Signs of a growing food movement in the Fort Greene and Clinton Hill sections of Brooklyn are unmistakable.

The Green-Hill Food Coop, still only in its planning stages, already has a mailing list of over 1,000 people, and more than ever before, area chefs like Craig Samuel, the co-owner of The Smoke Joint, a barbeque restaurant on South Elliot Place, are committed to cooking with locally grown produce.

And, perhaps most notably, neighborhood residents who have gone their entire lives without easy access to healthy foods are now calling for supermarkets with fresh, affordable groceries.

“It would be nice if we could have farmers markets and vegetables all around here,” said Eduardo Wasterban, a Fort Greene resident who attended the first-ever Fort Greene Food Conference.

The October 24 conference, held at P.S. 67 and sponsored by Councilwoman Letitia James, attracted composters, farmers and foodies like Wasterban, all of whom are eager to change an area James described as a “food desert.”

James said she organized the event with staffer Alfred Chioto and Brooklyn Food Conference organizer Nancy Romer to “try and get ideas as to what I can do in the City Council on the local level” to support healthy food projects.

“This [food conference] is the beginning of doing that,” James said.

Traditionally, food-related community-based organizations have received little support from council members, who fund local non-profit groups.

That could change, James said, if people continue pressing for community supported agriculture (CSA) initiatives, farmers markets, and healthier eating options at local supermarkets. James said she would consider funding food-related community-based organizations in the future.

“There’s so many people that are interested” in building a local food movement in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, said Eric Thomann, a New York City community gardening expert.

Thomann is the vice president of the New York City Community Gardening Coalition, and teaches courses on community gardening at The New School. He said sustainable food projects in Central Brooklyn are poised to take off.

“It’s wide open,” said Thomann, who presented a workshop on community gardening at the food conference. “There’s so much energy out there.”

The afternoon conference was filled with people seeking information on green food initiatives, or at the very least a meal from The Smoke Joint, which catered the event free of charge. (Menu: grits made from organic heirloom grains, pork shoulder with original barbeque sauce, and coleslaw. The eco-friendly bar Habana Outpost supplied smoothies made from a bicycle-powered blender).

Organizers from the Greene-Hill Food Coop handed out promotional fliers, and looked to sign up new members. Plans for the non-profit coop, whose mission is to sell affordable fresh produce, were launched in 2008.

Erin Kaplan, the coop’s outgoing outreach chair, said the organization hopes to open a storefront for business by next fall.

“We see the intense difference between what people in Manhattan have access to and what we have access to here,” Kaplan said.

Brooklyn Residents who can afford it shop at the Park Slope Food Coop - a model for the Greene-Hill venture - or else in Manhattan for their groceries, Kaplan said. Those who can’t are stuck shopping at stores that don’t emphasize healthy eating.

“In a traditional supermarket the choices for high quality, not very expensive [produce] is limited,” Kaplan said.

Linda Harris, who lives with a friend in Crown Heights, said more farmers markets and healthier supermarkets would be welcome in Central Brooklyn.

“In our neighborhoods it’s very hard,” said Harris. You can get [vegetables and fruit] but they’re not fresh. We don’t know where they come from.”

Chioto said Councilwoman James’ office is looking to turn the Fort Greene food conference into annual affair. He said a similar event is being considered for Crown Heights next spring.