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    Ohio’s Own: Urban Chefs

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    When you think about buying local fruits and vegetables, shopping in the canned goods aisle doesn’t usually come to mind.

    But you can (shop for cans).

    Shoppers can find local cans, because Columbus based Urban Chefs produces canned green beans and tomatoes: it offers diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes, regular and french cut green beans.

    The Urban Chef’s sauces might be more familiar but the operation’s canned goods have been around for a while and they boast labels are cuter than the average veggie can. While there’s no jolly green giant, there is a busy cartoon chef guy with a spoon and a bowl.

    Good stuff can be found inside Urban Chef’s cans.

    In the case of the cut green beans, the label ingredients straightforwardly list water, green beans and salt. The ingredients seems pretty normal: and in fact, there’s nothing terribly unusual or soul-foodish about the beans themselves. That said, the can was jam packed with firm green beans, and there were zero sticks or stems. There’s something to be said for a canned product that delivers more beans (and less water and weird bits) than the average can.

    Similarly for the tomatoes, the ingredients were straightforward: tomatoes, tomato juice, salt, citric acid and calcium chloride. Inside the can were plump, whole –not mushy tomatoes in dark red tomato juice. Again, not terribly soul-foodish, but good quality goods.

    For those who venture beyond the canned goods, Urban Chef’s is well known for its BBQlicious BBQ Sauce — it comes in both mild and spicy variations. It also makes hot sauce and habanero vinegar.

    According to Urban Chef’s website, you can find its products at local gourmet grocers, as well as select Krogers in Ohio, Michigan and Virginia.

    And Urban Chef’s can be found in local restaurants too: the site mentions Creole Kitchen and Catering and the Linden Cafe.

    Check it out for yourself: www.its-soulicious.com.

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    Miriam Bowers Abbott
    Miriam Bowers Abbotthttps://columbusunderground.com
    Miriam Bowers Abbott is a freelancer contributor to Columbus Underground who reviews restaurants, writes food-centric featurettes and occasionally pens other community journalism pieces.
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