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 Think about it
Edible Austin is all about food. But is also (and just as importantly) about supporting the building of a deep local economy using local food as the driver. Think about it:
• When you hand the Starbucks clerk a $5 bill, say good-bye. It’s on its way to Seattle. When you hand a locally owned coffee shop your money, a much higher portion of that re-circulates in the Austin economy.
• When you choose the big brands, you are enriching corporations and their shareholders. When you select local products—especially at locally owned food stores like Farm to Market and Thom’s Market, as well as at Whole Foods Market, H-E-B and elsewhere—you are creating local jobs.
• When you purchase directly from the farmers market or farm stand, you are reducing our dependence on foreign oil and chemically addicted industrial agricultural corporations…and you are building community as you meet and establish ongoing relationships with those local vendors.
• When you dine at one of our many independent restaurants—especially those who source local food—you are supporting the entire local food and supply chain. When you dine at chain restaurants, you are likely sending your dollars to some remote location for food and supplies that have traveled back and forth across the globe.
TAKE THE EDIBLE CHALLENGE: For the next week, use cash for all your food and restaurant purchases. Don't use a discount card. As you hand over your hard-earned money, think about: WHO are you handing it to? WHERE is it going? HOW MUCH of it will stay in Austin, re-circulating and building a vibrant, deep local economy?
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 3rd Anniversary
This summer marks the anniversary of our third year of publishing Edible Austin. Three years doesn’t seem like such a very long time, but it certainly feels like much has changed in our local food world. Three summers ago, there were farmers markets in Austin just two days of the week (Wednesday and Saturday). Now you can shop for fresh, locally grown food five days a week—and in many more convenient locations around Austin and Central Texas. More restaurants are touting local specials and even all-local menus. And asking what’s local on a menu or where the fish comes from doesn’t raise as many eyebrows as it used to. There are now local farm-to-plate home delivery services and more urban farms, with accompanying farm stands, sprouting up within our city limits. And some farms are expanding! Finally, in contemplating all that’s happened over the past three years, here’s a shout-out to Edible Austin founding Advisory Group member and Eastside Café co-owner Dorsey Barger, who’s now got herself a farm.
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 Spring Chicken
Spring is the season for preparing food gardens and for hatching chickens. I apologize in advance to our readers who are not fans of the feathered fowl, as there is an abundance of chicken-related material within this issue. If you've made it past our cover, that’s a promising sign. And you don't have to raise chickens to love the egg-rich recipes shared by Elizabeth Winslow (Cooking Fresh), Lucinda Hutson and Tipsy Texan David Alan (his recipes for flip cocktails below). But for those who want to venture beyond the gastronomic rewards, we encourage you to explore the benefits and pleasures of chicken husbandry, if just vicariously.
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 Winter Growing Season
And remember that right here in Central Texas, at the start of our winter growing season, we can go to our farmers markets and buy jalepeno peppers, tomatoes, citrus fruits, all kinds of greens, nuts, root vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower and squashes—a real bounty of fresh food for the holidays!
Make sure to check out our 3rd Annual Eat Local Week—December 5-12. Local restaurants will be sourcing local items for their menus as well as many great events that feature local food artisans.
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 Thinking Little
So I hope you will enjoy some perspectives on "thinking little" we have in this issue of Edible Austin. David Ansel writes about the downsizing of restaurants in our booming food cart culture. Jeremy Walther demystifies the microbiology of nurturing our soil to grow more productive and healthful gardens. Robin Chotzinoff introduces us to Broken Arrow Ranch’s back-to-basics field-harvested wild game. Marshall Wright opens his lens for us for a new feature called Back of the House featuring James Holmes’s elemental cooking behind the line at Olivia. Lucinda Hutson illuminates our journey paying homage to our loved ones in her Dia de los Muertos column. Soll Sussman catches Diana Kennedy at the farmers market lamenting that we’re still using plastic bags even though we should know better by now. And new columnist Lisa Fain takes us on a guided tour of making bratwurst from scratch. Her column Handiwork will be a seasonal DIY of cooking adventures.
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