Shades of Local Food

Day 4 of Eat Local Challenge Series

While the purpose of the Eat Local Challenge in Burlington, Vermont seems clear enough – help support our local food economy, the commitment asked for is somewhat open to interpretation. Each individual decides his or her comfort level of becoming a “localvore” for a day, the week or longer.

As I mentioned yesterday, how one approaches an eat local challenge will have a big impact on what they take away from it, which is why I think it is important to jump fully in so that the individual or family participating will grow their appreciation for what needs to be done to increase the consumption of local foods.

Having said that, I also talked yesterday about easing into this sort of effort, since the last thing any of us wants is for someone to be discouraged by their efforts. As the week progresses, I can see how that might happen, so I have yet another suggestion for the organizers to consider.

One of the difficulties in eating local is finding local products to substitute for non-local foods people are accustom to eating. Primarily, I’m talking about processed and preserved foods within the perishable perimeter of conventional food stores. Assuming such local products are available, which may not be the case as often as us “localvores” might like, how do you find the products? How can you tell whether the ingredients inside are local?

You can’t, generally speaking, unless the food producer or food retailer brings that to your attention using product or shelf labels. More important, even if you did find such labels, how often would such products be 100 percent local? I doubt often.

What we need to consider are “Shades of Local” determined using three locally beneficial components of any food product: Where it was grown/raised, processed and sold. The ideal product would be grown, processed and sold in Vermont by Vermont owned businesses, AND would be (certified) organic. Next best, and not far behind, would be the same product that is not certified organic. At the other end of the spectrum would be the minimum requirements for a product to be considered “acceptable” for the challenge.

While I’m not exactly sure what those requirements should be, intuitively I would say it’s 100 percent of one of the three criteria (e.g., sold by 100 percent Vermont owned business) and greater than 50 percent of the other two (e.g., locally grown or raised and/or processed). After all, for a regional food economy to succeed, all elements of the food chain need to be healthy and growing.

For this to work, the organizers of the Eat Local Challenge will need to work closely with local farms, dairies, food processors and retailers to ensure visual cues are present where people buy their food. This special labeling doesn’t have to be permanent, although that would be ideal, which should make it more manageable. Perhaps the organizers could get a grant to cover the administrative and material costs.

For an example of how this might look and work, we need to look no further than Burlington’s own City Market/Onion River Co-op‘s produce section, which includes color-coded labels for Local, Organic and Conventional. While it takes extra effort and tighter logistics, my family for one found it very helpful.

(Local) food for thought…

The Power of Eat Local Seasons (v. Weeks)

Day 3 of Eat Local Challenge Series

Three days in and we are starting to hit our stride.

It isn’t that eating local has suddenly become a lot easier. It’s more that we are getting better at letting go of things we had grown comfortable with and have had a hard time carving out of our diets.

For me, my biggest challenge has been letting go of my favorite hot sauces, none of which meet localvore requirements, and grabbing a handful of nuts, typically salted peanuts or mixed nuts, as a quick snack. For my wife it was probably raw sugar in her coffee. For the kids, it would seem that chocolate is the center of their snacking universe, whether chocolate chip cookies, chocolate milk, hot chocolate, etc. They also miss having the option of being able to buy their lunch at school (other than my 13 year old, who you know by now has carved out lunch).

To their credit (specifically my 10 and 11 year olds), my kids have shown tremendous discipline, saying “no” to offers from friends at school to break their local focus: Positive Pie pizza (2009 Seven Daysies award winner for “Best Pizza Outside Chittenden County”…well deserved!), Nature’s Path Organic Toaster Pastries (strawberry frosted variety…a favorite), fruit leathers, Newman’s Own oreo-type cookies and school snacks.

“Just Say No” is taking on a whole new meaning from my family!

The real problem may be less about letting go than it is about using what you have. You see, living in New England for the last nine years has taught us a thing or two about being resourceful. Call it Yankee ingenuity. If we have something that might go bad if we don’t eat it, we eat it. If we have something in the pantry that can be substituted for something we don’t currently have stocked, we use it. And so on.

Which makes the flip-a-switch-and-start-eating-local-for-a-week approach very difficult for us, as I expect it is  for many others. In fact, I’m growing a little concerned that the idea of a week-long Eat Local Challenge, which sounds so good on the surface, may unintentionally turn people away from eating local more often because they get the impression that its difficult. The same thing already happens with many people’s first experience with community supported agriculture (CSA) programs, where “supermarket withdrawl” settles in and people start missing the convenience and flexibility of getting “fresh” produce from large supermarkets.

Maybe what we need is an Eat Local Season (rather than a single week), where people are encouraged to ease into eating local by replacing pantry items with local options when they restock, which over time will increase the percentage of local foods used in preparing meals and snacks.
The season could start when school lets out, to eliminate the “school lunch exemption,” and run into early fall. If you timed it right, by the time people had turned over much of their pantry, the produce harvest would be in full bloom and the Eat Local Season Challenge could culminate in a Harvest Week, which is when participants give their 100% effort to eat local.

Maybe next year.

For now, we will keep letting go this week in hopes that in the weeks to follow we find ourselves reaching for the local options more frequently.

Wrapping Our Heads around Eating Local

Day 2 of Eat Local Challenge Series

My family has been eating healthy food for as far back as I can remember. By healthy, I mean using fresh ingredients, with some preserved foods, mostly done so by food processors, to prepare home cooked meals.

Coming into this week’s Eat Local Challenge 2009, we figured it wouldn’t be a big stretch for us to add “local” to our routine, especially since we participate in a community supported agriculture (CSA) program at Wellspring Farm in Marshfield and have a large vegetable garden of our own.

What we are finding out is all the things we have been taking for granted, including many commonly used ingredients that are difficult, if not impossible to source from within 100 miles: sugar, flour, coffee, exotic spices, baking powder, baking soda, citrus fruits and juices, and so on.

Granted, we are using the Marco Polo Rule to allow the use of some of these food products, as well as five “wild card” foods, so we aren’t going cold turkey. But what if we, as a family or as a region, truly had to make such adjustments? How would we make that work? It’s hard to imagine given how accustom we have become to getting what we want when we want it.

Yesterday, my 11 year old daughter asked why more Vermont farmers and processors don’t find ways to create the products we import, e.g., grapes and raisins. Great question. The answer can be quite complex, and depends quite a bit on one’s perspective. For example, in a household with two working adults, time is a severely limiting factor, which is at least part of the reason why nearly half of the money American’s spend on food is spent eating out. Of that, nearly half is spent on fast food. In other words, even if Vermont farmers produced more of the ingredients needed, this group of consumers would not likely become regular customers.

On the other hand, if those farmers were able to sell such products to Vermont’s restaurants and institutions, e.g., UVM and Fletcher Allen, in significantly greater quantities, then those same consumers would indirectly be supporting those farmers with their “away from home” food expenditures, assuming they ate out at Vermont-owned restaurants versus national chains or fast food joints.

My point? Vermont, like any other region, has significant upside potential in supporting local farmers, dairies, ranchers and processors through consumer food expenditures for at home and away from home consumption. Taking a week out of our year to understand the subtleties and challenges of eating local has already opened our eyes to how we can better do our part.

Today’s Localvore Meals

• Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs (Savage Gardens in North Hero), Vermont Maple Sausage (Vermont Smoke and Cure in South Barre), strawberries (Taste of the North, St. Lawrence Valley, Quebec), and Cold Hollow Cider Mill apple cider…to grogy this AM to remember to add peppers and chives from our garden and some wonderful Vermont-made cheese, but did get to sit down with entire family from breakfast on a school day, which was quite the treat

• Lunch:  Vermont Soy Maple Ginger Tofu, Cabot Sharp Cheddar Cheese, homemade “local” muffins, hard boiled eggs (Savage Gardens), and lemon and regular cucumbers and carrots from our garden and Wellspring Farm (13-Year-Old Exception: U-32 cafeteria…no luck yet on getting her to take a lunch, although we will keep trying)

• Dinner (Previous Night):  Savory Vegetables in Polenta Crust (recipe in From the Cook’s Garden by Ellen Ecker Ogden) – utilized great local ingredients, e.g., Butterworks Farm cornmeal, Rainville Family Farm organic sunflower oil and red bell peppers, onion, garlic, zucchini, basil and oregano from our garden; salad made from our garden and Wellspring Farm CSA produce; Monument Farm milk

• Wild Cards: French Roast Coffee (Fresh Coffee Now in Burlington), baking powder (muffins)

• Exceptions: (1) 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar in last night’s dinner; (2) raw cane sugar for coffee (were going to try out maple syrup, but ran out over weekend; will be buying syrup and maple sugar to test out…stay tuned)

• Market Opportunities: following items might be ripe for Vermont food entrepreneurs – localvore breads (know Red Hen has some, but were sold out; couldn’t find any at Hunger Mt. Co-op in Montpelier), localvore dry pastas, raisins (my daughter will be your best customer), kid-tested peanut butter substitute

Related Posts:

• Day 1 – Refrigerator & Pantry Stocked for Local Eating Challenge
• Taking a Long View of Kids Eating Local
• Is Buying Food Locally More Important than Eating Local Food?