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I just read an article about this in our City Paper. A columnist tried it with her boyfriend for 2 weeks here in Philadelphia. The things they missed the most were coffee/tea, lemons, salt and olive oil. But she said that when she went off the diet, she really thought much more when she shopped about where the food was coming from.
Our local Whole Foods supermarkets clearly marks all produce with its geographic origin, which I think is very cool.
Yeah, I think about this a lot. Being vegetarian makes it harder. All the beans/lenitls and rice here are imported. All. It is a tiny country and is based on dairy meat.The flour~wheat and spelt I purchase is local...and any dairy if I buy it is 10 K away form me. I can get local organic meat(not chicken though) But I am not willing to change my diet. I feel like the damage done to my health and the envoronment by eating primarily meat instead of beans and rice is no better~yk?
There is New Zealand grown Olive oil...I *really* should buy it. But I am so bad, I purchase the imported organic turkish in bulk.
I am growing more veggies myself..and hopefully by next year I will have a HUGE veggie patch. At least all the veggies I purchase are totally local and organic.
I get exhausted sometimes making all my shopping choices. For 'things' we often do without. But for food..that is a whole different story. I would never live without salt or pepper or rice and beans...unless I HAD to...everyone has their limits.
Great idea! We would not be able to eat if we had to do that diet, with the exception of beef and eggs and an occasional veggie (we are very rural, no farmers markets here, no local produce for sale, etc.). I could have done it when I lived in Cali, though
I do try to buy as local as possible; I choose the brand of eggs that come from Glendale, AZ rather than from Texas or CA. If I can't find something produced in state I will look for stuff from CA. I recently stopped buying produce from other countries with the exception of Canada (and Guatamale for bananas, but I want to stop buying those as well)...it's amazing how much comes from China and Mexico, even organics!
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This was in our paper too, a bunch of people are doing it this month and next. Great idea. I couldn't give up my coffee. And chocolate. Most everything else we eat we could get local or sub for - it's the land of plenty up here.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mamabear
This was in our paper too, a bunch of people are doing it this month and next. Great idea. I couldn't give up my coffee. And chocolate. Most everything else we eat we could get local or sub for - it's the land of plenty up here.
Ditto... we have a very productive area... Although I don't drink coffee, and I don't eat much chocolate, but I would have to add to the imported (at least to the state) list soy milk, olive oil... yeah... I am sure there is more on my 'wouldn't want to live without' list. But I know my fresh food is from that vacinity. My peaches were grown here, my apples, blueberries, beans, tomatos, chicken, pork, beef, pretty much all veggies and most fruits (bananas are not of course, they are a south cali and north mexico product even at the co-op). I buy fair trade stuff too... like cocoa, coffee (when I bought it) etc. I feel good about my food choices, local or not. (About 25% of my stuff comes from less than 1/4 mile considering I grow A LOT of our food. )
Anyway... very interesting. This is the way that humans lived for thousands of years... at least close (when you don't count Rome... lol). It reminds me of the settlers that came over to WA and OR and settled here. They lived here off the land for the most part, and thrived. It can work just fine. We are just spoiled.
Val
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People have been trading with each other for thousands and thousands of years. That's not un-natural or anything. Even Native North Americans were trading (when they weren't being killed or kidnapped) with Europeans long before Jamestown and Plimouth, even.
It's just much more polluting these days. Although the harbors of the past were pretty rank.
I have not had to go to the market much at all in the summer. Local produce is abundant, as is fish. We have part of our own local organic and pasutre-raised cow, so that's been great for beef. (The taste is do different and really amazing). Eggs, ditto. We have gotten tomatoes, various beans, squashes, cucs etc from our own garden. There is something to pick each day. We are also very lucky that we have access to several wonderful small farms here. Lots of people keep chickens as well, so fresh local eggs are no problem at all.
Coffee and olive oil are things hell-no-way, I could give up. Or limes. I think it's critical that we examine our buying habits and try to buy what is local when we can.
I would like to find a local way to get chicken. There are some here, but they sell mostly to resturants and I keep missing the offerrings to local residents.
I am in CA & you are right - totally possible here!
a couple people mentioned lemons & limes - do they not grow where you are?
seems odd to me LOL I've lived in ca my entire life - I have 11 different varieties of citrus growing in my front yard alone LOL
I'm popping in here..hope you don't mind. I never thought about this before I started reading about better foods for my family. A lot of my information has come from this forum. The other day I visited a produce shop nearby, trying to find local foods after I realized the other produce shop has the majority of its produce shipped from other states. I asked the cashier where this store gets its produce. She said they get most of it from local farmers, but some of it comes from as far away as California. They do label the local produce, so hopefully what we are buying is actually from this area.
I have a lot to learn!
I would be fine with it, but it doesn't seem like much fun. I mean...I really love imported foods. Otherwise I would have to hop on a plane and waste more precious oil.
I really like this idea. In an environmental science class I took we discussed this quite a bit because the impact of transporting food (both importing from other countries and travel w/in the country) has a large environmental impact as well as health concerns.
For health reasons I've had to give up coffee altogether (makes those Starbucks cravings useless) and besides nuts most of what we eat is locally grown. I think once we move it will be easier because 1) I'll have a decent size garden and 2) DH's family consists of many farmers and ranchers so most of our food can be family grown.
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I find this fascinating! Truly! I think, here in Northern Ca, I could probably do it, sans the coffee, but I *would* buy the coffee from a local roaster!
Hmmm...methinks I may try this! Anyone up for it? Say, the month of October? (yes, I realize this thread is nearly a month old, but what can I say?? LOLOL )
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I find this fascinating! Truly! I think, here in Northern Ca, I could probably do it, sans the coffee, but I *would* buy the coffee from a local roaster!
Hmmm...methinks I may try this! Anyone up for it? Say, the month of October? (yes, I realize this thread is nearly a month old, but what can I say?? LOLOL )
Northern California is a cinch~ROTFL!
I'd love to, but being vegetarian I would starve for any variety. I could only get the following things as local to me;
Meat(beef, lamb)can get local organic
Chicken can't get local organic...so won't eat it.
Dairy/milk(goat cow) and cheese and butter
wheat
oats
veggies...all kinds so OK there
apples, frozen blueberries(I think)(I'd have to check on dried fruits, some might come from New Zealand if not more local)
walnuts
no rice, beans, oils ...(Considering I eat vegetarian mostly that would not work for me...)
no other fruit is THAT local to me. I mean Kiwi fruit and citrus all come from the North Island...I'd be much better off in summer for fruit as then the berries are ripe/available.
So for me a no go. I am already really careful to buy local...it is really interesting to think about my shopping list though. It is also interesting to think about it in places that I used to live.
I'm veg. to, so I *am* concerned about beans/protien sources...hrmmm....maybe I spoke to soon ROFL
Maybe I'll make it a goal for Oct. to increase my local shopping by 50 percent? LOL I should be able to do it though, don't you think? I can't think of much I can't get here locally, even year round...'cept beans :P
I'm going to go research some more. but, regardless, it's fascinating, and so far (well, for 20 minutes ROFL) it's been fun looking around online for local growers
The 100 mile diet.
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