Within the context of this research guide, food preparation refers to how plants are handled during harvest but also sold to the consumer. For obvious health reasons observing good hygiene during the harvest process serves to reduce—ideally eliminate—the risk of contamination. Food preparation also encompasses ways to sell to the consumer. Typically, when urban agriculture programs want to sell their produce, farmers markets are the most common method.
There are other ways for an urban agriculture program to increase its business. It may want to consider to start a food truck business or sell some of the harvest to local restaurants with an eye to specially grown crops, often referred to as high value crops, because they yield higher profits. Increasingly, supermarkets are realizing that customers prefer to purchase locally grown produce making them another source of steady sales for an urban agriculture program.
The material in the section of the guide is quite general; it does not delve into specific local regulations surrounding food inspection; please see the page Food Inspections, Product Dating, & Safe Handling for information related to that. The following web sites link to information to aspects of food preparation and distribution with special attention to food trucks and farmers markets.
The following materials link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to digital content are provided when available.
The Food Truck Handbook by 
The New Farmers' Market by 
PopUp Republic by 
Running a Food Truck for Dummies by 
Starting and Running a Food Truck Business by 
