Shop and Eat Locally
I’m fascinated with the concept of trying to eat “local” and there is an article in Wired: How to Shop and Eat Locally that tells us more about it. Below is an excerpt:
Innumerable books and other media extol the virtues of eating food that’s grown and processed near you: it benefits the planet, it benefits the farmers, it tastes better, it’s better for you. ReadMichael Pollan or Barbara Kingsolver for examples.
But piecing together a local menu isn’t as easy as going to the Local aisle of your supermarket. Here are some tips for bringing your meals closer to home.
Start small. Shopping locally goes against the grain (pun intended) of our globalized economy, so it’s not the easiest thing to do. Even if you live in a region that’s rich in vegetables and meats, chances are you won’t have easy access to staples like sugar, salt, oil, and flour. Just focus on what you can get, and keep an eye out for sources and/or substitutes for what you can’t.
Personalize. If you want to try the classic 100-mile diet, you can find your personal 100-mile radius at 100milediet.org.
Get a supplier. You can find farms, greenmarkets, and locally oriented stores in your area using web tools offered atEatwellguide.org and Localharvest.org. If you live in a city, investigate CSA — Community-Supported Agriculture. Citydwellers pay a fee to subscribe to a farm, and get a share of its output delivered in weekly boxes of joy. Just Food offers a listing for New Yorkers.
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Interesting post. I always think that local food tastes better and more fresh. A great example of local foods and of course some regional food is the vegetable market in Shwaikh. Rows upon rows of fresh fruit an vegetables at unrivaled prices. In a lot of ways, similar to a farmer’s market.
I’m really interested to see what your diet would consist off.
I’m actually hooked at Wild Oats but it’s quite expensive. I believe that because it’s not locally supplied.
Morning, Saracen. 🙂 This post relates to one earlier this week on Kingsolver’s book about eating locally, and our discussion about what our diet would look like if we were to try to eat only local foods.
GE&B – We’ve been talking about this – lots of seafood 🙂 chicken, eggs, sheep/mutton. . .tomatoes, cilantro, green onions, “Kuwaiti” salad, but no one seems to know about grain. Is harees from within 100 miles or so? Can we get rice from Iraq? Iran? We try to eat as locally as possible, wherever we live. Here in Kuwait, we do well – as Saracen suggests – by buying from the local fresh markets. Some of those things, however, come from some distance – like Kenya!
Angelo, I don’t know what Wild Oats is – is it some kind of health food chain?
Mh, I agree in general.
But what I read about the amount of water used to supply the local farms and energy, makes me wonder, if it really is worth it and if they would do it, if they wouldn’t have the oil…. if you would do farming the way they do here, a tomato in Germany would cost over 10 Euro.
I, for example don’t get why people here in Kuwait still by the American Iceberg for 1,3 KD instead of a whole carton of Iceberg from – for example Lebanon for the same price and 6 of them – as good.
But that is not really local.
Ah, am getting lost in my own train of thoughts, I need food 😉
Thanks for mentioning the Eat Well Guide as a tool to find local food! Check out our new and improved site where you can sign up to stay updated, search for local events, or download widgets for your blog (http://downloads.eatwellguide.org/widgets/search). Stay tuned for the launch of our travel tool, an interactive feature that will allow users to map out their route and find local, sustainable food along the way.