In June of 2009 Richmond was introduced to whimsically painted, repurposed school bus full of locally sourced produce, handmade items and other great food finds. The bus was piloted by Mark and Suzi Lilly who quickly made a name for themselves with community involvement and their unmistakable rolling produce stand. Suzi Lilly, our featured foodie this week, is also the founder of Lilly Infusion, a boutique healing and wellness source including homeopathic treatments, massage and consultation to help you live a healthier life.
In June of 2010 the Lilly’s added a brick and mortar farm market location in Mechanicsville where they base the Farm Bus, grow vegetables, feature even more local products and launch community outreach programs.
Suzi is a wealth of knowledge about the produce and products available at the Farm to Family market—she can literally quote the background story of every single product on the shelf and, in most cases, she knows the producer personally. In addition to her passion for healthy living, great music, community involvement and obviously, great food, Suzi has an uncanny sense of the energies around her. Go visit her at the market the next time you’re having an exceptionally bad day—she’ll spot you as soon as you walk in the door and by the time you leave, you’ll be feeling better.
If you haven’t visited the Farm to Family Farm Market or Farm bus you owe yourself a short trip to check it out and meet the Lilly family. Take some time to chat with Suzi about raw milk, fresh vegetables, local coffee or honeycomb—you’ll probably learn something new and you’ll definitely enjoy the conversation. In the meantime, check out 5 Questions with a Foodie, Suzi Lilly!
How do you define the term “foodie” and do you consider yourself one?
A foodie is someone who loves food and is passionate about learning everything they can about what they eat—where it comes from, how its prepared, who grew it—they care about what food they put on their plate. They also respect the importance of sharing a meal with family and friends. No matter how busy we are, I try to have a meal with my husband every single day, even if its just something as simple as throwing together some vegetables from the market. And yes, I am definitely a foodie!
How do you feel about ketchup?
I hate ketchup! Ketchup is full of sugar and is only used to cover up the true flavor of food—usually bad flavors. If you’re eating good food made from good ingredients you don’t need to cover it up with sugary, salty ketchup.
In your opinion, what is the biggest problem with the RVA food culture?
Inconsistency. So many potentially great Richmond restaurants suffer from lots of inconsistency. Any restaurant can have an off day but so often there is inconsistency even across a single menu, during a single meal. My favorite restaurants in town are the ones with simple, fresh menu items that are prepared with skill and care. Also, I feel there is a lot of negative energy in many restaurants. Happy chefs make better food, and I can always tell when there is negative energy in the kitchen—the food is lackluster, no matter how fresh the ingredients or how well it is prepared.
How did you get into food and/or cooking?
I owe everything I know and love about food to my parents and grandparents. As small farmers, we grew nearly everything we ate and sold what was left over for extra money. As a child I knew exactly where all of my food came from and my mother and grandmother taught me how to prepare our fresh produce to make flavorful, fresh and healthy meals for our entire family. Its funny that years later, here I am with a farm market bringing the same ideas about food that I learned from my family to our friends and neighbors in Richmond!
As a NY to VA transplant, what is your Barbecue style—wait, are you a vegetarian?
No—I love meat! I just recently went to my first full pig roast—it was awesome but I can’t say I was a huge fan of the presentation with the head.
I love barbecue but I’m not sure what my particular style is—I know I really like Buzz & Ned’s. I’m always amazed by the southern obsession with styles of barbecue. I like flavorful, tender barbecue, maybe a little tomatoey, what style is that?
Where I’m from, anything cooked on a grill is barbecue because, you know, barbecue is a verb, not a noun. Barbecue could be corn, fish, chicken—whatever. When I came to the south I was quickly informed that just firing up the grill didn’t mean you were having barbecue. I guess I’m still learning.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement