Saturday, May 24, 2008

The Locavore Project

A "locavore," the New Oxford American Dictionary's word of year for 2007, is someone who eats food grown as close to their home as possible. Some locavores grow their own food. Other shop at farmer's market or hit up pick-your-own patches. Eating local reduces the miles from food to plate, and produce tends to be more nutritious when eaten soon after picking. Though I try to eat as much local food as possible during the growing season, I'm far from the strict mileage standards put in place by many locavores. Until now.

Beginning yesterday, I'm trying out a locavore diet for one week. I'll be writing about the experience in the newspaper I work for, The Memphis Flyer. So I'll save the pitfalls and details for the printed edition (hint: This means NO chocolate!). And I'll share the link with you guys when the story hits the web. But of course, I can't resist sharing the pics right away.

This morning, I stocked up at the Memphis Farmer's Market. I'm sticking to foods grown in a 300-mile radius, but I want to get as much from as close to home as possible. I was worried that would mean living on salad greens and sweet potatoes since it's so early in the season. But I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of produce available at market this morning:


From left to right: Arugala, Baby Lettuce, Japanese Turnips, Snap Peas, Carrots (the sweetest, most delicious carrots I've ever eaten), Squash, and French Breakfast Radishes.


L to R: Kale, Baby Bok Choy, Rainbow Swiss Chard, Wild Vidalia Onions, and Kohlrabi.


L to R: Cabbage, Organic Cucumber, Broccoli.


L to R: Organic Strawberries, Peaches.

8 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Best of luck with your locavore diet!

Anonymous said...

Oh man, that produce looks awesome! I want to go to the Farmer's Market so bad, but I seem to have something going on every freakin' Saturday! I don't have any cakes next weekend, so I'll probably go then.

I remember you mentioning the local thing - good luck! I've never heard the term locavore, and when I first read it I though it said locovore. I was expecting you to talk about what a crazy eater you are!

I will totally make you some Egg McVegans! No need to hunt me down - although you probably could if you really wanted to. You're so right about the small town thing!

I want to try making the good ol' boiled seitan sometime, but the baked log style was so good.

Anonymous said...

I wish I could be a locavore. All we have around here is... beef, cheese, wheat?

I think I'd die!
I try to eat as much produce that is as close as possible (in British Columbia, which is...still far away). Better closer than father, right??

Alicia said...

Good luck on your experiment! but it looks like you have perfect ingredients to eat... I'm eager to find out what you'll cook!

Vegan_Noodle said...

How awesome that you get to do this for work! Can I have your job?

Seriously, I will be very excited to see how it turns out. Looks like you have tons of good produce to choose from!

J said...

What a fun challenge, I love it. I try to eat as locally as I can, during the summer, aside from avocados, lemons and limes, I try to stay within the Missouri foodshed for produce. During the winter, I just try to stay within the US, or I would go hungry.

Your farmer's market booty makes me jealous, we don't have nearly that variety yet, I can't wait though....

I'm excited to see your journey!!

Theresa said...

What a cool project! Best of luck with it, it looks like you'll be eating pretty well!

Erin said...

This is a very cool idea, especially for a newspaper article. I look forward to reading it when you're done.