May 2006 Eat Local Challenge Participant List

by The Editors

The 2006 Eat Local Challenge participant list includes over fifty bloggers from areas around the country, Canada, and even France.  It includes challenge veterans and challenge newbies.  This group of bloggers joins the over 700 people taking the challenge this month with the Locavores. 

The Locavores started as a Bay Area group, however the nationwide participation as proven by this list should cast aside any doubts that eating locally is only a Bay Area game -- a game that others in the country can't play due to different agricultural limitations.  In the same way that marathoners all run the race for different reasons, each blogger in this group is taking the challenge at their own pace and with their own goals. 

We hope that you'll have a chance to check out some of these blogs.  The depth of the conversation that is started by these blogs is overwhelming.  We hope, on www.eatlocalchallenge.com, to feature many of these blogs throughout the month and to bring you their stories.

MIDWEST

Heather C. from Based on a True Story (Ohio). My interest didn't end when the challenge did.  I'm much more aware now of where my food is coming from.

Lucette from Cooking Vintage (Cleveland, OH). I took pleasure in looking at my plate and saying, "You belong to my foodshed." Saying mentally, you understand.

Alanna from Kitchen Parade: Veggie Venture (St. Louis, Missouri).

Lisa D. from Restaurant Widow (Columbus, OH). I am not going to go into a whole diatribe about my guidelines, I just want to get the word out about eating local and hopefully introduce my readers to some of my favorite products and farmers, and find some new ones along the way.

Expat Chef from The Expatriate's Kitchen (Midwest).

Barbara from Tiger & Strawberries (Athens, Ohio). I do try to eat locally anyway, but I love the chance that the Locavore’s Challenge brings to me as a blogger, because it gives me a chance to show how much local food I can find even in a small town like Athens–and I hope that encourages everyone to look around where they live and see what they, too, can find. It isn’t just the Bay Area locavores who get to eat delicious, nutritious meals when they vow to eat locally!

Rob from Vital Information (Chicago, IL). [My first goal] is to see how much I can "localize" things. How many exceptions can I reduce or eliminate. For instance, my wife and I talked about using honey and local syrup more instead of sugar. What else. Then, I want to carry the spirit and the effect of eating local to all my food buying.

NORTHEAST

Jennifer BB from Cookin' in the 'Cuse (Syracuse, NY). I'm amazed at how much more a thoughtful eater this challenge makes me.  In fact, I'd say that the challenge is less about who can eat 100% of their food from within their foodshed, but about becoming more thoughtful about what goes on my plate and in my mouth.

Sara from Folk Food (Seacoast Region of New Hampshire). Although our own effort will really concentrate in August, we buy and eat locally produced foods as much as possible year-round.

Lenn from Lenndevours (New York).

Dylan from Magari! (New York).

Sarah from Misadventures (Maryland).

Liz from Pocket Farm (Maine). The Eat Local Challenge is inspirational because it raises the awareness that most of the food we eat comes from afar and that we are in danger of losing the connections with growers and producers that have been an integral part of American life for ages.

Stephanie from stefoodie.net (Northwest PA).

SOUTH

Jamie from 10 Signs Like This (Georgia). I will use the Eat Local Challenge as an opportunity to emphasize the flavors that are native to the American South.

SOUTHEAST

Christine from Farm Groupie (Washington DC Area).

Jasmine from Knitting 40 Shades of Green (Virginia). I struggle daily with my environmental beliefs and the ease and convience of living in the consumer society that is the US.

Laurie O. from Slowly She Turned (Greensboro, North Carolina). We are lucky to be able to find so many local foods in our markets here in the Piedmont Triad. Now we need to support our farmers and encourage the next generation of young farmers to continue the tradition by making good choices with our food dollars.

SOUTHWEST

Eva from True Epicure Says (Phoenix, AZ).

 

NORTHWEST

Patrick & Holly from A letter from Hen Waller (Portland, OR). we are incredibly fortunate to live in a region where, while I cannot go to a storefront with a huge mound of fresh butter behind the counter, waiting for my hunk to be carved out, I can go to the Portland Farmer’s Market, and buy a luscious pound-sized brick of butter directly from the farmer who milks the grass-fed cows who gave their milk for it.

Kate from A Suburban Treehugger (Puget Sound, WA).

Sherrill from Baa Bonny Belle (Washington).

Mrs. D from Belly-Timber (Friday Harbor, Washington).

Rozanne from Ragwater, Bitters, and Blue Ruin (Portland, OR). Eating local is something I sort of do already, but I'd like to do it a little more systematically, conscientiously, and knowledgeably.

 

WEST

Birdsong Sundstrom from A View From Sierra County (Sierra County, CA). I have a few [goals]; to reconnect with preserving the abundance of the seasons in order to broaden our food choices down the line, while localizing further, and to contribute to the education of others.

Heidi from Absinthe Knits (San Diego, CA). every meal I eat on my own could be locally produced.  That's breakfast, lunch and most dinners. . . . But what's more, I'd really like to make a goal of learning more about food resources in San Diego, and share what I find.

Suzanne from Adjective Noun (Davis, CA). I say I’m flying without the training wheels because eating local means cookbooks don’t make too much sense and pantry staples like canned tomatoes aren’t available to me.  I tend to be a very rules-oriented person (professional hazard), so it’s really good for me to have to make dinner McGyver-style.  A little scary, and lots of fun!

Sam from Becks and Posh (San Francisco, CA).

Julie from Blahdiblah (East Bay Area, CA). There are a lot of Farmer's Markets that run year round which keep you in touch with eating what is in season.  Hit up a local bakery for your breads this month (this is the one I'm most excited about trying).

Pim from Chez Pim (San Francisco, CA).

Delores from Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity (East Bay Area, CA). So why then am I choosing to join over 700 others from around the bay, the country, the world in a quest to "eat locally" for the month of May? And making that challenge public by writing about it here?

Jenna from Driste (San Louis Obispo, CA). I have to admit I'm a bit scared for this month. Okay, more than a bit. I know it won't be easy. And to be honest, I don't know if I can do it. But I do love a challenge, so once the guantlet was thrown.... hook line and sinker, I was in.

Erin from Erin's Kitchen (Los Angeles, CA). Other than the aforementioned out-of-town sojourn, I aspire to make 75% of my meals homemade and local this month. My other primary goal for the month is to focus on making as many “basic” foods as possible myself—bread, pasta, granola, etc. I want to set aside time on the weekends to bake and cook, freezing and storing as I go.

Holli from Flibberty Gibbett (San Francisco, CA).

Catherine from Food Musings (CA). Get to know the men and women growing your food. Ask them how to cook those purple baby artichokes or how to prepare fava beans (that's how I learned). Get recipes. Find out what'll be in season next month. Pour your money back into the local economy. Support family farms so they don't have to sell out to large agribusinesses.

Jack & Joanne from Fork and Bottle (Santa Rosa). I’m not going to distill my own vodka from potatoes grown in my backyard or grow my own tea this month. But don’t question my dedication. It’s important to me to spread the word that eating local is the goal and any movement towards the goal is a success – even if it’s a baby step.

Claire from Greenjewls (Northern California).

Stephanie from Grub Report (Northern California). Goal: To keep my local head above local water and consciously think about the origins of every piece of food or drink that slips down my gullet.

Huan-Hua from i8 (San Francisco, CA). For the entire month, we will try to eat only foods that come from within approximately 100 miles of our home in the East Bay Area of San Francisco--our local "foodshed."

Cookiecrumb from I'm Mad and I Eat (San Rafael, CA). I also know that eating local (here in Marin County) is something I can absolutely do, even if it means a diet of oysters, carrots and milk.

Jennifer Maiser from Life Begins @ 30 (San Francisco, CA). What if all of our food decisions for a month were based on what was available in our foodshed?  What is it like to eat only what's in season?  What if we all became more aware of where our food really comes from?  What if local businesses got the message that people actually care about where their food comes from because of the sheer number of people asking questions about sourcing?

Andrea from   (Los Angeles, CA). in general, i want to learn more about where my food comes from, how my choices change once i learn that, and how possible is it to eat responsibly and well in one of the biggest cities in the world.

Marc from Mental Masala (Berkeley, CA). I would like to have every one of the meals that I cook this month be made using local ingredients subject to the limits in #2 above. It won't be practical to have all of my meals be from local ingredients (business meals, travel, and so forth), but since most of what I eat is what I cook--and little of that is from a mix or pre-made, my local fraction will end up to be fairly high.

mipmup from Mipmup (Los Angeles, CA). the goal of the challenge. . .is to eat food grown and produced in your area for a month. the environmental and economic — even the cultural — benefits of eating locally were obvious to me, but i wondered: can eating locally improve my health, too?

Claire from Organic Life Blog (Oakland, CA).

Tana from Small Farms (Santa Cruz County, CA). It has become my life's work to visit, photograph, and write about these [sustainable farms]—not just here, but wherever I travel in the world.

Tea from Tea and Cookies (San Francisco, CA). My main exemption will be salt (happily I am not the type to need coffee or chocolate). If necessary I may break down and use other non-local spices, but I am going to try and do without, relying instead on fresh herbs from my new window-box planter and the farmers’ market.

Kathy from Vast Amount of Spare Time (Southern California).

Jeanne Brophy from World on a Plate (San Francisco, CA). The best way to make a change is to understand your motivation for doing so. In order to make changes many of us need to understand through reading and discussion. Personally I place a lot of value on environmental education to build that bridge to change.

 

OUTSIDE THE U.S.

Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice (Ontario). Some of my earliest and fondest memories are of my grandfather sometimes tucking a sprig of basil in my pocket, or of my father fashioning me my very own "watering can" ... which was literally a can wired to the end of a stick! I simply cannot imagine a life without a garden, or at the very least easy access to fruits and vegetables that are grown locally.

Daphne from Edible Tulip (Toronto).

Vanessa from Tongue and Cheek (Canada).

Meg in Paris from Too Many Chefs (Paris, France). My goal is twofold: Firstly to learn more about the food I'm eating - I tend to pay attention when the source is mentioned but don't ask questions when it's not. And secondly to see how far I can carry the principle while factoring a busy life of work, family and blog.

If you have an addition or correction to this list, please contact Jen.
A special thanks to Lisa for her enormous help in creating this list.

Comments

[Birdsong]

It's very inspirational to read where everyone is from and some of their comments! Thanks, Jen, for connecting us with each other.

[andrea]

another angeleno to add to the west coast list! i sent an email to you, jen, a few days ago but it probably got lost in the shuffle or whatever, no biggie. :) here's my questionnaire post: http://mellowtrouble.net/2006/05/03/easy-food

thanks so much for organizing the challenge - and this blog is really such a great resource, i've already learned some great stuff.

[Lastewie]

Yeah, so I'm doing ELC too. If you'd like to put me on the list, go ahead!