Elizabeth Thacker Jones founded Food Book Fair — a 3-day event celebrating all things food and literature — in 2012 with a desire to feature independent food magazines. From thick-bound journals to twee zines, the Foodieodicals portion of the assembly was born, and hungry readers found a place to digest their favorite food and drink writing.
Thacker chose to not only feature publications that were familiar to the NYC food crowd, but she also sourced magazines from around the country and abroad that offered insider perspectives well beyond Brooklyn. The response to Foodieodicals was overwhelmingly positive, and visitors wanted to know how they too could access magazines such as Fool (“food culture and contemporary gastronomy”) and Alla Carta (“food as and incentive to take a bite out of diverse cultural phenomena”) without schlepping to Sweden or Sicliy.
Enter Farm to People, an online marketplace of artisanal small batch foods and body products. Launched in October of 2013 by New York City native Michael Ray Robinov, Farm to People carefully curates products containing only “real” ingredients (generally meaning no GMOs or synthetics) and delivers them directly to your doorstep.
In 2013 Robinov attended the Food Book Fair and was inspired to collaborate with Jones. Like Food Book Fair, he had watched his own business grow and thought there was a natural alliance that could occur between Foodieodicals and Farm to People. While Farm to People was primarily an online marketplace for food, Robinov determined that small batch did not apply only to edible products.
Jones and Robinov have since joined forces and Farm to People now sells bundles of Foodieodicals. As opposed to selling the magazines individually, Jones believes that publications are even better together. In her own words, “while each magazine has its own identity, we sought to find themes and categories that could interest an audience that might want to explore many magazines at once.”
Robinov agrees while noting that while most other online marketplaces sell magazines individually, it is the bundles that set Farm to People apart. “It’s a gift concept and they are special bundles and many hours of thought went into them. This is what makes them special. If you don’t know anything about Foodieodcials this is where to begin.”
With the holidays right around the corner, this is the perfect time to go online and see what bundles are right for you and your loved ones. When you order, you’ll also get a copy of Edible Brooklyn!
