Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is Eat Local

Dudes, that wasn't an order! Don't you think that would make a great T-shirt for an eat local campaign? Philip is soon going to be silk screening T-shirts for me and I think that will be one of them. Except that it really sounds like a command and I want to inspire people, not rule them.

Although, if I ruled them then I could pass a law against wearing jeans which would create mass pandemonium because then no one would have anything to wear and it would probably inspire someone to assassinate me...I don't think I'm ready for that. (But wouldn't it be kind fascinating too?)

Jeans and crude oil: can the human race survive without either of them?

Incidentally, just so there's no confusion about this, I don't hate jeans just because I hate them on me. I haven't worn denim since the seventh grade and I'm really happy about that, but I don't mind if you do. It's always devilish to imagine what it would be like to deprive people of things they rely on if you don't yourself rely on those same things.

The prettiest Brussels Sprouts

A surprising find of Philip's: locally made oil paints

A little pleasant surprise of my own.

I have made some new decisions, discoveries, and done some ruminating on the destructive love affair between humans and Convenience that has lasted for the entirety of the previous century and how it has degraded us beyond recognition.

First, for the decision: I am removing chocolate from my exceptions list and putting Parmesan on it. I am also permanently removing celery from the exceptions list. I will buy as much of it as I can in the next month (or until it stops making an appearance in the markets) and if I run out of my blanched frozen portions before it comes back to the markets- I will cook without it. Celery was on the list originally because I didn't think anyone around here grew it at all and I didn't feel willing to go without celery for an entire year.

Since there are two local sources for fancy chocolate, (should I get an unusual craving for it), there isn't any reason to include it on the exceptions list either.

Parmesan is going to be allowed. In the end I feel like it is much too useful in the kitchen, when there are so many other things I won't be able to count on for extra flavor and excitement in my dishes (pine nuts, Kalamata olives, green olives, feta- unless I make it myself, avocado, citrus, cranberries, etc.) I feel that it's alright to allow my favorite imported cheese to remain in my kitchen. When I get back to counting calories (don't laugh at me) there is nothing as indispensable as Parmesan for satisfying a little cheese lust without the incredible damage that a huge hunk of cheddar offers one's hips.

Eating local isn't a contest, it's a vital and healthy direction for us all to head in. Eating local is about ending the love affair with convenience and choosing higher quality over ease of procurement. It's about making our own communities more self sufficient. Eating local is a political statement in which you have the power to fell unhealthy industries by choosing not to support them. You don't have to give every one of your dollars to local companies and merchants, but every dollar you do keep close to home matters. So what if you indulge in some French truffle oil sometimes? If you're aware of it being a luxury and you're aware of the choice you're making then it is a conscious one and isn't about convenience anymore.

There's no prize at the end of my year of eating local. No one is going to say "Oh, if only you hadn't had the Parmesan you might have won a cruise to Mazatlan!"

And anyway- Mazatlan holds no fascination for me.

I thought about what I have already given up, thinking about that strange puritanical urge to feel a little personal pain in order to grow (I actually think that self flagellation is a very disturbing aspect of some religions, the notion that there should be sacrifice in faith in order for it to be real). Although I have not found this challenge particularly difficult yet, seeing as there is a ton of local fresh produce still available, making the choices I've made has changed quite a bit about the way I cook.

For example: I used to eat cous-cous pretty regularly, which is a tiny pasta that no one makes locally and I'd have to be way more insane than I am to try and make myself. It's a quick meal I can whip out and mix with steamed vegetables. I can't eat it anymore so it's challenging coming up with a quick meal. I'm also almost out of other pastas and though I'm sure I can track down some locally produced pasta, there isn't any here in town and so I will have to make it myself when I want it. We eat a lot of pasta, so this has certainly made pasta a more involved dish.

Although I have found two sources for locally grown wild rice (which I don't generally care for all that much) I have yet to purchase any and I can't buy regular rice because there isn't any local source for that. Salads are also more challenging now because there are no more good fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, I can't buy any dried cranberries or pine nuts (both very much loved on salads) and without feta cheese or croutons (which I could make myself and might do soon), salads are kind of a sad affair. A favorite winter salad of the past was avocado and grapefruit salad.

Things I really miss: avocados, feta cheese, cous-cous, lemons, limes, Parmesan, pine nuts, dried cranberries, bananas. A surprising item I don't miss? Sierra Nevada beer. I know, it's almost impossible for that to be true. Luckily, Bridgeport makes an India Pale Ale that is a lot like Sierra Nevada.

Philip, in spite of his little Cheeto snafu, has really gotten into the spirit of this local products challenge and discovered, at the local art store, that one brand of oil paint that he has used and likes is not only made in West Linn (in the Portland area) but is also non-toxic AND as if that wasn't cool enough-is less expensive than some of the comparable brands. Once you get into the hunt for local products you get a thrill every time you find something really good that is made in your own neck of the woods.

Not completely related is a little happy discovery I made while shopping for baking soda today. Of course there is no local source for it, but I was making a careful examination of the labels before me and as I avoid using aluminum as much as possible (though I do use foil for baking) I was interested in the Rumford brand aluminum-free baking powder and saw this on their ingredients list: cornstarch (from Nongenetically Modified Corn). I can never get tired of seeing that on labels, or shouted off of rooftops, or written across the sky... Their other brand probably uses the modified corn, but this is a step: labeling. Labeling is a huge step. At least it gives us all the choice to not support Genetically Modified Organisms if we don't want to.

I most emphatically passionately DON'T WANT TO.

So, about convenience... change is never convenient. That's the bottom line. That's why it's so hard for us all to change. However, the more we all make change the easier it gets. Remember when finding organic vegetables was something you had to go out of your way to get? Remember when big supermarkets didn't have any and were annoyed with anyone who requested it? How easy it is now to find organic foods if you want them. The reason it's so much easier now is because a lot of people were willing to go out of their way to get the good stuff and put their money where their ideals were and the word spread, people cared (it's hard not to care) and in the end it really behooved Safeway to start carrying organic produce too because they risked losing a lot of business.

If you put your money where your mouth is, all the stores you shop at will want to have the products you want to buy. Simple economics, and the power is in OUR hands.