Anyone who’s tried to make a major change in his or her diet knows that food can be an addiction.
You have to redraw your map around the supermarket, avoiding the snack-food aisles. You rarely eat out for fear that your favorite, fatty dishes will be irresistible. You may even give friends the cold shoulder for their habit of making food or alcohol the focus of get-togethers.
After trying to eat all locally grown and produced foods this past week, I think I have more understanding and sympathy for dieters. It wasn’t enough to just go cold turkey the first day of the challenge. I had lots of nonlocal foods lingering in my refrigerator and cupboards that seemed such a shame to waste.
When friends wanted to go out to lunch, I was powerless to refuse. My menu was getting a little monotonous, and I was looking forward to their company, I reasoned. Granted, there are more than 20 restaurants around the valley supporting the Eat Local Challenge with special menu items. Only one was open for lunch in downtown Medford, however, and I wasn’t in the mood for dictating the spot based on my locavore’s diet that, quite frankly, wasn’t holding up too well.
I’ve approached the past four years of challenges with the goal of eating as much that falls under the local definition as I can. But maybe that goal simply isn’t realistic for someone with my lifestyle. The secret, of course, to success is setting attainable goals, so maybe future challenges should see me redefining myself as an idealist: eating one local meal per day. That has proven doable; anything else would be bonus points.
Another helpful strategy, of which the Eat Local organizers are apparently well aware, is surrounding oneself with other locavores. Apart from several trips to the growers market, I didn’t attend any of the week’s special events. If I had, I no doubt would have found my enthusiasm rekindled. Spending a few minutes every day in my garden is usually enough to do that, proof that to really connect with our food, we have to connect with the source. That’s why I think the challenge is infinitely easier for people who grow or raise their own food. The novelty of it doesn’t wear off. Securing their meals constitutes more than reading labels.
So following Friday’s lunch of nonlocal sushi, tofu and green tea and a few mystery cookies baked by an acquaintance, I came home excited to cook with known ingredients, so much so that I picked cherry tomatoes in the dark for a pasta dish with my garden zucchini, basil, the remaining conserved tuna and Wolf Creek Pasta Co.’s spelt linguini. Nonlocal ingredients were oil and the bit of Parmesan I couldn’t resist grating on top. While I used bulk sea salt for the pasta cooking water (does that count?), I did sprinkle some of the Ashland Food Co-op’s sea salt, made specifically for the challenge, on top.
Today’s breakfast was New Sammy’s whole-wheat bread, an egg from Joshua Farm in Sams Valley, Umpqua butter and my homemade apple-quince butter. For dinner, I’m dithering between a veggie lasagna with my garden produce and more Wolf Creek Pasta or a stir-fry with green beans and the remaining rabbit. Whichever loses out today will be the final, celebratory meal tomorrow night.
