Archive for category Locavores do it better
October Eat Local Challenge starts tomorrow… but without tofu?
Posted by Courtney in Eat Local Challenge, The Truth about Food on September 30, 2009
I have been checking the Eat Local Challenge site every day for updates but they haven’t posted anything since the “save the date” post. But I am starting tomorrow as planned and here are my rules/exceptions:
local = 150 mile radius
exceptions:
- garlic
- coffee (fair trade only)
- tea
- Texmati rice (checking to see how far away this is grown but definitely in Texas)
- soy milk (because my coffee has to be beige)
- spices
- olive oil (however I have some Texas oil that was made in Carrizo Springs – 196 mi.)
Here is the part about tofu. Matt went to the Austin Farmers Market on Saturday and found some tofu but didn’t ask the guy anything about it. So I will be going there this Saturday in hopes of finding him and getting some info. I was going to list Banyan Foods tofu as an exception but I had a weird experience today. I called them to ask where they get their soybeans from and the guy on the phone told me he wasn’t allowed to tell me. I told him I wanted to know because I wanted my tofu to come from as close to Austin as possible and since Banyan is in Houston I was hoping that they used Texas soybeans at least. Side note, I am having a hard time finding Texas soybean information and this is something I found (however from 2007):
(photo no longer available for some reason – but it showed a drastic decrease in soybean harvesting in Texas)
So a definite decline but really not a lot of info. Anyway, the Banyan guy says all he can tell me is that their soybeans are non-GMO and grown in the mid-west. Grown in the US but not grown in Texas. I asked him why he can’t tell me where they get them and he doesn’t even know, just that he was instructed to not disclose that information. Monsanto, anyone?
Day -8 (pretty pathetic)
Posted by Courtney in Eat Local Challenge on September 23, 2009
It’s becoming more obvious that I am using this time before the actual challenge starts to learn more and actually do some research rather than dive into this local eating thing. Katie and I took a trip to the Wednesday Farmers Market at the Triangle and due the rain only got to visit about 8 vendors. We started off at Kick-Butt Coffee where I finally bought an Go Local Austin card (I have been meaning to do this for some time). For $10, there quite a bit of local discounts involved so I would recommend it to anyone. Even some of the Austin Farmers Market vendors are listed. I bought butternut squash and shallots from Ottmar’s Family Farm and okra and eggplant from Hands of the Earth. I also bought some black eyed peas but I forgot to see where they were from because I was so upset that Happy Vegan Baker was not there!
I was starving and hadn’t eaten all day so we went to Whole Foods and I ate some tofu and rice from the hot bar. Definitely not local. I then came home and made Butternut Squash soup made with the local squash I bought and non-local onion, garlic, ginger and olive oil. It’s quite delicious for not having any margarine or soy milk in it. So I am really using this time to cook more at home and shop more at the farmers markets and really getting ready to kick off the challenge on October 1. I am still trying to figure out what my exemptions will be but I am pretty sure they won’t change from coffee, soy milk, garlic and spices.
Katie asked the question today: Organic apple or non-organic, pesticide grown local apple? More on that soon.
Day -9: Mostly leftovers, mostly local.
Posted by Courtney in Eat Local Challenge on September 22, 2009
It’s day -9 and I am really taking this gearing up thing literally. Meaning, I haven’t gone local yet but I have paid a lot more attention to it. For dinner I had leftover stewed okra and I sauteed local portabellos and zucchini along with non-local tomatoes, garlic and olive oil. I also had some almond butter and chocolate (both organic but definitely not local). Not to mention the coffee (however fair trade from Progress) with soy milk (I can’t drink black coffee). Katie and I frequent Progress for the awesome coffee and pretty convenient location. However I know that in order to eat dinner tomorrow I have to make a trip to the Austin Farmers Market at the Triangle which I have no problem with especially since the first official day of fall here in Austin didn’t get over 70 degrees. I hope to find some butternut squash and onion tomorrow so I can make this soup recipe.
Today there was a coupon for Greenling going around – $25 for $50 of Greenling groceries delivered (which ends at midnight). They have a local produce basket which I will definitely check out.
Do you have any favorite local farms or food producers?
Eating local in Austin (or anywhere)
Posted by Courtney in Locavores do it better on September 22, 2009
If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Fair Trade.
If all else fails, at least don’t eat at McDonald’s!
Taken from Jamie S. on the Eat Local Challenge website.
The First Meal
Posted by Courtney in Eat Local Challenge on September 21, 2009
I stopped by Wheatsville on my way home from work in hopes of finding some local olive oil or vinegar. Those were high hopes. Johnny at Wheatsville explained to me that while they do carry a lot of local food it’s been a rough year and they haven’t been getting the produce they are used to. Plus it’s between seasons. As for the olive oil, I was told that it’s hard to find and I could probably get it at the Sunset Valley Farmers market which I will be heading to this Saturday. Johnny mentioned that he’s familiar with the eat local challenge and remembered that it’s something like 85% of your diet has to be local and that each person usually determines what that radius is. I decided to eat mostly local this week and do as much as I can while still learning. I left with some organic shallots and a can of organic diced tomatoes.
When I got home I looked at past year’s challenges and saw that people “claimed exemptions”. Not surprisingly, coffee was first on everyone’s list, usually followed by oil and spices. This definitely made me feel better because now I get to choose a few for myself. I am guessing that coffee, soy milk, some spices and possibly tofu would be on my list but the coffee would be fair trade, the soy milk organic and the tofu from Banyan.
Dinner turned out to be about half local. I sauteed some shallots and garlic in non-local olive oil, added my locally grown okra and eggplant and then stirred in my canned tomatoes. I also cut up the winter squash, coated it with olive oil, salt and pepper, dusted it with spelt flour and added garlic. So I’m getting there but I have a lot to learn and gearing up for October 1.
Stewed okra and tomatos with baked winter squash
Eat Local Challenge – Day -10
Posted by Courtney in Eat Local Challenge on September 21, 2009
I call this “Day -10″ because while I was slated to start my personal 100-mile diet today, September 21, last week I found out that there is an official Eat Local Challenge that happens in October. So my month-long 100-mile diet is really about 40 days. I unfortunately haven’t had time to do any research other than finding out that I can buy olive oil that is produced in Wimberly, TX (28 miles) so I am really jumping into this pretty unprepared with the thought that it will force me to learn about this quicker than my 2-job schedule will allow. So it’s Monday morning and I am foodless until tonight. I usually don’t really eat during the day anyway so I should be fine along with the fact that I ate everything in site this weekend in preparation (including vegan wedding cake that was not wheat free but I didn’t care and am paying for it now). Matt, my husband, was sweet enough to take a trip to the Austin Farmers Market on Saturday while I was at work to purchase some local squash, okra and mushrooms which will make up my dinner tonight. Did I mention I don’t know how to cook without a recipe? This should be interesting.
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