the hundred mile diet
Nov. 23rd, 2007 03:51 pmI pay as much lip service to eating locally as many people, but aside from patronizing farmers' markets and scrutinizing labels in the supermarket, I haven't done much about it. I may up the ante and try to do one or two days a week on the only food within a hundred mile radius plan (see
http://www.100milediet.org/). After determining that Quabbin is only about 50 miles away or so (I'd hate to do without water, after all), I've started a list of stuff I consume several times a week that I'd really miss were I to devote myself to it totally (which I'm not):
Rice (I'm closer to the opposite extreme, buying Fair Trade rice from Thailand).
Tofu (the tofu we buy is made in Jamaica Plain, but I'm pretty sure the soy beans aren't local)
Wheat products (some wheat is grown in New England, but I don't know where to buy it)
Oats (ditto)
Almonds
Prunes
peanuts
Citrus fruit or similar (what's the category for pineapple?)
Cinnamon
Cumin
Bananas
There are also lots of things easily available around here in the summer, but not in the winter, including many of my frequent foods, like carrots and peas. The last farmers' market visit was on Wednesday (Davis Square), although there are farm stands around somewhere that stay open all year round, selling animal products and produce that I presume is grown in a greenhouse. Stocking up with enough summer produce to last until the following June would be problematic. I don't have a root cellar or a huge freezer and can't imagine canning (an odd word for preserving in jars), although I have made jam a couple of times (not recently).
The absence of local coffee and chocolate and other exotica like that wouldn't be a problem for me.
http://www.100milediet.org/). After determining that Quabbin is only about 50 miles away or so (I'd hate to do without water, after all), I've started a list of stuff I consume several times a week that I'd really miss were I to devote myself to it totally (which I'm not):
Rice (I'm closer to the opposite extreme, buying Fair Trade rice from Thailand).
Tofu (the tofu we buy is made in Jamaica Plain, but I'm pretty sure the soy beans aren't local)
Wheat products (some wheat is grown in New England, but I don't know where to buy it)
Oats (ditto)
Almonds
Prunes
peanuts
Citrus fruit or similar (what's the category for pineapple?)
Cinnamon
Cumin
Bananas
There are also lots of things easily available around here in the summer, but not in the winter, including many of my frequent foods, like carrots and peas. The last farmers' market visit was on Wednesday (Davis Square), although there are farm stands around somewhere that stay open all year round, selling animal products and produce that I presume is grown in a greenhouse. Stocking up with enough summer produce to last until the following June would be problematic. I don't have a root cellar or a huge freezer and can't imagine canning (an odd word for preserving in jars), although I have made jam a couple of times (not recently).
The absence of local coffee and chocolate and other exotica like that wouldn't be a problem for me.