Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Change the World Wednesday


Today is the day...until next Tuesday night, take the eat local challenge. Take at least one day and eat ONLY local foods. Here is what I ate yesterday before the challenge:

Breakfast:

1. coffee (NOT local). I cannot even GET local coffee - can you? But my local coffee shop does order raw beans and roast them on site. They sell their roasts to local consumers and at local markets. Does this count? Maybe. Depends on your definition of local, and whether you find it sufficient to support a local coffee shop in their efforts to offer locally roasted coffee, or whether you abstain from all coffee unless you live where it is grown.
2. Bagel. Same story as the coffee. My bagel was created and baked at that same local coffee shop, but I do not know if they used locally grown and milled ingredients. I doubt it. But I supported local business by eating their made-on-site bagels (the best bagels known to man, I might add. Too bad you don't live near them. Or maybe you do.)

Lunch:

1. Coffee (the rest of my morning pot, with ice added).
2. Salad: lettuce from my west deck garden, onion from local farmer's market - LOCAL
3. Drew's natural dressing* (NOT local).
4. Cottage cheese*. NOT local, but within 175 miles of my home. That exceeds my 100 mile rule.
5. Organic bread I baked myself. Bread = LOCAL? Flour* NOT locally grown or milled, but purchased from a local market (not a big chain market).
6. Sauerkraut*: Michigan, so NOT local for me.
7. Crackers*: organic Late July saltines. Massachusetts, so not local for me.
8. Goat cheese: Wisconsin, so NOT local for me. Purchased at a locally regional chain grocer.

Dinner: (simple British baked beans & toast)

1. Heinz baked beans. NOT local, and not really adhering to my rules. Processed, canned, not organic. But the ingredient list is almost ok: Navy Beans, Tomatoes, Water, Sugar, Glucose Syrup (not on my ok list), Salt, Modified Corn Starch (not on my ok list), Distilled Vinegar, Spices. Not even purchased locally.
2. Green peas*, organic: Sacramento, CA, so NOT local for me.
3. Alvarado Street Organic Bread* : CA, NOT local for me.
4. Organic, free range, veg fed eggs*: Washington, so NOT local for me.
5. Tillamook cheese: in my state, but NOT within my 100 mile local range.
6. Thompson organic raisins*: purchased at my local independently owned market from the bulk bins, so I don't know where these were grown. My guess is CA.

So, I will have to do better than this for the challenge! The only things in my day that were really local were the lettuce I grew and the onions I bought last Friday evening at the farmer's market.

* means purchased from my local, independently owned grocery market.

Will you fare better?
Visit my Blog Frog link if you want to engage in a discussion of
whether it is okay to eat/drink items like tea and coffee if they are peddled by a small
local market...
If you want to join in on the challenge, stop by Reduce Footprints and leave a comment.
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