Thursday, February 10, 2011

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Vegetable Van vroom vroom

Coleman's Delivery Wagon


This old timey photo is from Mallala Museum in South Australia! Their caption reads: "Albert Charles Coleman used this covered wagon to deliver fruit and vegetables from his shop to his customers in the townnship of Mallala and nearby areas." Nothing is new again, plus ça change, etc. etc. PeaPod is just old hat.

BUT, it's great to get more fresh produce delivery systems out to food deserts. East Harlem is going to get a refrigerated Veggie Van that will tote affordable produce from wholesale markets in the Bronx to senior centers and housing projects, with hopes to expand the reach to Inwood and Washington Heights. Interestingly, to start the van project, the Manhattan borough President's office has been working with NYC's Greenmarket program, even though it seems the produce won't be coming from the greenmarket producers (or is there an overlap with the wholesalers?). It'll be interesting to see how this program rolls out, how it's run and received, whether there will be organic produce offered, etc. But yay for bringing produce to the people!!