Rising to the Challenge

You’re all local food heroes in our book. Whether you’re a restaurant trying to do right by your employees, or a local farmer continuing to plant and harvest despite the uncertain future, or a consumer making the decision to support a local farmers market, or anyone placing a takeout order from a struggling local restaurant, we salute you.

When Edible Phoenix put out its own call for support, you responded. We thank all of you who placed pre-orders for our summer issue and purchased subscriptions. We were touched by the many messages of support. Our writers, photographers and designers really stepped up to help produce this issue (we welcome both familiar faces and new contributors). We also deeply appreciate the advertisers who made the decision to stick with us or to join us for our summer issue. And we’re thrilled that you’re reading this issue and supporting our sponsors.

If nothing else, recent times have reinforced our belief that the Valley’s food and drink community is extremely generous and caring. Amid tales of toilet paper hoarding and dirty gloves discarded in parking lots, the stories of the pandemic’s true local food heroes stand out. We’re proud to tell their stories and highlight some of their efforts, big and small, to help each other and the greater public.

While we’ve had to deal with some challenges we feel blessed—we have our health, our friends and relatives (even those who have had COVID-19) are OK, and we’ve been able to keep serving the local food community we love and respect. We know some of you have not been as lucky or will face additional challenges and hardships in the future and our hearts go out to you.

With hope and warm regards, —Pamela Hamilton

P.S. Some of the stories you’ll read in this issue were in the works prior to COVID-19, so we’ve added updates where appropriate. While our information is current as of press time, in this ever-changing environment we encourage you to seek out the latest on the businesses we profile.

P.P.S. If you’re reading this in print, see our on-line digital edition for additional content and let all of your friends know the summer issue is available.