Judy and I made a field trip over to the festival in Northville today, interested in meeting fellow Michigan based business owners and seeing what products/services they had to offer. Since it was almost lunchtime, we got sidetracked by the vendors that had food products, and boy, are we glad we did!
Two vendors of note: Global Warming Salsa Co. and Chef Zachary Gourmet Blended Spices.
Global Warming Salsa Co.: Made in Michigan, featuring gourmet ingredients from around the world. ‘Global Warming’ takes their name from a play on global (as in flavors), including featuring the flavors of Africa, China, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Japan and Mexico. Global Warming Salsa Co. is also very philanthropic minded; proceeds from the salsa are going to an illustrated children’s exercise and nutrition book. For those that love their salsa, they offer fundraising activities as well. Judy and I tried the Japanese inspired salsa. While we differed in our appreciation of the salsa, we both agreed that to treat this just as a salsa would do it an injustice. Their salsa would be great on/with steak, fish, pasta, baked potatoes, in addition to tortilla chips. It has a full bodied taste and a smooth consistency, perfect for an accessory to a main dish. You can reach them at www.globalwarmingsalsa.com
Chef Zachary claims that once you taste his spices your taste buds will be spoiled. Know what? He’s right. We each bought a jar of his Chelsea Spice and headed over to Joseph’s Coney Island (in downtown Northville) for lunch. A little of his Chelsea Spice sprinkled on a greek salad did wonders for it. The traditional taste of the salad was instantly enhanced with the addition of the spice. Boy, is Chef Zachary right, your taste buds get spoiled. He suggests you try it on seafood, meet, eggs and BBQ, and I will. I’m especially excited to try it on grilled veggies. We’ve so many zucchini from our garden and this spice, with a little onion and garlic, should be awesome. We also liked the fact that there was no MSG, salt or sugar in the spice. Just the goodness of herbs, spices and peppers, all expertly combined by Chef Zachary. His spices are available online at www.chefzachary.com
Joseph’s Coney Island, by the way, deserves a mention too. We stopped in at noon, and while the place was crowded, we were able to get a table relatively quickly. We knew we were on a tight schedule, so we ordered quickly and tried to relax, almost accepting in advance that a sit down restaurant wasn’t the best way to go when you’re running against the clock. Our lunch was served in less than 10 minutes; the food and service were excellent and our waitress was humorous, friendly and efficient. My drink never sat empty, even for a minute (good thing on a really humid day like today). If only Northville wasn’t so far away from our office, we’d make Joseph’s a regular lunchtime place.
Check out the Buy Michigan Now festival. Spend Thursday at Northville Farmers Market (Northville Downs), where they will have 100 stalls featuring Michigan made products and Michigan grown produce. Festivities continue through the weekend.
Enjoy, and Buy Michigan! www.buymichigannow.com
Buy Michigan! Unless the product is inferior or the price is considerably higher……Michigan Businesses should recognize that Michigan consumers need to squeeze every bit of value from their hard earned dollars and must provide a competitive product. We can't artificially prop up inefficient producers at the consumers expense!
Obviously not everyone can understand the correlation between buying local and creating jobs which helps our economy. Not to mention that quality or quantity should be the goal when it comes to food consumption.