Monday, March 10, 2008

Eatin' Local

Spring is in the air, finally! This winter has been terrible here in the Bay Area. Everyone I know got really sick--myself included. I spent much of January in bed with multiple bouts of cold and flu. So it is very exciting to have a chance to get into the garden and get out to the farmers market! My other big resolution this year is to eat locally as much as I can. It is really scary when you realize how much of the food we eat come from countries located THOUSANDS of miles away. How can that apple possibly be fresh if it was shipped from Chile a month ago? I challenge you to take a look at the food you eat on just one day and see where it is from. Then, try to incorporate some local foods into your diet. You don't have to go whole hog (pun intended). But it is a great idea to support local farmers in your area, reduce the use of fossil fuels to ship your food around the world, and eat healthier, fresher produce. The folks at '100 mile diet' have put together a great website about eatin' local. Check it out here.

My favorite way to eat local is by shopping at the Sunnyvale Farmers Market. Vince always makes a bee line for Acme Breads. You can find me in the line for fresh tofu (!) at Toofu and then we meet up at Happy Boy Farms. Did you know that butter lettuce actually tastes like butter? That carrots can be as sweet as honey? I didn't know these things until I went to the farmers market.

We also get local organic produce delivered to our house every two weeks as we can't get to the farmers market every weekend. The folks at Capay Organics do a really great job. For 29 bucks you get a huge box of food. And it forces us to cook at home, because we don't let anything go to waste. We can actually cook with kale and radicchio now, though we are still struggling with mustard greens. Does anyone have a good recipe for mustard greens?

And of course, our garden is the ultimate source of local grub. We start planting next weekend and I will keep you posted.

3 comments:

marshlady said...

Yummy, since I moved I love to stop at Monterey Market on my way home. It makes life so much more fun to eat like that.

Hmm mustard greens, here are some foodnetwork recipes that look interesting
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_30570,00.html
you could use the fake bacon in this:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_22028,00.html

jenny said...

where are you getting tomatoes this year? i need some, my planter boxes are all ready to go :)

Tammy said...

Thanks for the recipes!

And, for your South Bay tomato and pepper plant hook up, go to the Master Gardener's sale in san jose on April 12 or in palo alto on April 19:
http://www.mastergardeners.org/scc.html