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If there is one concern that i would have about Denver ,it would have to be over the availability of organic meat,chicken,pork,fruits,vegetables,fresh fish and seafood.My research have showed that there is a company in Denver name "The Seattle fish Company" (oddly enough) witch is station at the airport where they import fresh fish and seafood out of both coast right off the cargo planes and distributed them to the local food industry.however they do not sell to the general public.
So my questions are:
where do you buy organic products in Denver?
are there Certified organic butchers and dairy shops in the area
In the winter months does the quality of the fruits and vegetable selections different than in spring and summer?
Is there a hydroponic alternatives in order to supply fruits and vegetables during the winter months?
and finally where can one find the freshest fish and seafood in Denver?
thanks.
If there is one concern that i would have about Denver ,it would have to be over the availability of organic meat,chicken,pork,fruits,vegetables,fresh fish and seafood.My research have showed that there is a company in Denver name "The Seattle fish Company" (oddly enough) witch is station at the airport where they import fresh fish and seafood out of both coast right off the cargo planes and distributed them to the local food industry.however they do not sell to the general public.
So my questions are:
where do you buy organic products in Denver?
are there Certified organic butchers and dairy shops in the area
In the winter months does the quality of the fruits and vegetable selections different than in spring and summer?
Is there a hydroponic alternatives in order to supply fruits and vegetables during the winter months?
and finally where can one find the freshest fish and seafood in Denver?
thanks.
Seattle Fish Company Sells to the general public. They do not sell direct because they are a wholesale supplier but they sell to the grocery stores, fish markets, large and small, where the general public buys the fish. In addition, they market to restaurants and institutions, like colleges and schools--where the general public eats.
Organic food products are available at all grocery stores--including King Soopers, Safeway, and specialty markets like Whole foods. In addition Wal Mart carries organic products. These are certified under applicable state and federal laws. Colorado gets a great deal of produce from California.
Organic Food products such as meat and dairy are produced locally in Colorado and brought in from other states. They are available in all the major grocery markets
In winter months, fresh fruits and vegetables are not available locally in season, as would be expected in cold weather state, are brought in from California, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida and other southern states. Even warm weather states have seasonal products and interstate/international trade exist to bring in products that are in demand. We get many seasonal products like blueberries from Michigan. Fruit from Washington and Oregon, Onions from Texas, Watermelons from Louisianna, etc. In addition, there is substantial imports of produce from Mexico, all year round. Just like the rest of the US, Colorado is also a market for produce from South America, Chile, Argentina etc. New Zealand and Australia also ship in produce.
Hydrophonics products are available all year for many products that have a market for these products. Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Herbs, Lettuces are some of the products. The facilities are in state and out of state.
You seem to have a wrong impression about food distribution. Colorado is not different from the rest of the country. If there is a market, then there is someone to sell. Products are routinely brought here by rail, trucks, and air in from all parts of the world and we ship products to other states and nations. This has been happening ever since settlement of the state, well over a hundred years.
Denver, Colorado is the largest city in the West and serves as a regional distribution center for a very large multi-state area.
Food Products come into Denver which serves as a regional distrubutive warehouse location for this huge market area. Look on the map and you can see that Denver is the only major city for Wyoming, Western Nebraska, Western Kansas and other areas bordering the high plains.
Colorado locally produces many products--some are more specialized then others, which depends on Climate and Season. However, this country is very interconnected in markets and distribution. Colorado is not at the remote ends of the earth. Colorado produces many food products, much from the Western Slope of the Rockies, and the Great Plains, where most of Colorado and the Population is located. In addition, we also have agricultural basins in the Rockies. The Directory of Colorado Agriculture can be search here
Food and Ag Directory - Colorado Department of Agriculture (http://www.ag.state.co.us/FoodAgDirectory/ - broken link)
There are many categories to search and you will see many local organic products are available.
Where would I buy fresh fish in Denver??
Well, there are numerous fresh fish markets including all the major grocery suppliers. In addition, the Asian Markets, near Federal and Alameda, have numerous suppliers. Also there are Japanese Markets in Downtown, in Sakura Square. In Aurora, there are Korean Markets. In many areas of Denver there are Mexican Food Markets and South American Food Markets that all carry fresh fish.
I think you can find much to please your palate and
Livecontent
Last edited by livecontent; 03-28-2008 at 11:29 PM..
Dear Livecontent,
thanks a bunch for your help,i am printing your thread right now because of all the valuable informations it has.I am amaze at the extend of the demand for organic produce in Colorado,the level seems to be such that even the corporate food stores(including the walmart scumbags) are compelled to deliver them to general public along with the poisonous food they usually sell.Here in Montreal there is a ecological grassroots type organization that as brought together farmers and city folks like myself by having us sign a contract with the farmers guarantying to buy their products.Some of these farmers have hydroponic on top of traditional operations in order to supply their customer even in winter.I am a subscriber to the 100miles food concept witch in a nutshell is to buy strictly local within 100 miles radius.Needless to say that all this cost a harm and a leg but i love to eat and i am a strong environmentalist. I also want to thank you for your fresh fish stores recommendations because i am very fussy when it comes to fresh fish and seafood witch i love and can't never get enough off.Unfortunately when one find oneself away from the coast a great fishmonger his worth his weight in gold! but just to make sure i suppose that the stores that you have mention in your thread also carry lobsters,shrimps.scallops and all that great seafood stuff,not just fresh fish? or do you recommend another place(S) for seafoods.
thanks again
I like to shop at Vitamin Cottage for organic foods. They don't have as wide of a selection as Whole Foods but what they have is good and very reasonably priced.
I have to say, after many years of living here, the produce in Colorado is not as good as in some other places I have lived in the east and midwest. But yes, there is an abundance of orgainc foods everywhere. You do not have to go farther than your local Safeway.
RATT, having grown up on the eastern seaboard, I can definitely tell you that you cannot get good fresh seafood here like back east. Every once in a while I find some good deals, but it is limited.
Knowing that fresh produce and fresh seafood are so important to you, raises the question as to why you are thinking of moving to Denver. Denver is a semi-arid region, with a growing season of about six months. Colorado is not on or near an ocean. Sounds like you should be looking on the east or west coasts.
I agree with Dreaming of Hawaii---why??? I grew up in New York and everything she says is correct.
I also agree with Katiana, there is not the abundance of fresh products, as you see in the East and Midwest. I grew up in Western New York, near Buffalo, and their was tremedous amounts of produce stands and orchards. Colorado does have that, but not in abundance--the climate is different.
One of the products that I am not satisfied with is fresh Tomatoes. They do not have that acid and sugar balance that I see in the east. Many of the tomatoes marketed here are hot house tomatoes or hydroponics--these methods do not establish the flavor that I like. Even, field grown tomatoes here do not develop the full flavors. In addition, some of the tomatoes are picked green and gas-ripened with ethylene--they taste like cardboard. In much of my food preparation, I use whole canned tomatoes--because they are fully ripened and have more flavor.
Livecontent
However, so as not to disparage Colorado, there are products available. There are Japanese produce markets, north of Denver that have a good selection of Products. The Japanese have been here since the late 19th to the early 20th century and they have contributed much to the agricuture.
Dear Livecontent,
thanks a bunch for your help,i am printing your thread right now because of all the valuable informations it has.I am amaze at the extend of the demand for organic produce in Colorado,the level seems to be such that even the corporate food stores(including the walmart scumbags) are compelled to deliver them to general public along with the poisonous food they usually sell.Here in Montreal there is a ecological grassroots type organization that as brought together farmers and city folks like myself by having us sign a contract with the farmers guarantying to buy their products.Some of these farmers have hydroponic on top of traditional operations in order to supply their customer even in winter.I am a subscriber to the 100miles food concept witch in a nutshell is to buy strictly local within 100 miles radius.Needless to say that all this cost a harm and a leg but i love to eat and i am a strong environmentalist. I also want to thank you for your fresh fish stores recommendations because i am very fussy when it comes to fresh fish and seafood witch i love and can't never get enough off.Unfortunately when one find oneself away from the coast a great fishmonger his worth his weight in gold! but just to make sure i suppose that the stores that you have mention in your thread also carry lobsters,shrimps.scallops and all that great seafood stuff,not just fresh fish? or do you recommend another place(S) for seafoods.
thanks again
I want to answer this post because you brought up some issues that I do not agree.
Walmart does not sell or market poison. They buy their products from the same sources as even fancy expensive markets. Walmart organic produce and regular product are the same as products from Whole Foods or any other sources--they are not inferior. They meet the federal grade standards for size and quality. Yes, the USA has federal grades for fruits and vegetables that are very precise. In fact, I have been, to warehouse in Denver where products have arrived and the load is refused as per standards.
A federal inspector is called to evaluate and determine the grade upon arrival.
My Background is in food purchasings, distribution, product development, product specifications, and a long time ago--preparation.
Numerous times, I have been to the Los Angeles wholesale markets where much of the produce is brokered and traded and I can tell you, that there is significant presence of all buyers from all the major markets and they buy from the same varied sources. Not only are agents in LA, but in the Central Valleys, Products are bought very much, in advance, of retail marketing, and you will see agents inspecting products in the fields.
I was involved with setting up a hydrophonic facility in a remote area of the world--were nothing grows--the Antarctic. I became very familiar with the technology and the attended conventions and meeting. Hydroponics is good for some products, in some situation, but for most products it does not develop the flavor and complex characteristics of soil grown products. I feel it is definetly inferior and certainly uses many chemicals in the aqueous nutritional solution.
As far as your 100 mile rule--I think that is accomplish nothing. Because producers develop products not only for localized consumption, but for intrastate, interstate and national export. So that if, you boycott a product because it is not produced locally, you lose the advantage of getting the very best products available because they can only be grown in one region because of climate and soil. In addition, you cannot substitute products locally that are just as good in the season, and certainly products that cannot be produced locally, out season.
You then do not encourage the best artichokes from the Monterey Pennisula in California, the best onions of Texas, the Melons of Colorado, the blueberries of New Jersey, the oyster of Maryland, cheeses from France, Sardines from North African and the Canadian Maritime Coast. You should look to support farmers wherever they are located so they will produce and ship the best products. Today we look at the whole world as our neighborhood; It is a global marketplace.
Local growers are important and should be supported in season and if the area is suited econlogicallly for the product--but to artificially produce a product hydroponically, out of season is not the best environmentally way to go. You can get the product that is naturally grown from another area that is suited and at the best in the season.
Trade of food Products across boundaries have been going on for thousands of years. It develops the local producers because they have better wider market for their products, and helps every area to have good products available all year.
My mother is Canadian and I grew up, near Buffalo, on the Ontario border. I have been to Canada, many times. You will not get the same quality seafood here as you can get in Quebec.You live closer to ready sources from the great banks. Yes, I know there have been much depletion of products and there are very severe retriction in fishing--but there is still a source in the Maritime Provinces of Canada and the Northeast US.
In Denver, everthing has to move a distance from the source, and for fresh seafood--distance in an enemy. Colorado will never be a prime seafood area--it is what it is--a semi-arid desert environment. To ship products here, that will not survive the trip in good conditions, and to sell at ridiculous high prices, is wrong for the consumer. Som fish products used in food preparation are better, in this area, from the frozen--where it was processed and flash frozen on the ship or docks.
There has been overfishing. As time goes on, many fish products will be farmed raised and if they cannot be raised as such--there will be a very limited or no supply. I can remember when I was a kid, going to the markets and seeing salted cod, standing like lumber, in the corner of the stores--the odor is stll with me--I loved it--but I have not seen flanks of salted cod for years--certainly not in Colorado. Cod was at one time the food of the poor, now it is very pricey--and where did much of it come from--the Great Banks, off of the Canadian Coast.
If you are a real gourmand, as I suspect, you would be better off in Montreal. Not only is better food available but preparation and a tradition of food preparation is far superior.
Livecontent
Graduate CIA---many, many, years ago when I was younger--and thinner
I agree about the tomatoes, livecontent. We have had some luck in the past with growing our own and canning them. Then, for many years, our garden area was taken up with play equipment. However, we are now in a different phase in life; have taken some of that down and enlarged the garden. I hope to can this summer!
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In much of my food preparation, I use whole canned tomatoes--because they are fully ripened and have more flavor.
