If I had to pick a runner-up resolution it would definately be to eat only local food on a regular basis. Perhaps I would pattern it after one of my kids favorite stories, “Chicken Sunday”, where every Sunday is a family meal and a place to connect. So, I would plan Sunday dinner around only locally grown foods.
Living in Colorado, I bet I could do it – even in the winter. Yesterday at the store, the regular grocery store, I found butternut squash from Colorado, and dried beans from Dove Creek, Colorado, without really looking. I bet with a little determination, I could come up with one dinner a week with little problem.
I have been reading Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal Vegetable, Miracle. It has been a great winter read and has me dying to plant a garden as soon as the snow melts. In the book, she and her family try to eat only local food for an entire year. Similar to the 100-mile diet people in Vancover, Canada, they chronicle their experiences with the added bonus of their adventures farming an old Virginia farm, and of course, Barbara’s excellent writing skills. I had to wait months to check this book out!!
One of the primary points in the book is that eating food flown in from around the globe has a tremendous cost in energy. The taste suffers, the biodiversity suffers because only shippable varieties are being grown, small farmers can’t compete and are going out of business, etc. etc.
Anyway, if I didn’t already have a resolution for the year – eating Sunday dinner – Local Food Sunday, would be it!
