The challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to eat 80 percent of your diet from food produced within the region from August 15 through September 15. That includes fruits, vegetables, meats, eggs, milk, ice cream, yogurt, cheeses, bread and anything else produced within the five-state region. Things like coffee, while they may be processed locally, are obviously not a local product and would not count as such. But with 20 percent of your diet able to come from non-local sources, you don’t have to give up those essentials like coffee or black pepper.
How you divide your percentages is up to you. You may want to measure your 80 percent by product weight or by your food budget. The easiest way might be to make sure four out of five of the items you eat or the ingredients you use are from local sources. No matter which way you do it, your meals will be supporting the local economy, protecting the environment and connecting you with the food and farmers of our region. They may even give you ideas for how to eat more locally during the less productive times of the year.
If you eat mostly local food already, perhaps you could try to eat 100 percent of your food from local sources. Or you may want to eat only foods grown or produced within 60 miles (labeled at Just Food with a green “local” tag). Intimidated by 80%? Try for 50%. We encourage you to challenge yourself.
We won’t be installing surveilance cameras in your home, or employing your children to report how well you are sticking to the challenge. It’s not our challenge, it’s yours. We know you can do it!
Watch for your newsletter for a list of exciting classes and discussions to help you think about your food. And check back to this site often, where you will be richly rewarded by a blog written by a local family while they take the challenge.
The July 19, 2007 edition of American Public Media’s popular program Speaking of Faith featured locavore Barbaba Kingsolver in a discussion of “The Ethics of Eating“.