THE ROLE OF FOOD IN THE CREATIVE ECONOMY

Culinary team-building in London, UK, is offered by L'Atletier des Chefs 

I have noted over the past year the increasing role food and "foodies" play in the Creative Economy.

Dan Taylor, "The Creative Rural Economy Guy", seems to include food in about 10% of his prolific twitter posts (@Cre8tiveDanT) coming out of Peterborough, Ontario. Culinary team-building is an emerging trend to develop competitive creative thinking skills in groups and businesses, so writes Laura Cole with Business2Community. Creative Chef Kitchens in Derry, NH has built a business incubator for foodies, linking food artists, entrepreneurs and start-ups with economic development. In 2012, the USDA allocated $10 million towards the local food movement, through their Farmers Market Promotion Program. Over $11 million was pledged last year to over 1,800 food start-up projects via Kickstarter in the USA.

Richard Florida, in his book "Rise of the Creative Class: Revisited", tells us in essence that if you can put something on a blank sheet of paper, or blank computer screen, or mold something new out of material or from your body, and exchange that intellectual property for economic gain, you are a creative and you help build the economic well-being of your community. Think about that for awhile. That would include, for example, architects, engineers, mathematicians, doctors, musicians, computer programmers, artists, comedians, playwrights, filmmakers, boat and fashion designers, advertisers, dance choreographers, vintners, and, yes, culinary chefs.

Many community projects use food as a starting point or keystone in economic development in towns such as in Balston, Virginia, and Holyoke, Massachussets, the food trails of Kilkenny, Ireland, and the food clusters of Ontario as described by the Martin Prosperity Institute. Interestingly, Florida found relationships between community economic development and the number of coffee shops. These are meeting places for creatives. The Kitchen Sisters talk about how communities come together through food in the Edible Education Series of lectures from the University of California, Berkeley.

The creative economy is more than visual and performing artists, and technical people. It includes food and the culinary arts. Networking food producers and food consumers via culinary creators forms part of the creative economy. Food creates communities.

What is your creative food story?