http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/nyregion/29farmers.html?_r=1&8au&emc=auBuy Me Some Peanuts and Nectarines
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Mr. Vecchio and his son were standing in a wide corridor inside the new Yankee Stadium, around the corner from concessions selling 1,341-calorie Nathan’s cheese fries for $7.25, 500-calorie Nathan’s footlong beef hot dogs for $6.75 and 290-calorie Budweisers for $10. They had stumbled upon a fruit stand: green and red apples, pears, bananas, oranges, nectarines and peaches, each $1.50.
Mr. Vecchio bought two nectarines for himself and a $5.50 pineapple cup for his son, Anthony. “It’s a great idea,” Mr. Vecchio said. “I started a diet with my wife yesterday.”
The new stadiums for the Yankees and the Mets have been quietly offering fans an unlikely concept in ballpark cuisine: fresh produce.
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The fruit is supplied by Melissa’s Produce, an importer and distributor based in Los Angeles, and the stand is operated by Legends Hospitality Management, the company founded by the Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys, Goldman Sachs and CIC Partners that runs the concessions at Yankee Stadium. The Red Delicious apples are from Washington, the peaches and nectarines from California and the Bartlett pears from Oregon. The Fuji apples come from New Zealand.
Michael Hurwitz, the director of the Greenmarket program, whose 49 markets around the city are supplied by regional growers, said he was happy to hear of the ballpark fruit but expressed disappointment at the lack of local fare.
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Robert Schueller, the director of public relations at Melissa’s, which also supplies the fruit stands at the Mets’ stadium, Citi Field, said the company was trying to have stands placed in other stadiums around the country.
Yankee Stadium has one cart and Citi Field two, near the entrance and exit of the World’s Fare Market in right field; about 200 pounds of produce is sold during each game. Mr. Schueller said that the rainy weather in New York made it “a tough season to offer the best flavor profiles,” but that locally grown produce might be coming soon.
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great!