If you want your diet to reflect your environmentalist ideals, becoming a locavore is one great way to do it! A locavore is a person who tries to eat only locally grown foods. However, there is no strict definition of what “local” means, so you have the opportunity to develop a definition of what you consider to be local for yourself. Many locavores attempt to eat foods that come from within 50, 100, or 150 miles from their homes. What will your standards be? That’s up to you. Whatever you choose as your definition of local, you can rest assured that your efforts as you embark upon your locavore journey will surely make a difference!
BENEFITS for the environment
Did you know that most of the food you eat travels an average of 1,500 miles in order to reach your plate? As your food makes its way to you by truck, railroad, boat, or airplane, it is using up precious energy, burning fossil fuels, and polluting the atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels is generally accepted to be an important contributing factor to the phenomenon of global warming. By eating locally, you can save the environment the added burden of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere when a food product must travel far to reach its destination. This is also known as cutting down your “food miles.” For more information on food miles, please see the Greeniacs article on the topic. (Insert URL link once Food Miles article is published.)
BENEFITS for your local economy
As a locavore, you will be supporting local farmers, farm hands, grocery store workers, restaurant owners and waiters, bakers and bakery workers, and the list goes on. This boost to the local economy will make it possible for these farms and other businesses to continue to provide services to your community. As local businesses succeed, they will become increasingly able to expand and provide local goods to more people. Such successful local businesses will increase the appeal of eating locally in the public eye, which will further increase the consumption of local foods. It’s time to start this domino effect!
BENEFITS for your health
Unless you live right in the middle of the corn belt and right near a factory that makes corn-derived food additives, becoming a locavore will cut down your consumption of corn products substantially. If you’ve been chowing down on foods laden with corn syrup for your whole life so far, as most of us have, then this change will be a great boost to your health!
Eating locally will also lead you to consume less processed foods. In general, eating whole foods allows you to have more control over the substances that you put into your body. Most of the time, you will personally be in charge of adding extra sugar, salt and other products to your food, which will make you more aware of what goes into the dishes you eat. You will likely begin to consume fewer food additives and extra sugars, which can over time improve your health and well being.
COST: Moderate to High
The cost of eating locally is a very complicated issue. It’s not as simple asking yourself, “How much money did I spend on food this week?” Your first year of eating locally will probably be the most expensive, because you will have to make an investment in supplies you will need for preserving food, and supplies and seeds for starting up a garden of your own if you wish to do so. Luckily, supplies should last from year to year. Also, when it gets to be winter time, other people will be paying a premium to buy non-local fruits and vegetables, while you will be saving a lot of money on groceries as you dig into the foods you have preserved and stored.
There are also some techniques you can use to cut down on expenses as a locavore. You can get to the farmers’ markets early and walk all around the market, looking at prices before deciding what to buy. If you make the effort to get to know some of the farmers, you can inquire about discounted ways to buy food, whether through you-pick operations or bulk purchasing. You can also buy each food product when it is most abundant at the market. This time period will probably coincide with when the food is cheapest.
Having said all of that, it is necessary to acknowledge that becoming a strict locavore will require you to spend more money of food, at least initially. The costs can be high. However, when one buys a tomato that has traveled across the country in the middle of winter, one is not required to pay for the cost to the environment of transporting that food, but that hidden cost still exists. If we paid the true cost of all foods in our society, eating locally would more often come out on top as the cheaper option.
TIME AND EFFORT: High
Eating locally requires an investment of time and energy. You must research the best sources for the different types of foods you want to purchase, and then you must be willing to pick up certain foods that are only available during brief windows of time each growing season. Perhaps you have never preserved food before. It is likely that your first time preparing your own food to be preserved will take the longest, because you won’t have the expertise yet to move quickly. You must also take into account the time it will take to shop for supplies and to clean out a good storage space for your preserved food. Also, if you decide to make your own garden, that project will clearly take time and energy as well.
How can I get my local food?
There are many sources of local food available to you, but it will take an initial time investment to research your options. One great resource is your nearest farmers’ market. You can also plan to join a C.S.A. A C.S.A. is a farm that recruits subscribers to pay in at the beginning of the season, and then subscribers receive a box of fresh vegetables every week for the entire season. For more information on C.S.A.s, please see the Greeniacs article on the topic: Community Supported Agriculture. Cooperative markets also often stock plenty of local foods. Although not all food at co-op markets will be local, these markets are likely to be able to provide you with the history (travel history and otherwise) of all of the foods you wish to purchase. Other good options for local food shopping can include restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores that make the effort to vend local foods, and of course farm stands.
“But all this sounds very complicated,” you must be thinking. “How am I supposed to locate all these great farms, stores, and markets in my area?” Well, fortunately, there are some helpful online resources that will be available to you during your search. If you live in the U.S., check out “Local Harvest,” at http://www.localharvest.org/ for your nearest sources of local foods. If you live in the U.K., you can check out “Big Barn,” at http://bigbarn.co.uk/ and, if you live in Australia, you will find “Regional Farmers’ Markets” to be useful at http://www.rfm.net.au/.
Another way to get local food is to grow it yourself! Even a small garden will be worth your while when you bite into the first fruits of your labors, and a garden of any size can help cut down your food miles and energy use. Gardening with your neighbors, or even just in eye-shot of them, can be a great way to foster community. Believe it or not, gardening does not have to only be a fair weather activity. In many climates, certain crops can be grown year round, including kale, garlic, turnips, and cabbage.
There is also a new and extremely innovative way to get local foods. The general phenomenon doesn’t have an official name yet, but let’s call it “backyard gardening with a twist,” as the New York Times article on the topic has dubbed it. (Please see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/dining/22local.html?ex=1217390400&en=82b184065dc466bd&ei=5070&emc=eta1 for the full New York Times article.) Basically, it works like this: You, as the aspiring locavore, are able to hire a gardener to install an organic garden in your backyard. The gardener figures out which crops will do best in your particular yard, and, in addition, he caters to your tastes, planting your favorite foods. When the food is ready to be harvested, he takes care of that for you, leaving baskets of fresh produce on your doorstep. What could be better? These businesses have sprung up in California, Philadelphia, New Mexico, and Boston, and seem to be quite popular, so it is likely they will spread to other areas in the near future. Look out for these backyard gardeners in your area!
Preserving Food
Preserving food over the winter is one of the best ways to ensure quality local foods for you and your family year round. You can preserve food that you’ve grown yourself or food that you have purchased. In order to help you start the process of preserving and storing your own food, here is some helpful “how-to” advice regarding different methods:
Canning
Before we get into fun experiments and the like, our number one concern with canning is your safety! This guide provides some basic information and first steps you can take towards becoming a food-canning expert, but it is of the utmost importance to consult more in-depth sources before you begin your canning adventures. Sources 3, 4, and 5 (especially source 5) will provide you with the information you need to make your canned foods perfectly safe to eat for at least a year after canning.
Certain foods are naturally highly acidic, while other foods are low in acidity. Foods that are low in acidity must go through some additional processing steps during canning. First of all, adding lemon juice, citric acid, or vinegar to your low-acid foods will raise their acidity, making it hard for bacteria to creep in during the winter. Also, it is important to sterilize all low-acid foods at high temperatures before canning. The exact way in which you go about sterilizing your foods will be slightly different at different altitudes, so make sure to consult the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) website: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/.
It is best to can vegetables the day they are harvested, but, if this is not possible, then can those veggies as soon as possible after harvest, while they are still looking fresh, healthy, and at their prime. One exception is with fruits that need to ripen: allow these fruits to sit and ripen after harvest, before canning. If you purchase your fruits and veggies and do not know exactly when they were harvested, just can them as soon as you can (no pun intended!), while they are still looking good. Meat should be canned immediately, and do not wait long to can seafood, no more than two days.
The basic method of canning usually consists of boiling both the food and the liquid that will surround that food in the jar. Boiling the surrounding liquid helps to remove air from the food, and removing air will halt the degradation process that normally causes food to spoil. Once the food is in the jars, leave some space between the top of the liquid and the lid of the jar, so as to allow for the food expansion and air expansion that occurs at high temperatures. Then seal the jar tightly, and perform tests discussed on the NCHFP website to make sure the jars are properly sealed.
Storage of Canned Foods
It is best to store canned foods somewhere between 50 degrees and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. If the foods become frozen, they will still be safe to eat, but, after thawing, they will be softer than before, and likely less desirable for dinner. Also, make sure that your storage spot is clean, dark and dry. Moisture and heat can both lead to spoilage.
Drying
There are many ways to dry food. You can purchase a dehydrator at a department store or natural foods store, and this appliance can be used with ease indoors. The only disadvantage is that a dehydrator cannot process a great deal of food at once.
Drying Fruits: It is advisable to pre-treat fruits before drying. Some good pre-treatments include: ascorbic acid (vitamin C), citric acid, lemon juice, and sodium metabisulfite (for the specific ways in which to use each pre-treatment, please see: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/dry/csu_dry_fruits.pdf). Lay fruit strips on drying trays, and dry them in an oven or dehydrator at 140 degrees Fahrenheit for between 5 and 24 hours, depending on how thick the pieces of fruit are. Stir and turn over the food pieces every three hours for best results. Pack your dried fruits in airtight containers and store them in a cool, dry, dark place.
Drying Vegetables: Before you dry vegetables, it is necessary to blanch them, which consists of heating them up so much that the enzymes in the vegetables are destroyed. There are two methods of blanching: steam blanching and water blanching. Water blanching is faster, but more nutrients are lost in the process, so it’s a trade-off. When the vegetables are blanched, dunk them into cold water to cool off, take them out, remove water from them using a towel, and then put them directly in the oven or dehydrator for drying. You will probably wish to rehydrate vegetables before eating them. The amount of water you use for re-hydration will depend on the vegetable. For more complete instructions, check out: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/uga/uga_dry_fruit.pdf.
Storage of Dried Foods
It is best to store dried foods at about 60 degrees Fahrenheit in a clean, dry, dark place. Under these conditions, dried fruit can last for a year, while dried vegetables will last for about six months. To make dried foods last for even longer, you can simply freeze them. All dried fruits and vegetables should be packaged in clean, moisture-proof containers. Fruit treated with sulfur should not come into direct contact with metal.
Freezing
If you want to freeze vegetables, you should boil them briefly (for about three minutes), then dunk them into cold water, and then put them away in tightly sealed bags or containers to be frozen. You can freeze fruits immediately, without boiling them first. Another tasty option is to mash up fruits and mix them with sugar before freezing them. Imagine having that yummy delicacy to enjoy ready-made months later!
Pickling
There are many vegetables that could do with a good pickling for added flavor. Don’t be shy! Experiment with as many types of vegetables as you wish. There’s no wrong answer in pickling, only more or less common items. Pickle large amounts of the tried and tested foods like cucumbers, green beans, and onions, and save some empty jars to fill with your more adventurous pickled foods. If you like one particular experiment a lot, you can always make more of it next year!
The first step in pickling is to mix water and salt in a ratio of 1 lb. of salt to 1 gallon of water. Then add the food you want to pickle. Let the food sit in the solution “for at least 24 hours – months if you like – the longer the better.” (See source 1, page 204). Then, when you decide it’s time for step two, whenever that may be, just drain the food item, put it into jars, and fill the jars with cold vinegar. The fun part here is adding spices. You can add as many or as few spices to the vinegar as you want, experimenting with different combinations of spices for different flavor effects.
Making Jams and Jellies
There are four essential components of any good jam or jelly. They are: fruit, pectin, acid, and sugar. Some of the pectin, acid and sugar may come in the fruit itself. If a fruit is naturally high in pectin, for example, it may not be necessary to add as much pectin to the recipe. Always follow the instructions on the package of pectin that you buy. The manufacturer of the particular pectin knows best how the product should be used. It is also helpful to keep in mind the following general guidelines:
Pectin and Acid Content of Common Fruits Used to Make Jelly
| Group I: | If not overripe, has enough natural pectin and acid for gel formation with only added sugar. | |
| Group II: | Low in natural acid or pectin, and may need addition of either acid or pectin. | |
| Group III: | Always needs added acid, pectin or both. |
| Group I | Group II | Group III |
| Apples, sour Blackberries, sour Crabapples Cranberries Currants Gooseberries Grapes (Eastern Concord) Lemons Loganberries Plums (not Italian) Quinces | Apples, ripe Blackberries, ripe Cherries, sour Chokecherries Elderberries Grapefruit Grape Juice, bottled (Eastern Concord) Grapes (California) Loquats Oranges | Apricots Blueberries Figs Grapes (Western Concord) Guavas Peaches Pears Plums (Italian) Raspberries Strawberries |
(Source: National Center for Home Food Preservation http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/)
Making Chutneys
Making a chutney is one of the simplest ways to preserve almost any type of fruit or vegetable. Just simmer some onions in a pot or pan of vinegar, and then add in the food you want to preserve. Add salt and pepper, and as many other spices as you wish. Continue to simmer, until the fruit or vegetable has become gooey. Then just can or bottle the chutney, and save it for a winter feast!
Making Sauerkraut
In some areas, it is impossible to grow greens over the winter, but greens remain an essential part of a healthy diet. One easy way to ensure that you will have an ample supply of greens over the winter is to preserve cabbage in the form of sauerkraut.
You must simply choose a container, vat, crock or tub that is the size you need, and spread vinegar on the inside. Line the entire inside of the container with whole cabbage leaves, and then shred the rest of the cabbage leaves you wish to preserve. For every 3 lbs. of cabbage you put in, make sure to add 2 oz. of salt. Mix the cabbage and salt together, and then make sure they are tightly packed inside the container, minimizing air space. Place non-shredded cabbage leaves on top, and seal the container. For the first three weeks or so, mix your sauerkraut every few days, and then after that you can just let it sit until you’re ready to eat! When you want to eat it, just drain it and give it a good boiling for as long as two hours.
What about the other stuff I buy?
Food is not the only thing we purchase on a regular basis. You can extend your locavore ideals to other products as well. Every product you buy whose materials were grown, made, or processed locally is a step in the right direction. You can share the locavore love by purchasing locally made gifts for others and explaining to them why you choose to support local markets. Keep spreading the word and doing the best you can. You exert your power and cast your vote as a consumer with each purchase you make, so buy thoughtfully and don’t forget to relish the great taste of those yummy local foods
