THE LATEST “SKINNY” ON
PRODUCING SPECIALTY FOODS IN YOUR OWN KITCHEN
Homemade Food Production: Challenging American Traditions
This is the second of two articles by Culinary professional Detra Denay Davis. (1)
The Sweet Taste of History
In years past, the whole idea of selling homemade baked goods was a popular farmer’s market activity and a way for farmers to make additional revenue. Visit any farmers market today and you will see local farmers or farmer’s wives selling breads, cakes, pies, cookies, pickled okra, apple butter, jams and jellies. (2) It was home-base food production that set the foundation for cottage laws; and with a looming economic recession, cottage laws may soon provide an opportunity to impact many local communities in a good way.
Baking Up Controversy
As the economy continues on its stagnant path there is a gentle movement to employ more cottage laws. The states of California, Michigan and Oklahoma have legislation pending that would allow home-based baking. This could bring more competition to the commercial baking industry; causing cottage laws to be challenged. The confrontation to stop home-based baking was most apparent at a number of legislative sessions held on House Bill 3282 filed by Texas State Representative Dan Gattis, making it legal to sell non-potentially hazardous bakery items prepared in residential kitchens. (3) “The bill, along with hundreds of others, died on the calendar at the stroke of midnight on Thursday, May 14, 2009”according to the support group, Texascottagefoodlaw.com who created a website to support the legislation.
Key issues in this debate to stop home-based baking include:
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Selecting who will oversee issues concerning food safety and design the regulations associated with home food processing
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Selecting who will be responsible for inspecting home kitchens
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Determining who will pay the cost for these “ongoing”inspections
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Determining how often a home-based bakery needs to be inspected
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Determining how the regulatory agency will verify a home-based bakery’s ongoing compliance with agency rules and regulations
New opportunity always brings about new challenges that not only must be addressed but understood by everyone involved. No one is suggesting that home-based baking be unregulated since no regulation is actually a bad thing, putting the health of the community at risk.
Learn from the Experts
There are a handful of states that have learned to operate successful cottage programs paving the way for small food entrepreneurs to initiate start-up businesses. No one is becoming a millionaire but many are generating added income and optimistic about the future of their food venture.
The states of Maine, North Carolina, Virginia and just recently Alabama allow home-based baking with some restrictions. This has opened the door for bakers with an entrepreneurial spirit to step out and sell their products in hopes of one day starting a traditional brick and mortar.
Other states interested in adapting “cottage laws”may opt to look and learn from the programs of states adept at operating and overseeing cottage food production. Managing these programs will not be without challenges but with unemployment in the double digits it may prove beneficial. The idea of creating a program that could partially pay for itself through special taxes, small application fees and licenses could be attractive to legislators.
The Future of Home Food Production
In a perfect world there would be enough room for home-based bakers, home food processors and commercial production. If sustainable communities are an aspiration of the future it makes sense to have small community farmers markets, farm stands, food cooperatives and specialty shops filled with products processed by individuals from that community.
As a former resident of Detroit the idea of (4) farming being the mainstay that saves Detroit from urban blight is starting to look more promising. One of the benefits of working with home food processors is they are often set up as public vendors at farmers markets presenting their products or services week after week, year after year. Consumers have direct face-to-face contact with them each time they shop. So if an item was not satisfactory the consumer gets to go face-to-face with the vendor about the situation; something you cannot do with a large food corporations.
Home-based baking for profit is about getting back to the basics, being accountable, building trust, integrity and honesty and making food more accessible to the community all while seeking to provide delicious products.
(1) About the Author:
Detra Denay Davis, owner of Cooking with Denay, operates an online learning center for home based bakers and home food processors, and teaches the wildly popular class How to Operate a Home-Based Bakery: Profits from My Kitchen taught at the Wake County Public School System Lifelong Learning Program, Raleigh, North Carolina. Formerly a caterer from Michigan, Denay was featured in Bon Appétitmagazine and is an active member of the International Culinary Professionals Association (ICPA), Slow Food (Triangle Chapter), and Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization dedicated to keeping the diverse food cultures of the American South alive. Visit Denay at http://cookingwithdenay.com to learn more.
(2) Measuring the Impact of Public Markets and Farmers Markets on Local Economies, (n.d.), Retrieved from http://www.pps.org/markets/info/markets_articles/economic_benefits_of_markets
(3) Texas Cottage Food Law, (n.d.), Retrieved from http://www.texascottagefoodlaw.com/
(4)Can Farming Save Detroit, (n.d.), Retrieved from http://www.cityfarmer.info/2010/01/01/fortune-magazine-can-farming-save-detroit/
