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BANG FOR THE BITE
If half of the food 10,000 Biters ate was locally produced, in a year we'd avert the amount of CO2 that's produced by almost 1.5 million cars, and local farmers would be very, VERY happy.
COCKTAIL FACT
Practically seasonless, Honolulu's average high temperatures range from 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter to 89 in late summer.
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home › tip library › Natural Cooking - Locally Grown Foods
Who's seen more exotic locales: you or your strawberries?
The Bite
If you're eating out-of-season, the answer's probably red and sweet. On average, food travels between 1,500 to 2,500 miles from the farm to your fork. Buy local, in-season produce for the freshest, most eco-friendly bites.The Benefits
- Get fresh. Out-of-season fruits and veggies shipped from outside the country travel up to 2 weeks before they arrive in the grocery store.
- Get local. Support local growers and encourage sustainable farming practices by buying in-season.
- Cleaner air. A California tomato sold in DC has traveled about 2,800 miles - the truck transporting it produces more than 3,100 lbs of CO2 getting it there.
Personally Speaking
Heather keeps saying she's going to do an entire month where nothing that she eats comes from farther than 200 miles away. (Of course, she's waiting until she gets to California to undertake THAT project.) In the meantime, she and Jen both hit the local farmers' market each weekend and belong to CSAs.Wanna Try?
Your best bet? Check out your local farmers' market or CSA for in-season eats.- Simply in Season - dig deeper into the benefits of eating in-season ($13).
- Sustainable Table - browse to find which foods are in-season in your state.
- Food Routes - use this interactive map to find a nearby farmer's market, food co-op, CSA or farm stand.
- 100-Mile Diet - feeling extreme? Head here to learn what it takes to eat only food produced within a 100-mile radius of your home.
Aug 09,2006
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All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
Planes Trains and Seasonality
OK, so I have to write about seasonality while I'm slightly buzzed on a plane from Portland to Oakland. Ah, you gotta love altitude for reintroducing you to the concept of tolerance.
Back to the matter at hand - seasonality...
In the end, this tip has so much more to do with eating locally. And listen, coming from the far NW corner of Montana as a child, I completely understand the "problem" of eating in season. Chilean grapes and Fiji apples start to look pretty damn good in late February.
But now? Come on - NOW? Here in the US, you'd be hard-pressed NOT to find amazing produce, local and in-season, this time of year.
So - I challenge you. Can you eat ONLY local foods (with the exception of any dry goods you might already have in your cupboards) for the next week? For a day or 2?
Give it a shot. And come back and let us know, please.
-Heather... off to take the lovely Air Train to the BART to a cab... call me the queen of PlanesTrainsandAutomobiles.
Biter Comments...
Local food is great for other reasons--resturants pay good money for locally grown stuff. Unfortunately, it ain't always easy green. I live (alas) Ground Zero from the Greenbrier Resort, and the chefs will do horribly clueless things: "When will you have your tomatoes?" They ask Dave Burhman when they receive the first box of early-spring lettuce. "When the bananas come in," Dave shoots back.
Some places build their rep on food that is only local, and IN SEASON. This presents the challenge some chefs live for, and these places invariably have something along the lines of an edible garden that is accessible to the public. Let's face it. If you have purple sage, yellow thyme, blood-red lettuce, violet cauliflower, ivory tomatoes, red carrots, black radishes, orange eggplants, rose-pink beans, red sunflowers and black pumpkins, people will give you your business, even if its just to buy a microbrew and ask, "What the hell is that??" Be careful in temperate climates, folks. Sometimes the cooks just give up and slink into a dark corner, lashing out at an unfeeling public with mediocrity. One man reacted quite badly when he sliced vine-ripe tomatoes for a Planet-burger and it was sent back on the grounds the tomato was "bad" (The Philistines were used to hard, green, watery and tasteless.)
Its quite possible to get your tropic-grade vitamins without importing. Orange trees were once a common potted plant in WV; you'd get a write up in the paper if your fruit was a good size. If you want to grow fruit outside, northen kiwis are fine, as well as alpine strawberries, cranberries, Quinces, and there are apples with more Vitamin C than oranges. Sea Buckthorn is grown in chilly climes where oranges aren't doable; they're so popular in Europe entire bottling plants extract the juice for drinks. Check out Raintree Nursery for some good climate-planned fruits and nuts:
http://www.raintreenursery.com/
I come from Kingston Ontario Canada and I can proudly say I am a supporter of local organic meats and vegetables. ALthough my diet is only about 80% sustainable, I love where I'm at. I belong to a CSA and am constantly educating myself on issues such as mass produced organic, companion planting, naturalization, etc.
cheers! Joanna
I love Ideal Bite's focus on food this week. I've been trying the 100 Mile Diet this week, and it's not been extreme at all. Of course, I happen to live in a farm-rich area of western Massachusetts, so I've got that going for me.
There's a strong Eat Local movement around here and a lot of food entrepreneurs (I'm a cheesemaker on the side now). And I kind of default to local stuff, more out of convenience than anything else -- it's easier to get to several farmstands than it is to get to a supermarket. Still, I've been surprised at the quantity of stuff either grown or produced within 100 miles of me.
I urge everybody to try it, if for no other reason than to find out more about the area where you live.
Heather, northern California should be a piece of cake.
Good luck,
Chip
http://www.cookthink.com/blog
Ben-
Here are a few resources to get you started:
WorldWatch Institute: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1749
Co-Op America:
http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/climate/whattoknow/food.cfm
The Green Guide:
http://www.thegreenguide.com/
I am also happy with the current subject of food. I work in a large Natural Foods business and teach cooking. I have noticed that many mainstream food related magazines have had articles this summer about local. We have been promoting local and I am pleased at the response from customers. In my reading, I found the following very interesting.
www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets
http://www.localharvest.org/
Good eating! Sally
http://www.freshabundance.com
Fresh Abundance is a Spokane, WA area produce service that delivers locally grown goods and also recently opened up a store front for people to pick up orders themselves.
The profound exasperation of not having access to a car (ironically enough) is that I can't go trapsing around the county in search of roadside stands for local fruits and veggies, not to mention farm fresh eggs.
Definitely doing more research on CSAs next year!
Oh, the joys of living in suburbia!
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: Ben | August 09, 2006 at 07:14 AM