www.eatlocalchallenge.com

Let the Eat Global Challenge begin...

Or, at least, let us return to eating from California.

by Patrick

Yesterday, noticing a severe bareness of cupboards, we went to our local supernatural-market, New Seasons, to stock up on some basics. As it was the last day of May, we decided that the Eat Local Challenge was officially over.

Our Eat Local Challenge has been a heavily nuanced affair; we've made exceptions, we've lived without certain things and either found replacements or found that we didn't miss them so much . . . and then there are the things that we have lived without, and that I am really glad to see again.

Report from North Carolina

The Eat Local Challenge got some press today in the Southeast in the Greensboro, North Carolina centered News and Record.  What a nice way to finish the month!

The market for local foods in this area seems to improve with each week.  If you love to cook, your choices are nearly limitless.  Nearly every kind of sustainably raised meat and poultry is sold at the farmers' markets, and a couple of vendors bring fresh seafood from the coast.  There are several farmers who raise vegetables in hoop houses and greenhouses, extending the seasons.  Delicious baked goodies and jams and jellies abound.

The biggest challenge that I have seen is connecting the restaurants with the local farmers and cooperatives.  Hopefully our local Slow Food convivium will be successful in bringing more of these together.  I missed eating out for lunch, and I found out that a couple of restaurants that I thought served local foods did not - after I was seated, unfortunately!  In one case, I discovered that the staff thought that buying from a locally-based food distributor meant that they were buying local food.

Hitting the Sweet Spot

by Cookiecrumb

Everything tastes good! Even my savory dishes are inexplicably sweet, but not in a sugary way. Butter tastes sweet. Onions taste sweet. By god, the other day, hamburger tasted sweet.

Sweet! Oh my.

Last year I described the transformation I experienced after a month of eating locally as "rehab for my taste buds."

I haven't used sugar for 10 months, except for the occasional gummi bear, so I guess I have a whole new definition of "sweet."

I attribute this sensation not only to restricting my food to the 100-mile foodshed, but to the undeniable fact that the food is fresher — because it's local! Fresh peas are sweet. Fresh fish is sweet. Fresh yogurt is sweet.