With potatoes pulled from the soils of Missouri, cheese crafted minutes away, and squash picked straight from local gardens, the Root Cellar offers more than a hurried shopping trip to pick up groceries for dinner. For the past eleven years, the Root Cellar has offered a return to simple, in-season food grown locally. The Root Cellar, currently owned by Jake and Chelsea Davis, aims to serve as an outpost for farmers, restaurateurs, and local shoppers to meet, exchange products and build a community of people conscious of where their food comes from.



Jen Menteler, a graduate of Columbia College, shopped at the Root Cellar for years before she began working there.



“The Root Cellar always had really good food and a selection of things I had never tried before,” Menteler explained. “I was in one day shopping and heard someone call and ask if the Root Cellar was hiring. She said to bring in a resume, and I thought to myself, cool, I should do that, too. I’ve worked here now for over a year.”



The Root Cellar carries products and produce from over two-hundred local farmers and supplies Columbia restaurants including The Wine Cellar, Uprise Bakery, Trey, Main Squeeze, Sophia’s, Sycamore and Blu. Many Columbia residents also rely on the Root Cellar for fresh, local produce, meats, cheeses, milk, and eggs.



“There's really been a movement in Columbia as people gravitate towards more local food. Especially with the new apartments being built downtown, we’ve seen lots of college kids coming in to the Root Cellar and buying new and interesting local food to try.”



Kat Rios is one such college student.



“I always go to the Root Cellar to buy my vegetables and my cheese. Everything there just tastes fresher, and I like knowing that my food has been raised by real Missouri farmers, rather than mass produced by factory farms. I don’t feel guilty about where my food comes from. Plus, their goat cheese is my favorite!”



To make it even easier for Columbia residents to eat locally, the Root Cellar offers a Bounty Box program. Once a week, those subscribing to the program pick up a crate of different kinds of food that farmers brought into the Root Cellar. This ensures that those participating in the program receive a smorgasbord of local food that varies each week. The Bounty Box program also helps to create a weekly connection between farmers and buyers, and it helps residents to learn about where their food hails from each week.



“Buying from the Root Cellar really helps you to get involved with the community,” Menteler stated. “Not just the immediate community in Columbia, but the larger community of farmers.”



Menteler herself hopes to further plant herself within this community of farmers, consumers, and restaurateurs.  With dreams of someday owning her own farm, Menteler feels that her job at the Root Cellar allows her to be a part of the local food community in Columbia.



“Through working here I’ve been able to get apprenticeships on farms,” Menteler said. “I worked on Sullivan Farms and Country Neighbor Specialty Meats, which supplies the turkeys for Thanksgiving we just sold out of. The Root Cellar really helped connect me to these farms.”



This connection often transcends the mere exchanging of goods, with friendships blossoming between farmers, consumers and restaurateurs. Trey Quinlan, the owner of Trey Bistro located in downtown Columbia, sources many of the ingredients used in his kitchen from the Root Cellar, and regularly plans his menus based on what seasonal foods are available from local farmers.



“I love knowing where food comes from,” Quinlan said. “I’ve driven out to Goatsbeard Farm, where we get much of our cheese from. It’s so idyllic there, and it’s great to look around and talk with the owners and really see the entire process. It’s such a connection.”



The Root Cellar continues to work so that everyone can experience that kind of connection with their food.

“We even have parties where everyone is invited and farmers and consumers can meet each other,” Menteler said. “Everything here is super accessible.This system really fosters relationships.”