I grew up in New Mexico and one of my fondest memories was our annual July chili roasting ritual. We got our chilis, the Big Jim variety, from various area farms, sometimes in Hatch. The city was not famous when I was young, but over time they marketed the town as the chili capital of the world with great success.

When I saw people roasting Hatch chilis outside Safeway recently, I vowed to pick up a batch. I couldn’t make it on the roasting days, so I went in later to pick up some of the remaining stock, packaged in plastic containers.

Which is when corporate reality set in. The “Grown in” sticker on the container said Mexico, yet the ingredients said “Hatch Chili - Hot.” Either some marketing person cleverly named a new a chili variety “Hatch” or Safeway is just capitalizing on the name recognition. Regardless, the deception is invisible to most people.

I was reminded of a time in 2006 when I lived and worked on a local organic farm. “Local” and “organic” food was becoming desirable. I went into Safeway one day and saw that the artwork above the produce section now emphasized “Local Produce.” I asked a stock person which farms they sourced their local produce from. He couldn’t tell me. A manager explained that their “local” produce was actually regional and pointed to some fruit from Yakima. In other words, nothing changed except the signage.

I get that more people enjoy (mild) green chili as a result of Safeway’s practices. That’s a benefit to those people. It’s also a benefit to Safeway’s bottom line. But, as is too often the case, those benefits are at the expense of those who have been stewarding and developing this delightful food for decades — the farmers in Hatch, New Mexico.

Bob Alei

Port Townsend