Become a digitalPLUS subscriber. 99¢ for 4 weeks.  Frontlines of
a food revolution  BusinessCompanies and CorporationsVermontSan
FranciscoBerkeley (Alameda, California)  The sap is running on a
crisp spring morning — sugar maples along the roads are
festooned with every manner of container, from gallon milk jugs
to shining buckets. Steam and smoke waft upward from jury-rigged
sugar shacks and multiroom log sugar houses worthy of a spread
in Architectural Digest. This variety is typical across the
country — the small producer's next-door neighbor might be a
multimillion-dollar producer.  But beneath the bucolic image,
there are questions. The artisanal food movement has added
delicious, high-quality food to the national palate, but how
does it affect the communities in which it is produced? What
happens when artisanal products become too expensive for regular
folks, the people who have always enjoyed them?  Here are some
more: What does it mean when much of the food is shipped far
away to New York, Boston, San