumpkins in the fall, pet goats and hold freshly hatched chicks in the spring. Watching kids climb aboard a hay ride, bounce and bumble down the lane past the plank climbing goats, and descend upon the pumpkin patch as if searching for a leprechaun’s pot of gold brought back many of those gilded memories. Feasting upon a very good pulled pork barbeque sandwich, baked beans, coleslaw, and a truly glutinous and yet gleefully great strawberry combo (strawberry shortcake with ice cream and whipped cream) created new gilded memories and very full tummies. Originally I would have said one combo was enough to last a long while. But, after using some of their blackberry preserves on freshly baked cornbread at breakfast this morning, I am now wondering if they serve a blackberry combo and if it would taste better with the air just a little cooler.

All in all, I have to say that I am grateful to have ventured out to the Northern Neck area of Virginia and look forward to venturing out there again soon.