Sun Farm Cooperative Kitchen
By Anne Gessler
After seven summers of working on various Canadian farms, Keston Broughton decided that the best way to promote local, organic foods would be to start a cooperative, environmentally responsible mobile food trailer business, the Sun Farm Cooperative Trailer. His cooperative, largely a collection of nutritionists, believes that its business model
will help members of community gardens, kitchens, and farms expand into new markets by selling their produce and meats in mobile trailers. It will eventually offer skill-building workshops and classes, but for now Broughton is stationed in DiverseArt’s event space, Kenny Dorham’s Backyard, serving “local meats and vegan treats,” out of his solar and gas powered trailer. Menu items include lamb kabobs, avocado smoothies, and, for the summer, the “Wow Salad,” an olive and avocado dressing on shredded beets, carrots and apples over a bed of greens. He keeps menu prices low by cutting costs in other aspects of the trailer’s operation, because, Broughton feels, “people who are suffering the most from dietary issues sometimes have lower income; disease does not draw a class line.” Food education about pesticides and nutrition is essential, says Broughton, because good health “is in the interest of everybody.” Beyond a concern for healthful eating, Broughton wants to make Sun Farm Kitchens a community fixture; he hopes to have regular concerts and film screenings and is intent on providing a bike friendly atmosphere with a repair shop next to the trailer. You can find Sun Farm at 1106 E 11th Street.