Farm-to-table
Despite the growth in the farm-to-table restaurants the movement has been met with some criticism. Critics argue the interest in knowing where your food comes from and ensuring it is locality sourced is just another food fad for millennials. Furthermore, the higher price point that many restaurants are forced to demand, given the higher costs of production and lower economies of scale, also make farm-to-table food less accessible for many people. The movement was originally closed tied to "tree-hugging elitists," who were able to afford farm-to-table food. Lastly, critics argue that the farm-to-table term is not fully understood by consumers. For example, foods advertised as farm-to-table are considered healthier regardless of actual nutritional content.
The Food Project
One of the main tenets of The Food Project is that the land that the program uses is a part of the community and therefore must be integrated. One of the innovative ways in which this is accomplished is through community-supported agriculture (CSA), an agricultural model founded in Japan (teikei) and implemented in the U.S. by Indian Line Farm, in Massachusetts. In this model, local consumers buy a share of the farm's harvest. Produce from the harvest is then distributed at the farm to shareholders up to a defined limit. Selection and volume depends on the time of year, but freshness is frequently unmatched by standard retail vendors because the food can be consumed immediately after harvesting.