There is little doubting that society’s interest about where their food comes from is increasing.
And there is a lot of proof that web sites, news stories, documentary films, and businesses are attempting to cater to this fact.
A group of Michigan natives have created an innovative way to help empower people with knowledge about where their local food comes from. Realtimefarms.com is a site created by four people form Ann Arbor, Michigan. The site provides a way for individuals to find locally sourced items. It is similar to the mash up we ran a couple weeks ago on localharvest.org.
However, this site is more “real time,” to show users what is available each day in their area in real time. Searching by city and state will yield links to three different maps, one for farms in the area, one for markets and another for restaurants. The markets map shows which markets are open that week in your area. Clicking on any one of the markets or farms in the map will produce a profile of the place with contact information, address, and payment options. A particular interactive part of this site is that it urges users to take photos of the farms, markets and restaurants they have been to. Each page has an option for users to post photos. When you create a profile and account on the site, it will bring up a customized homepage for your town. For instance, when I typed in East Lansing, Michigan in my profile, I received a customized calendar with dates of upcoming markets near my area.
Additionally, there was a photo stream of photos that had recently been tagged of local food in my area. There was also a stream of activity that showed which user in my area had just added new photos or which restaurant added new local ingredients to a dish. It is completely tailored to the city that I live in, and each time I log into the web site, updated information is always there.