Social Eater

The Vermont Fresh Network [1] is all about connecting farmers, chefs and consumers. On Sunday, December 12, the organization tested a new way to gather Green Mountain foodies. Using the hash tag #vfnchat [2], about a dozen Twitterers met up online for a live chat about Vermont holiday food.

Jodi Whalen [3] of Burlington’s August First [4], the owners of Jackson’s on the River [5] in Middlebury, Nicole Fenton of Flavor Communications [6], Lara Dickson [7] of Deep Dish Creative and Ann Zuccardy [8] of Vermont Shortbread Company [9] all discussed plans for their localvore holiday meals. Boyden was on the menu — both Boyden Farm and Boyden Valley Winery. Vermont Coffee Company, Eden Ice Cider [10], Twig Farm [11] cheese and Shuttleworth Farm [12] ham were top-ranked Tweeter treats.

Cheryl Herrick, who is in charge of social media for the VFN and spearheaded the chat, says she hopes to offer similar Twitter discussions quarterly, “so it remains an event instead of a chore.” She also plans on hosting online Q&A sessions with chefs about seasonal products. Says the VFN’s executive director, Meghan Sheradin, “This was a good introduction to using social media in this way. We really hope VFN members and friends will use the VFN social networks year round to share events, specials and news.”