Food, Food Artisans

Mo Talks About the Country’s Oldest Food Producers

Who are our oldest food makers?

I’ve been working on a spread for next spring’s catalog about the oldest companies we work with. Some have been around for decades, some for centuries. We even have one that’s a millennium old this year. It’s been an interesting experience to think about them more deeply, bringing up lots of questions. Like, why are they still around? More importantly, how are they still around and making great food? How much did they have to change along the way? Who decided what to change and what not to change? How did they transition when their founder left the business? I ran across this article about why there are so many old companies in Japan that explains how traditional firms like Nintendo manage succession (these days it’s often done by the owner adopting an adult into the family to run the business—a surprise to me).

Some of our venerable food makers and the year they got in business:

1014 Castello di Cacchiano olive oil in Tuscany
1731 Amarelli licorice in Cosenza
1880 Usinger liverwurst in Milwaukee Wisconsin
1898 Rizzoli anchovies in Parma Italy
1900 Cope’s corn in Rheems Pennsylvania
1900 Roi olive oil and sauces in Badalucco Italy
1903 Raye’s mustard in Eastport Maine
1909 Broadbent cured meats in Kuttawa Kentucky
1925 Koeze peanut butter in Grand Rapids Michigan
1926 Martelli pasta in Lari Italy
1926 Edwards cured meats in Surry Virginia
1947 Benton’s cured meats in Madisonville, Tennessee

Sam Edwards' ham house in Virginia peanut country.

Sam Edwards’ ham house in Virginia peanut country.

– Mo