Eat Local Challenge
Day 29
A Summation Of The First MonthWe have now been following the Eat Local Challenge for one month. Has it been hard? I want to tell you that it has been, because then you will admire my ability to stick to it even though it has meant total deprivation and culinary hardship....the truth is that it hasn't been that hard. The parameters that I set for us aren't extreme. I think if anyone is thinking about taking on the eat local challenge for themselves they should set realistic goals. I think it's enough for most people to just decide to only eat local produce. That is a big challenge but in most places in this country, completely possible.
The biggest change this challenge has brought to us is the necessity to think about everything we buy to put in our mouths. I have put in many hours on researching who is growing what in my valley. I have become knowledgeable on the kinds of cheeses you can and cannot find within a 100 mile radius. I know what grains are grown in my state and that most of them are exported rather than supplying locals. Which says a lot about how the food economy has shifted for the worse in modern times. I know now that my state produces a ton of beet sugar, but we send almost all of it back east. So those of you in New York will not find it difficult to buy Oregon made sugar, but those of us in Oregon may not be able to find it anywhere.
One thing I already knew is that most of us live our lives without looking very far for things, if it isn't already under our nose then it doesn't exist. My aunt in Wisconsin used to tell me that they just don't sell heirloom varieties of vegetables in Wisconsin. I knew that wasn't true because in garden forums I had encountered a lot of gardeners in Wisconsin who bought almost only heirloom varieties from their nurseries. They weren't being offered at the nurseries she was going to, but that didn't mean they weren't being offered elsewhere in her area, she just never looked for them.
I had to go out of my way to find out what's being made locally. Once you put in time researching these things the whole local world opens up and eating local gets a lot easier. What I had to let go of is expecting that I will cook in exactly the same manner as always.
Although the produce man at my local health food store assured me that nothing local was available by November, I have found that he has not been looking very hard for it. It's everywhere. It is three days to November and at the Hillsdale farmer's market here's what was still on offer:
potatoes, shallots, onions, celery, the last of the tomatoes, the last of the peppers, green beans, broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, collards, swiss chard, kale, garlic, celeriac, rutabagas, parsnips, sun-chokes, Brussels sprouts, apples, pears, carrots, salsify, turnips, lettuce, a shit-load of winter squash in a myriad of colors and types, dried beans, meats, cheeses, fresh herbs, beets, and nuts.
If any cook finds that variety limiting, I have no respect for them. In fact, I found it difficult to limit myself to what I might actually be able to cook this week or freeze. I am taking celery off of my exceptions list as I have found local growers of celery. I bought about four giant bunches of them and will saute and freeze it. Next week I will buy even more and do the same. In this way I can buy only local celery and just pull it out of the freezer in pre-measured amounts for soups and casseroles until I can get it fresh again. So that was a real victory. Which, by the way, was brought about by Nicole, who found it for me.
The Hillsdale farmer's market goes all year but will only be open twice a month starting this month. The offerings will obviously get sparser, yet many of the items I listed above are long storing vegetables and will likely be available for a while yet.
One major change has been not snacking on Max's Cheetos. I think I may have mentioned before how I don't particularly like them-they basically taste like salty grease but their crispiness makes them a satisfying midnight snack. You'd think I would have lost weight not eating the Cheetos, but sadly, this is not the case. To replace Cheetos I have taken to snacking on evil itself: Tillamook cheddar cheese. Philip at some Cheetos yesterday because he forgot he was doing this whole eat local thing. Max told on him. Tattle-tale!!!
The best finds were two brands of tortilla chips made right in Salem. One of those brands is "Kettle Chips" who also make really good potato chips, and the other one is "Don Pancho" who also makes corn tortillas and flour tortillas.
Right now I am contemplating my exceptions list. This is not, in my opinion, a rigid list that must never change. I like to think of it as a dynamic list that things can be removed from or added to, so long as a certain integrity remains. As I get into this challenge it is really making me realize what foods I can live without, and which ones I find indispensable. The main thing, for myself, is for my exceptions list to maintain a certain brevity. Otherwise I ruin the spirit of the challenge. My goal is to keep that list under ten items.
Yet, even though I say this to myself, that my list can be adjusted, I have some inner conflict over it. Read, and see for yourself...
I am seriously considering taking chocolate off the exceptions list and adding Parmesan in it's place. Why would I do something SO DAMN CRAZY? Because I don't actually care that much for chocolate but I care a lot about not being able to have Parmesan. My very dear friend Chelsea, a steadfast supporter of all my craziness, has predicted that I will DIE if I try to go a year without Parmesan cheese. What do you all think? Chocolate or Parmesan? Or neither? Check out my exceptions list as it stands right now and tell me your thoughts on my approach to this challenge.
Chocolate was only on my list of exceptions because Max likes to make chocolate chip cookies with me and I'm not passing up my one cooking activity with my kid. If I make cookies, I eat them. However, I think I can take the trauma of not adding another roll to my stomach from eating cookies we make. Besides, Max has recently decided that he HATES brown chocolate and only likes white chocolate and peanut butter chips. I don't like white chocolate so that's no trouble. We won't talk about peanut butter chips, OK? Because that's a painful subject.
Will I respect myself more in a year if I keep to my resolution to not eat any Parmesan?* Will I impress myself more in a year if I don't alter my exceptions list again? Should it be something that is set in stone? Is a local challenge only worthy if it involves a ton of deprivation? Does an Eat Local Challenge only count if it is pure? These are important questions. I would love it if everyone who reads this weighs in with their thoughts.
Worst of all questions to ask is: do I need to be impressing other people? Would the couple who wrote the book "Plenty" and inspired this whole 100 mile diet find my efforts paltry in comparison to their Herculean efforts in which they consumed no flour for seven months and insisted on finding and using local salt? And since when have I ever cared what other people think of me or whether or not they're impressed? Would you care if you were taking this challenge? If you are taking this challenge-does it matter to you what others think?
How would you approach this challenge?
Now is not the time to keep your opinions to yourself. OK?
*In some puritanical way it feels like this whole challenge will be meaningless unless I have to give up something I love. How American-religious is that of me?! It feels like a person can't be taken seriously in making big changes unless they are suffering in some way. I tend to think this is bogus, but a part of me thinks it might be sinful to let myself add Parmesan cheese to my exceptions list because it's giving in to desire. True, it isn't exactly a CARNAL desire, and I'm pretty sure that culinary desire does not invoke the same promise of hellfire...and it's also true that I don't actually believe in sins seeing as I am not religious...still, these thoughts persist.
The biggest change this challenge has brought to us is the necessity to think about everything we buy to put in our mouths. I have put in many hours on researching who is growing what in my valley. I have become knowledgeable on the kinds of cheeses you can and cannot find within a 100 mile radius. I know what grains are grown in my state and that most of them are exported rather than supplying locals. Which says a lot about how the food economy has shifted for the worse in modern times. I know now that my state produces a ton of beet sugar, but we send almost all of it back east. So those of you in New York will not find it difficult to buy Oregon made sugar, but those of us in Oregon may not be able to find it anywhere.
One thing I already knew is that most of us live our lives without looking very far for things, if it isn't already under our nose then it doesn't exist. My aunt in Wisconsin used to tell me that they just don't sell heirloom varieties of vegetables in Wisconsin. I knew that wasn't true because in garden forums I had encountered a lot of gardeners in Wisconsin who bought almost only heirloom varieties from their nurseries. They weren't being offered at the nurseries she was going to, but that didn't mean they weren't being offered elsewhere in her area, she just never looked for them.
I had to go out of my way to find out what's being made locally. Once you put in time researching these things the whole local world opens up and eating local gets a lot easier. What I had to let go of is expecting that I will cook in exactly the same manner as always.
Although the produce man at my local health food store assured me that nothing local was available by November, I have found that he has not been looking very hard for it. It's everywhere. It is three days to November and at the Hillsdale farmer's market here's what was still on offer:
potatoes, shallots, onions, celery, the last of the tomatoes, the last of the peppers, green beans, broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, collards, swiss chard, kale, garlic, celeriac, rutabagas, parsnips, sun-chokes, Brussels sprouts, apples, pears, carrots, salsify, turnips, lettuce, a shit-load of winter squash in a myriad of colors and types, dried beans, meats, cheeses, fresh herbs, beets, and nuts.
If any cook finds that variety limiting, I have no respect for them. In fact, I found it difficult to limit myself to what I might actually be able to cook this week or freeze. I am taking celery off of my exceptions list as I have found local growers of celery. I bought about four giant bunches of them and will saute and freeze it. Next week I will buy even more and do the same. In this way I can buy only local celery and just pull it out of the freezer in pre-measured amounts for soups and casseroles until I can get it fresh again. So that was a real victory. Which, by the way, was brought about by Nicole, who found it for me.
The Hillsdale farmer's market goes all year but will only be open twice a month starting this month. The offerings will obviously get sparser, yet many of the items I listed above are long storing vegetables and will likely be available for a while yet.
One major change has been not snacking on Max's Cheetos. I think I may have mentioned before how I don't particularly like them-they basically taste like salty grease but their crispiness makes them a satisfying midnight snack. You'd think I would have lost weight not eating the Cheetos, but sadly, this is not the case. To replace Cheetos I have taken to snacking on evil itself: Tillamook cheddar cheese. Philip at some Cheetos yesterday because he forgot he was doing this whole eat local thing. Max told on him. Tattle-tale!!!
The best finds were two brands of tortilla chips made right in Salem. One of those brands is "Kettle Chips" who also make really good potato chips, and the other one is "Don Pancho" who also makes corn tortillas and flour tortillas.
Right now I am contemplating my exceptions list. This is not, in my opinion, a rigid list that must never change. I like to think of it as a dynamic list that things can be removed from or added to, so long as a certain integrity remains. As I get into this challenge it is really making me realize what foods I can live without, and which ones I find indispensable. The main thing, for myself, is for my exceptions list to maintain a certain brevity. Otherwise I ruin the spirit of the challenge. My goal is to keep that list under ten items.
Yet, even though I say this to myself, that my list can be adjusted, I have some inner conflict over it. Read, and see for yourself...
I am seriously considering taking chocolate off the exceptions list and adding Parmesan in it's place. Why would I do something SO DAMN CRAZY? Because I don't actually care that much for chocolate but I care a lot about not being able to have Parmesan. My very dear friend Chelsea, a steadfast supporter of all my craziness, has predicted that I will DIE if I try to go a year without Parmesan cheese. What do you all think? Chocolate or Parmesan? Or neither? Check out my exceptions list as it stands right now and tell me your thoughts on my approach to this challenge.
Chocolate was only on my list of exceptions because Max likes to make chocolate chip cookies with me and I'm not passing up my one cooking activity with my kid. If I make cookies, I eat them. However, I think I can take the trauma of not adding another roll to my stomach from eating cookies we make. Besides, Max has recently decided that he HATES brown chocolate and only likes white chocolate and peanut butter chips. I don't like white chocolate so that's no trouble. We won't talk about peanut butter chips, OK? Because that's a painful subject.
Will I respect myself more in a year if I keep to my resolution to not eat any Parmesan?* Will I impress myself more in a year if I don't alter my exceptions list again? Should it be something that is set in stone? Is a local challenge only worthy if it involves a ton of deprivation? Does an Eat Local Challenge only count if it is pure? These are important questions. I would love it if everyone who reads this weighs in with their thoughts.
Worst of all questions to ask is: do I need to be impressing other people? Would the couple who wrote the book "Plenty" and inspired this whole 100 mile diet find my efforts paltry in comparison to their Herculean efforts in which they consumed no flour for seven months and insisted on finding and using local salt? And since when have I ever cared what other people think of me or whether or not they're impressed? Would you care if you were taking this challenge? If you are taking this challenge-does it matter to you what others think?
How would you approach this challenge?
Now is not the time to keep your opinions to yourself. OK?
*In some puritanical way it feels like this whole challenge will be meaningless unless I have to give up something I love. How American-religious is that of me?! It feels like a person can't be taken seriously in making big changes unless they are suffering in some way. I tend to think this is bogus, but a part of me thinks it might be sinful to let myself add Parmesan cheese to my exceptions list because it's giving in to desire. True, it isn't exactly a CARNAL desire, and I'm pretty sure that culinary desire does not invoke the same promise of hellfire...and it's also true that I don't actually believe in sins seeing as I am not religious...still, these thoughts persist.
Labels: cooking, deprivation, eatlocalchallenge, food, local food