This is how we were raised. It's in our DNA. We were always breaking down boxes to recycle. My mom was a dietitian and grew up on a farm and had to clean the chickens and milk the cows. This is what we do."
Conservation, being green, eating and buying local and fresh is “in the DNA” of sisters Sally and Susan Moses and their mother, Maggie. It’s what they’ve always done and they are being honored for it.
As the owners of 212 Market, they are one of three finalists in the Outstanding Business category in the Seventh Annual Roosevelt-Ashe Conservation Awards being presented by Wild South, a regional conservation organization.
The winners will be presented Friday at The Orange Peel in Asheville, N.C., during an event that will be streamed live on the Internet. The other two businesses in 212’s category are Second Gear in Asheville and Tellico Kats Deli in Tellico, Tenn.
Sally Moses, left, is one of three family members who run 212 Market Restaurant. To watch
To see the live streaming of the Roosevelt-Ashe Conservation Awards, go to smartparty.org/greengala.
Read more
* Moses: Illegal fishing should end * Harvested Here Restaurant Week offers a chance to dine out, eat local * 212 Market offers gardeners free compost material * Restaurants turn to area farms * Restaurants support local growers * Side Orders: Local foodies talk about childhood cooking
“It is critical to celebrate incredible people that unite us all to protect wild places and wildlife in the South,” says Benjamin Colvin, Wild South’s development director. “It requires us all working together to leave a legacy for environmental protection for generations to come.”
The goal of Wild South, which has offices in Asheville and Moulton, Ala., is to protect public lands and wildlife in the South and to promote the region’s cultural heritage. The other categories in its conservation awards are Outstanding Journalist, Outstanding Conservationist, Outstanding Educator and Outstanding Youth.
The nomination for 212 Market is technically for the work the Moseses and the restaurant have done over the last year in being a leader and setting an example for others in conservation and for focusing on serving food made from locally sourced fruits, vegetables, herbs and proteins.
“It’s really a lifetime achievement nomination for them,” says Wild South Executive Director Pat Byington. “They’ve done this from the beginning.”
Byington was in town last week and stopped by the restaurant early on Wednesday morning, two hours before the doors would open to the public, to personally invite the Moseses to Asheville for the awards event.
“It was like you’d imagine, more so really,” he says. “The compost guy was here delivering compost for the garden out back. Sally was folding cardboard for the recycling. They truly live this.”
The Moseses opened 212 in 1992 on Market Street near the Tennessee River at a time when 99.9 percent of traffic in the area was either heading to work or heading home. Although the Tennessee Aquarium opened the same year, that part of town was hardly a destination. Most restaurants in the area were meat-and-two types, so the Moseses were bucking several trends by offering more.
“When we went around to the banks to get a loan, they all said, ‘Tennesseans won’t eat like this.’ They like steak and potatoes,” Maggie says.
Today, 212’s menu features bison, trout, quail and a variety of cheeses, fruits and mushrooms, all from local suppliers.
From the start, the Moseses — primarily with Sally out front, Maggie in the office and Susan in the kitchen — worked hard to develop their local-and-fresh mentality.
“There was a gentlemen who worked at Provident [now Unum] who had a garden,” Maggie says. “He brought us all that he could.”
Sourcing locally now is the norm at more than two dozen area restaurants.
Nearing the end of a years-long process to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, 212 Market has reduced its energy consumption by 21 percent in the process, Sally proudly says.
“This is how we were raised,” Susan says. “It’s in our DNA. We were always breaking down boxes to recycle. My mom was a dietitian and grew up on a farm and had to clean the chickens and milk the cows. This is what we do.”
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.