250 Mile Diet

 

I just finished reading a book called Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet.

I’ve been thinking about the whole eating local thing since I read Barbara Kingslover’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I had no idea the average food miles (food from the field to the table) was 1,500 miles. I guess it hit home after I bought my second bland/taste’s like crap watermelon from Costco last summer. Where were these melons from and why did they taste so awful? It really never occurred to me until I started reading Barbara’s book and how long it actually takes to pick melons on a farm from who knows where until I eat it. 2 weeks maybe? How is that fresh? And why should I expect it to taste like it was just plucked from the field. It’s not possible. The melon is 2 weeks old.

So, I am seriously thinking about putting our family on a 250 mile diet for a year (only buying food grown within 250 miles of our front door). What an adventure! Maybe it would get our family to stop and think about where our food is coming from. Maybe (hopefully) it would change our eating habits for the better. Less junk food (we actually don’t eat that much) and more oats and berries.

Perhaps eating local would get us to stop and think about how far removed from the actual plant/animal our food really is. Cheese= Cheetos? Would we get to know our farmers? Would it get us to try new things? Would it slow us down and help us get back to basics a little more? I don’t know. But it is something to think about.