The California restaurant Oliveto has long cultivated relationships with dozens of farmers, fishmongers and other suppliers. Most recently, it celebrated the launch of the Oliveto Community Journal, which showcases food producers and includes a wealth of stories and movies about food, farms, and cooking.

This is not really anything "new," notes a Sacramento Bee story about Oliveto's new endeavor. "In Europe and elsewhere, the first restaurants and taverns were started by farm families or people who wanted to sell produce or spirits produced by their friends in the community."