"Is this bluefish local?" UPDATED

This morning, I read in the Dining Section about "Edible Brooklyn," which describes itself as "a new quarterly magazine that celebrates the borough's diverse food and delicious culture." On my way home, I picked up a copy of the publication, which is apparently given out in all the expected frou-frou places in the borough, such as the one at which I'd just gotten an almond brioche. How convenient!

Since Park Slope is basically San Francisco with worse weather, it makes sense that the Alice Waters-led movement embracing local ingredients would have an audience in these parts. But what Brooklyn lacks in weather, it makes up for in authenticity--we may not have the freshest fish around, but our seltzer is spectacular. While there's an article about whether one should go with local or organic groceries and another about "the Politics of Strawberries," the magazine is not nearly as crunchy granola* as it might be. I'm intrigued by the idea of "starting your garden Brooklyn-style," and if the new Fairway supermarket really does have 350 kinds of cheese, this is a local-foods philosophy I could handle. And yet, unlike the customer before me at the fish store, I don't care where my fish lived, only that it lived recently....

Of course, my own passion for things local is far eclipsed by certain other interests. At the wine shop down the street, I just bought some kosher-for-Passover French wine. I do not keep kosher for Passover, but I felt an act of solidarity with the French Jews was in order. That, and it had the prettiest label.

*I've actually come around, and now like granola. If I were more patient, I might even try Will Baude's recipe, although whatever was labeled as plain and lowfat at Chelsea Market seems to do the trick. I'm also, after a painful day of platform espadrilles, considering gettting these, so maybe the neighborhood has made its mark.

UPDATE

French kosher-for-Passover white wine is essentially white Manishevitz. That said, the cork declaring that the wine was approved by the Grand Rabbinat de Paris makes it all worthwhile.