Charlottesville Food: A History of Eating Local in Jefferson’s City

From the early days of Thomas Jefferson’s Garden Book at Monticello to the hustle and bustle of the modern City Market on Water Street, Charlottesville has an illustrious culinary history. The city’s cuisine is characterized by a delight in locally raised ingredients. The locavore mentality appears at all levels of Charlottesville’s food industry, including the nationally acknowledged methods of Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farms, the sourcing of local pork for Chipotle’s Charlottesville location and the accessibility of regional ingredients everywhere from Whole Foods Market to online favorite Relay Foods. Author and food enthusiast Casey Ireland explores how Charlottesville’s residents have created a food culture that is all their own..