I Like Eating Local

By VI

Jen gives us ten reasons to eat local. From a purely deliciousness point, it boils down to two things.  When food is sourced locally, it can be harvested much closer to its peak of ripeness--this would be the example of the pear, and when food is sourced locally, it is possible to obtain items that may be otherwise too difficult to market--this would be the example of the heirloom tomato. These reasons of deliciousness got me started eating locally.  Now, I have found, like Jamie S, that there is pleasure just in the fact of eating local.  In other words, I've come to find that if it is local, I find it more delicious.

It was not that long ago that everyone ate local.  People preferred their food.  Of course if you were from Carcassonne, that was the way cassoulet should taste.  The rest just did not taste as good.  With the globalization of food, we have lost food loyalty.  I may prefer perch, but most of my neighbors would rather have a nice slab of bright red tuna.  Below are a few more things, like perch, that I have found I like more than ever because they are local.  I expect that as I continue down the local path, I will find many more items that taste good because they are local.

Black walnuts are not exclusive to the Great Lakes region, but they very much are a product that grows around here.  A cold weather nut.  I like nuts.  I can eat so many nuts in a sitting that my skin oozes Vitamin E.  I have grown especially to like black walnuts.  They are the only nut I can find in farmer's markets in and around Chicago.  This makes the black walnut taste so much better to me.  So good that I deal with all the hassle it takes in opening and extracting a black walnut.  I very much look forward to making some walnut liquor.

Ham, ham can be very regional.  There's style near me, from Wisconsin, a rolled ham smoked over applewood.  Nueske does this style well. My kids especially like the ham from this place in Wisconsin.  It is, however, what I'd call a sandwich ham.  At times I want a dinner ham, actually an appetizer ham, a ham that properly sets up a course to follow, especially when accented against something like fresh melon or arugula.  I'm talking prosciutto right, or its cousins, serrano or French/Basque equivalents.  With olives, and besides coffee, Parma ham may be my biggest cheat these days.  Then I found this.

Prosciutto made in my own backyard.  Remember I have defined my local foodshed to include the states within the "classic" Big Ten (I say classic to exclude Pennsylvania).  Iowa's there. Luckily.  This ham is really good.  Really what good prosciutto is supposed to taste like, nutty, rich, sweet, hardly too salty.  Do not be fooled by that price.  Eight good slices run around $3.  More than enough for a dinner or two's first course.  Regardless of price, I love this stuff.  Blind, I would love it, but local, it really gives me pleasure.

I came to eating local to eat well; then for the environmental reasons.  Now, I have found that local comes to me.  It tastes that much better when it is local.

Vital Information has been where I've write about my attempts to eat local (and the resources therein), my desire to find good bread, and how handsome my cat is.  You will also see writing about various places to eat in and around Chicago (with the occasional side trip).

Comments

[Liz]

This is why I love eating within my foodshed so much: it tastes better and just makes sense.

I have a friend here in Maine who made his own proscuitto. It's good, but he's not an expert proscuitto-maker. Yet. ;)

[Sarah (Mrs. Irani)]

Yesterday I had a fruit bowl that wasn't local and I am so spoiled by all this local eating I have been doing all summer that I couldn't even finish it. It was hardly fruit at all!