Arizonans will soon have an easier, more sustainable way to bring fresh, organic food to the dinner table.
Chow Locally is a new online marketplace that connects consumers to farmers in Arizona. The website, which launched this month, makes shopping for locally farmed produce, dairy products, meats and other miscellaneous items as simple as the click of a mouse.
The website’s three founders — Derek Slife, Annie Cowan and ASU assistant professor in nutrition Chris Wharton — met through a Consumer Supported Agriculture volunteer program where consumers can purchase food boxes directly from a farmer filled with each week’s harvest.
While the three enjoyed and still support the program, they said there were a few key components in the CSA system that they could expand upon.
Slife said the biggest challenges with the CSA program were only having the option to order from one farm, purchasing a mystery box of food and paying for produce ahead of time.
“That’s why we set up Chow Locally to be pay-as-you-go, with no long-term commitments, and we don’t collect usernames or passwords,” he said. “You just order online, and then you go pick it up.”
At the moment, the only pickup location is the Downtown Phoenix Public Market on Saturday mornings near the ASU campus. However, there are plans for another pick up location in Ahwatukee within two weeks, and possibly another in Chandler within three weeks. They also said they hope to work with another market in the ASU-Tempe area by September.
The three founders said they are avid supporters of purchasing locally farmed food.
“There are a number of community, environmentally and nutritionally related reasons to buy locally,” said Wharton.
He said buying food locally usually means the food is going to be healthier than what’s found in the grocery store. The packaging and the processing involved with store-bought food are two big components associated with the energy use in the food system.
“By going local, you get to bypass a lot of that industrialization,” he said.
For Cowan, buying locally is about giving more nutrient-dense food to her family.
“I know it’s super fresh,” she said.
It’s also about knowing the growing practices of the people who live and work in the same place as she does. Cowan said it makes her feel more connected to her food.
“It’s about community for me,” she said. “I know where that food comes from.”
Cowan said she enjoys working with the farmers because they have a real passion for what they do.
“They’re giving their heart and soul into the practice of farming,” she said.
Slife said taste is a factor when making the decision to buy food from local growers.
“Anyone who has had a tomato right off the vine and then compares that taste to a tomato in the grocery store, it’s night and day,” he said.
Slife said supporting the local economy is important to him.
“Instead of those funds going off shore, it helps everyone around the Valley get richer, really,” he said.
When a customer fails to pick up an order, the food is donated to either a food bank or a shelter to avoid waste, Slife said.
“It’s another way of supporting the local community … it’s not going to waste and we know it’s going to people who need it,” Cowan said.
Reach the reporter at kmmandev@asu.edu
