Conscientious grocer wants his healthy frozen meals to nurture the community

By HSIAO-CHING CHOU
P-I FOOD EDITOR

It is a hard balance to strike sometimes when trying to reconcile a time-starved life with a slow-food appetite. Mindfulness and patience, after all, are hallmarks of a food lover who chants the mantra of local, seasonal, organic.


		DAN DELONG / P-I
	Greg Conner outside a freezer of entrees at Eat Local, his new business on Queen Anne Hill. Eat Local specializes in prepared meals that are made with ingredients, including organic meats and produce, that come from within a several-hundred-mile radius. Conner and a number of chefs collaborated on the 40-item menu.

But when demands force life to teeter toward convenience, culinary idealism often is the first casualty.

Greg Conner had drifted into the irony of serving as a sustainability consultant who preached the value of buying local foods but found himself, at the end of very long workdays, seeking the ease of prepared products that did not reflect his principles.

Out of his need, and unwilling to sacrifice his beliefs, he gave birth to a new niche market called Eat Local, which opened about a month ago.

Situated on Queen Anne Hill in a building that used to house a gym franchise, Eat Local is dedicated to providing frozen prepared meals that can go straight into the oven or microwave. What sets this shop apart from other companies that offer "gourmet" frozen meals is that Eat Local endeavors to fulfill the conviction implied by its name: All the produce and meats used are sustainably raised (organic, free-range, grass-fed), come from within a several-hundred-mile radius, and are seasonal.

"I wanted something that represents a meal that would have taken several hours to prepare," says Conner, a Seattle native.

The menu is replete with items from starters to desserts and includes such comforts as shepherd's pie, meatloaf, baby back ribs, quiche, chili, cheesecake and pre-rolled dough for cookies. It also satisfies vegetarians with a quinoa loaf and squash curry with brown rice.

What value-added products are available -- jams, honey, flavored oils, dried fruits -- also come from local producers. And because Conner is intent on carrying the local theme as far as he can, he contracted with Port Townsend ceramic artist Lorna Smith to design a line of stoneware (with each piece named after a Queen Anne street) for the store, and with Nikki McClure, who is known for intricate paper-cut illustrations, to create logo and label artwork.

McClure, who lives in Olympia, designed the mural of people at an oval table enjoying a bounty of food that overlooks the shop and is imprinted on store paraphernalia. She also created a different image for each of the product labels. Conner says some customers have started collecting them.

Conner has paid so much attention to detail that he has trouble remembering all the considerations he has integrated into the business:

Meals are available in portions for one, two, four and eight.

Desserts are made with natural sweeteners, such as honey, maple syrup and agave nectar.

Infant and toddler foods come from Seattle-based Sprouts Baby Food (read more about Sprouts at goto.seattlepi.com/277956).

Prepaid cards allow customers to order by phone and get curbside delivery.

Glass baking dishes can be returned to the store for deposit refunds -- and zero packaging waste.

Biodegradable and compostable -- yes, 100 percent compostable -- plastic shopping bags are made from corn.

Special aluminum trays for many, but not all, the entrees can be microwaved and recycled.

A loft space is available free to the community.

The label sleeve can be slipped off easily and returned to the store for recycling.

Nutritional information for prepared meals will be available soon.

Meals are made in small batches daily, with no preservatives, at an off-site commercial kitchen, so what's available is the freshest it can be.

Bamboo trees are available for sale, too.

"I want to help people reduce their carbon impact," Conner says, "but in a way that improves their lives."

He hopes his business helps nurture and create community.

"I want to take care of the whole family. You can have dinner for four, the children and the dinner party on Saturday."

Conner depends on a community of chefs, including Tracey Peterson, who once worked at Rover's, and Donna Grisham, who has a degree in nutrition from Bastyr University, to prepare the food. They all collaborated on the menu, which will change with the seasons. To determine the 40 items with which the store would open, the chefs tested 110 recipes and did tastings with large groups of family and friends.

In addition to some of the dishes already mentioned are Orchard Duck Roast with Washington Apples and Onions; Roasted Apricot Chicken; Winter Squash Bisque; Apricot Lentil Soup with Ginger Essence; Chocolate Decadence (a flourless cake), and Bodiam Castle Flapjack Bar (a granola-bar-like snack).

"The focus is making great food," Conner emphasizes.

But it comes at a price. The cost runs from about $7 for a single portion to $55 for an eight-person entree.

"We're not the cheapest," Conner acknowledges. "But we know the provenance of the food. You pay for the safety in your food and you're having less impact on the environment."