Jun 16, 2022

Wen-Jay Ying initially moved to New York with the goal of getting into fashion — but decided immediately that it was not going to be a good fit, and then considered moving to New Orleans to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. She stayed, though, and for that, we can all thank Wayne Coyne.

Ying, a fixture in the DIY music scene, found herself dancing onstage with the Flaming Lips frontman at a pivotal moment in her young career: “He reminded me that sometimes the biggest impact we can have is by supporting our direct community,” she told Hunter College’s NYC Food Policy Center in an interview. “I felt inspired to stay in NYC and ended up dedicating a year to building resources from CSA groups at Just Food” — a nonprofit that provides resources to regional farmers and CSA organizers.

Over time, Ying, who’d previously had a series of odd jobs, including a stint at AmeriCorps, was able to forge her own connections with local farmers. In 2011 she decided to start her own CSA, Local Roots, NYC. “I took my experience playing in bands in the DIY music scene and applied it to bootstrapping my business,” she told the Food Policy Center.

In the years since launching her hyper- local produce pop-up market, the Brooklyn-based, women- and minority- owned CSA has grown to include pick-up locations all over the city, including at Threes Brewing in Greenpoint. Last July, though — after a decade of grassroots work — Ying took things a step further and opened her own brick-and-mortar shop in Carroll Gardens.

Local Roots Market and Cafe, at 398 Court Street, offers a dining experience that educates patrons while still showcasing farmers, all of whom operate within a five-hour drive of New York. Today, customers can pick up ready-made food, bulk goods, clean beauty products and more; the cafe menu boasts staples such as frittatas, local yogurt and honey, bao, salads and stir-fries. Recent events have included tutorials on food composting, a Nom Wah dim sum pop-up and a Chinese farm-to-table pop-up in Los Angeles.

“I’m excited to show that farm-to-table isn’t defined by one cuisine,” Ying told Eater. “People portray Asian Americans to be a specific way and have certain jobs, but from the menu to the graphic design to the architecture, we’re an all-Asian-run creative team.”