Instead of a greasy, cheesy pizza, 60 Champaign-Urbana residents Tuesday ordered in a healthy meal of all-organic chicken and rice soup, challah bread, mixed greens and apple pies.

Over the last two years, the program that supplies this food, Piato’s Organic Food Nanny, has increased its customer list by 50 percent. This weekly food delivery program is run by Piato’s Cafe, 300 S. Broadway Ave.

The program prepares homemade meals using all-organic and locally grown produce for families, professors and retirees.

Vicki Mahaffey, professor at the University, has been a customer of the program for four years.

“It’s wonderful, it’s always a surprise, always different, always good and it’s just fun,” she said. “It’s cheaper than going out to eat and more fun. You never know what you will get.”

Correlative to a U.S. Department of Agriculture economic research study, the production of organic food is on the rise, and demand for the program is also increasing.

While the organic food trend has been catching on for a while, there has recently been a push to eat local food.

While Meaghan Quigley, office manager of Piato’s, said she believes the increase is due to better education of the benefits organic eating has on the body, she believes it’s more important to the members of the community that the food is local.

“When we can support a local farm, that makes our entire local and state economy stronger. People recognize that,” she said. 

Websites such as EatLocalChallenge.com, a blogging website that focuses on the importance of locally and sustainably grown food, have spread awareness across the Internet that buying locally can have benefits for a local economy.

Quigley said through the program, Piato’s is able to help support six Champaign-Urbana farms and local companies, including USDA-certified PrairiErth Farm, Blue Moon Farm and Common Ground Food Co-op.

Because all of the produce used in the program comes from farms within a 50-mile radius of Urbana, the program has helped support a piece of the local economy.

“It’s an economic circular loop,” Quigley said. “We support Common Ground. They in turn are more economically sound. If we can keep them strong, they are a resource for us and our clients.”

PrairiErth Farm as well as Blue Moon Farm also participate in Urbana’s Market at the Square, which will begin its 34th season May 4.

Natalie Kenny Marquez, Market at the Square director, said staff has been busy preparing for the estimated 5,000 people who will attend the market each Saturday of the summer and early fall.

“They come because the food is local,” she said. “You can’t find that amount of local food anywhere else in our region. That means its only produced in the state of Illinois.”

Marquez believes the local community is more concerned about where their food comes from.

“The area is so close to access to local food in the lush midwestern area,” she said. “I think the people generally care about supporting our local farmers.”

Corinne can be reached at [email protected].