Today, Linda drove 120 miles south of nowhere (from here in LeRoy that is) to Franklin, IL, pop. 600. Why Franklin? Because one of the three biorefineries in the world, owned by AgriVisons her employer, is there.
Linda went to launch the first consumer products of her company --locally-owned, locally produced cooking oils made from soybeans. Pick up any vegetable oil in the grocery store and you will see this and that added or taken out -- emulsifiers, hydrogenators. But not Linda's products: 100% soybeans.
Denise, the editor, reporter, publisher of the town newspaper accompanied Linda all day as she negotiated with the local grocer and other outlets. This is a big deal for these folks.
The family farm is dying and with it, the farm town. So the deal is, grow it locally, produce the consumer goods and ship them off to market. It takes the middlemen out of the loop and keeps the profits in the area.
Linda was very successful in her quest, but that is not the story. Linda and Denise had to drive to Waverly (pop. 2,000) for lunch because there is no eatery in Franklin. They ate at "The Last Chance Cafe."
I asked Linda the origin of the name. She said you would only eat the food if it was the last chance between you and starvation.
If you know small farm towns, the men don't have as much work to do in the winter. So they hang out in the local eatery and talk for hours. When women talk a long time, it's called "gossipin' " or "jabberin.' " When men do it, it's call "visitin.' " While visitin', the men-folk drink up gallons of coffee.
Now Linda and I have been in many a small town cafe but never saw a sign like that in The Last Chance Cafe:
Maybe when Linda gets her oils in the supermarkets of America, the men-folk will be too busy to drink up all that coffee and The Last Chance Cafe can go back to 50-cents-a-cup coffee.
Copyright 1997, Bud Polk