next »

[Holly]

A discussion this past weekend just inspired me to write a little tidbit here. The person I was talking with is very committed to eating bioregionally and made me think about it in a new way. Essentially, she said that she's comfortable buying coffee, bananas, avocados and coconut oil because they never grow around here, but that if it comes to buying a zucchini in winter, she'd rather just wait for them to grow here. It made so much sense and, to me, seems less overwhelming than the 100 mile diet in Maine (which can't be fun, assuming it's possible.)

The "food miles" concept isn't as straight forward as you might think. See this New York Times Article- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/opinion/06mcwilliams.html

and so made the issue sort of more confusing for me. so i like the above "personal metric."

[Jenna]

I'll own up to being the chick who eats the coconut oil and coffee. I do try to limit myself on the imported goods. At least when I can stand it. I would say that with bananas I eat them about every three weeks and in between do my best to eat local apples and the like. The thing that happens around this time of year is that there is no organic local produce at the coop. The apples are from Canada and Washington and then there are peaches and oranges from all over. When I find myself in that position, I choose to continue to eat fruit and...it's all from away! I have a winter CSA from Beth Schiller and the apples ran out a couple of months ago. (Her CSA is lovely, just the same.) I was partially inspired by the premise set in "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" in which each family member took turns enjoying an imported food. Eventually I want to read "Keeping Food Fresh" so I can learn some techniques for preserving food through the winter.

These are tough decisions to make. I find myself arguing with myself about imported agave nectar--which the body processes like a complex carb, versus honey or maple syrup--local gentle sweeteners that register higher on the glycemic index. Oy vey, what's a girl to do? For this animist a partial answer is to pray about it--to the stars, the food, the truck drivers, and to make or grow everything I can, then teach others how to do it, too. This isn't exactly party-til-the-apocalypse mentality, is it?

[Holly]

I am just so OVER winter, i swear i am protesting this unending weather with zucchinis and green beans. I feel only slightly guilty, because i know that i would have visited somewhere warm if i could have to break up this interminable white out. I enjoyed my green beans yesterday with maitakes sautéed in butter. OMG, yum. It helped my mood. But then i listened to a radio program about global warming and read a history book about food (and how horribly monotonous and deficient people's diets have been during some eras) and felt that i at least needed to fess up on this forum.

There. I've done it.