Best Thing Since Sliced Bread…
This issue started out being called our innovation issue. But that just didn’t have the warm fuzzies we craved. So, it morphed into the Creators and Cultivators issue—who, of course, are all doing innovative things.
Creativity is a funny thing. It comes in all ways. And it’s not always easy or glamorous or successful. I love how Chef Ryan Poli of Catbird Seat told us how their favorite dish came about.
“The beet dish is the most creative dish I’ve ever come up with, and we fell backwards into [it]. People [say] ‘I hate beets, but this is delicious.’ I’ve never seen a group of people collectively say, ‘this is the most amazing thing we’ve ever eaten in our lives’, when in turn it sounds like the most disgusting thing that I’ve ever made. It’s roasted beets that we compress in coffee (that we get from Crema). And then there’s a mousse made from Yukon gold potatoes and white chocolate. Then there’s dehydrated black olives and fresh lime zest over the top. It sounds like a child wrote down ideas on paper and was like, ‘try and make this for lunch’ and we were like, ‘yeah, totally, we’ll make that!’ We fell backwards into it when a vegetarian came into the restaurant that didn’t tell us. It’s two failed dishes that we threw together in that particular moment. I don’t know how these flavors work, but they work.”
Creative people are indeed risk takers, but also givers. While working on this issue, what resonated with us was not the technology or the product or service, but the goal behind it. Which, in a word, is heart. A potter making 10,000 tumblers to help pay back her students loans and help new students. A restaurant that puts people first. A mom and her special needs daughter/entrepreneur. A garden in a shipping container to help recovering addicts.
In this issue are stories of creative foods, people, restaurants, and ideas that are all united by a desire to help make the world a better place. This is far from an innovative idea, but when coupled with talents and hearts of the Tennesseans featured here, it’s the best thing since, well, sliced bread.
Morning! How much trouble would it be for you to mail a copy of The Farm Issue to my friend who is a CSA farmer in Mississippi? I have a subscription which you mail to me in Mississippi – which I always get excited about when it arrives – and would love for her to have a copy of this particular issue.
—Ellen Gabardi
I adore the magazine; it has been such a fantastic source of information for me as I transition back to middle TN.
—Jenni Marple
My wife is a member of the local chapter of Women in Film who are hosting an international group of women in film. My wife & I just love your magazine and thought it a good idea to give them copies of your wonderful magazine.
—DMcD