Fall 2024 Issue

When we started planning this issue, we decided to delve into a few items often considered gourmand indulgences. Cheese, chocolate, figs, wine, spirits and beer are not essential to our day-to-day health and well-being, but they certainly add to the bounty of our table and the pleasure of enjoying life. Moving into the coziness of fall, we would share the stories of a few entrepreneurs and point our readers toward some wonderful resources.

But as is so often the case with food and drink in New Jersey, I realized there is more to the story.

“The New Milky Way” (page 44) led me to remember our Fall 2008 cover story, titled “The Once and Future Dairy State.” Taking a deep dive into the history of NJ’s dairy industry, writer Laura Sayre wrote at that time:

“New Jersey was once considered good dairy country…. But decades of razor-thin profit margins, rising land and labor costs, and ever-stricter food safety regulations have decimated New Jersey’s dairy sector. The number of dairy farms in the Garden State has fallen from a peak of around 15,000 in the 1940s and ’50s to fewer than a hundred today.”

Here in 2024, there are still fewer than 100 dairy farms in New Jersey. In a broader view, the total number of farms in New Jersey stands at 9,900—a number unchanged since 2018.*

In this issue, we also visit two chocolate shops (page 74 and page 92). Their owners are pouring everything into ensuring the success of their small businesses: money, sweat, passion, and time. As Melissa Crandley of Mecha Chocolate in Haddonfield says: “This is a 24/7 thing; it never stops, and needs to be nurtured every day.”

When one considers that 50 percent of new small businesses fail in the first five years—and that nearly half of U.S. employees are employed by a small business—Melissa’s words strike deep. **

Our annual Drink Local Guide (page 55) celebrates New Jersey’s wine, spirits, and brew artisans. In many ways, these businesses are booming with entrepreneurial energy and customer support. But there have been a number of closings in the past year, specifically on the brewery front as businesses still struggle to regain their post-Covid footing and face weak legislative support (page 16).

Yes, the local food movement has grown and expanded in incredible ways in recent decades. What we once dreamt of as a future full of farmers markets, thriving farms, and local economies fueled by strong local businesses has, in many ways, come to pass. But putting together this issue reminded me that the challenges Laura Sayre discussed in our 2008 issue remain. As consumers, we need to continuously support our local farms, food and drink purveyors, and small businesses in order to help ensure their success now—and in the future.

Our food community also needs our votes. Although rarely discussed on the campaign front, food is political. Ask the questions and look at the candidates’ records to make sure they, too, are fighting the good food fight in New Jersey. And vote accordingly this Election Day.

This issue unexpectedly reminded me that the need for food advocacy never ends. I hope it reminds you, too.

Wishing you a wonderful fall.

Sincerely,
Nancy Brannigan Painter
Editor & Publisher

* 2023 Annual Report and Agricultural Statistic, New Jersey Department of Agriculture. ** Forbes Advisor, January 2024

FALL 2024 FEATURES