Well, midway through the month, I can see very clearly that me taking this on was insanely unrealistic.
I know that it can be done to a significant extent, but it takes a lot more planning and shopping flexibility than I really have right now.
Some parts are pretty easy, and I’ll probably keep them up, at least mostly:
- Bread
- Milk
- Some chicken
- Some fruit & veg (but not very much)
Instead of giving up completely, I’m going to modify the challenge to try to do one completely local dinner every other week. Plus the items noted above.
What I can say out of this is that it’s been a huge consciousness raising experience. First, I never really gave that much thought to where my food came from, geographically speaking, before now. Except of course to be a snob about Wisconsin beer and cheese.
Also, I never thought about the environmental impact of eating foods shipped thousands of miles from farm or factory to me. But once you start thinking about it, it’s ridiculously obvious. It is bizarre to think that it makes sense for my cereal to be imported from Canada, nearly all of my fruit and vegetables from California, Chile, or New Zealand. BIZARRE.
I do still think I’m going to try making my own yogurt, but I don’t know when and I’m not committed to it regularly.
Eating local can be so damn hard, not to mention expensive. We really try to, and are lucky enough around here that we almost could, with the exception of locally grown grains.
Also – my mom tried to make yogurt when we were kids and it was bad bad bad. The closest she ever got was a smoothie type substance. I hope you have better luck.
I applaud you for even *trying* this local thing. I bet I’d be healthier if I tried it out, but it would be really tough for me to swear off the Cheez-Its.
We had homemade yogurt when I was growing up — pretty good stuff, actually. The goat cheese experiments, on the other hand… well, let’s just say that I was lucky to be out of state when my mother cracked the wax on the first one, and the second one, and the third one, and…
I find it scary that eating local food costs more than eating food that’s traveled a long way. That says something about the economics of where the far-away food is being grown, and economies of scale, and economies of pesticides.
I think a CSA is a grand idea. I’d join one here, but I don’t cook and couldn’t possibly use all the produce a CSA would provide. Instead I shop at the grocery that has organic produce that’s reasonably local — mainly from California. (There’s not a lot of produce growing in Nevada for some reason.)
And now, back to my non-local cottage cheese, with local organic grapes, and definitely non-local coffee.
Well I’ve been impressed all along with your efforts. It’s even harder when you keep kosher. The food comes from all over the world – lots from Israel, because locally there just isn’t enough market in any city to produce TOO much local food.
I try with produce — the Takoma Park farmer’s market in your old home town has converted us; I love tomatoes and the ones there ruin you for life. How can you match local tomatoes that have never been refridgerated with those in the supermarket? But with much of the other stuff, that has to be kosher, from bread to balsamic vinegar to powdered consume it gets tougher. I’m grateful to have my consciousness raised (as usual you’re ahead of the pack) and will do what I can but I can see it will be a ginormous problem….
I’ve been lurking for a while, but I can’t resist talking about food.
Making your own yogurt is really easy. Really. I do mine in a quart Ball jar (mix up the warm milk and the 2 spoons of the last batch of yogurt) and then pop it in my oven over-night. The pilot light keeps it at just the right temp. It did take me several batches to get it consistently right, but now I could do it in the dark. I’ve also been making kefir, which is more forgiving (no temperatures to worry about) and so even easier.
Local food is definitely a consciousness raiser – and a slippery slope. Before you know it you’ll be noticing where everything comes from.
I found your blog through the BlogHer Ad Network…
Anyway, the eating local thing intrigues me, but it is really difficult. I live in Nevada and there was an article in the newspaper about how everyone in our city would end up running around eating bugs, lizards, sand and sagebrush if we tried to eat 100% local here. There aren’t a lot of farms in this area.