More than 30 years on I can still remember pealing back the tinfoil. There was no sour cream, avocado or other adornments, just spicy meat in a soft tortilla. Every night we watched for a little, elderly woman with a cooler. We also watched for the security guards who would chase her from the mall. The burrito lady spoke no English. None was required for that surreptitious exchange– two dollars for a warm burrito neatly wrapped. This legislative session, those burritos could at long last be legal. If House Bill 26-1033 passes, it would add the sale of homemade foods that need refrigeration such as burritos to the Colorado Cottage Foods Act. The current law only allows the sale of homemade bread, jams, spices, honey, pickles, nuts, and other foods that do not need to be refrigerated. Under the law, sellers must take a food safety class and label their kitchen-made foods as such. By broadening the types of food covered under the Colorado Cottage Food Act, the legislature will enable more small-scale entrepreneurs to sell their wares. Other states have done so without compromising food safety. Colorado passed its Cottage Foods Act back in 2012. I know because it was the first opinion piece I wrote for The Denver Post. Back then only 26 states had cottage food laws. Today, every state has adopted one. Some of these states allow cottage venders to sell the kinds of perishable foods HB 26-1033 would allow. A study that examined the safety record of the seven states with the most permissive cottage food laws (California, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming) where is legal to sell perishable items such as tamales, pizza, and cultural street foods, found not a single case of foodborne illness from foods produced under the law. There were no incidents even in states like Wyoming that have had such laws on the books for more than a decade. Over the past five years, I have been a seller under our state’s cottage food act. Later this week I will print out labels for wild plum jam, chokecherry jelly, pine syrup, and sumac spice. Some years I sell homegrown sunchokes made into curry spice pickled torshi. Sometimes I sell fresh eggs. The lean days of the Pandemic taught me to monetize my gardening, foraging, and cooking hobbies. Selling this fare gives me the opportunity to make a little money and wax enthusiastically about native plants. I maintain the highest standards of taste and cleanliness because my little enterprise depends on the trust of my buyers. I am also a buyer of cottage foods. The homespun honey I bought last year ostensibly for a gift sweetens the rosehip tea I’m sipping at this moment. I also love to patronize Ruby’s Market on Denver’s Pearl Street, a multi-cultural artisan food shop that specializes in refugee and immigrant entrepreneurs some of whom got their start under the Cottage Foods Act. Commerce isn’t just about sales. It’s the exchange of ideas, goods, and services that ends with both parties saying “thank you.” It’s connection and creativity. For the many of the venders at Ruby’s Market, the chance to sell their unique, handmade foods is the beginning of the American dream. House Bill 1033 will give more new entrepreneurs the opportunity to connect through trade. Krista Kafer is a Sunday Denver Post columnist. Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns, editorials and more. To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail. ...read more read less