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I'm trying to eat more sustainably, choosing "pastured" meats and dairy, free-range eggs, and local, organic produce from small farms; I'm also trying to virtually eliminate processed foods from my family's diet. I have three small boys and a husband who grew up on Fruit Loops and KFC. I live in the city (Portland, Oregon); I work full-time; and I'm learning to garden. This is my story.I don't think I have an addictive personality, but it's true: I'm addicted to caffeine. Not only am I an addict, I'm something of a snob, pooh-poohing Starbucks and supermarket brands for single-estate coffee beans and PG Tips tea. It's ok: as luxuries go, my choices aren't terribly draining on family finances. At about $10 a 12-ounce bag, my coffee habit runs me less than $20 a week.
But. I'm trying to eat local, honoring as much of the spirit of the 100-mile diet and the locavores as I can (though my range is probably more like 300 miles, given how huge is my home state of Oregon).
Coffee and tea come from all the most tropical places in the world (and all thousands of miles away) -- Guatemala, Ethiopia, China, Panama, Yemen. My spices, too, come from wild and wonderful, vastly distant countries -- Indonesia, Madagascar, Pakistan, Morocco. I can't give them up, so I exclude them from my local project, though I do work to buy fair-trade and organic varieties when possible.
Am I alone? Not hardly. Reviewing hundreds of the faithful's exemptions on locavores.com, I found many commonalities. What are your exemptions? Have you found a great local source for salt, pepper, tea? Please share!
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1-27-2008 @10:27PM Michelle said... My partner and I started out with a USA only diet, then it gradually went to USA or organic-- mainly due to tea and coffee. We live in Maine, and not much grows here between October to March. Salt has been the one thing we can't find to fit the USA or organic rule. There actually is a Maine Sea Salt Company that harvests from the Gulf of Maine but at cheapest it's $6 for 8 oz.!
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1-27-2008 @10:33PM Michelle said... My partner and I started out with a continental-US only diet, then it gradually went to USA or organic-- mainly due to tea and coffee. We live in Maine, and not much grows here between October to March. Salt has been the one thing we can't find to fit the USA or organic rule (for a reasonable price). There actually is a Maine Sea Salt Company that harvests from the Gulf of Maine but at cheapest it's $6 for 8 oz.!
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1-10-2008 @11:58PM Rita said... I'm moving to Seattle in a few weeks, and I've committed to doing the 100 Mile Diet, though I've included coffee, chocolate, citrus fruits, olive oil and cane sugar on my exemptions list. I doubt my diet will ever make it 100% local and sustainable, but it just seems to make sense to try.
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1-11-2008 @12:00AM Rita said... I'm moving to Seattle in a few weeks, and I've committed to doing the 100 Mile Diet, though I've included coffee, chocolate, citrus fruits, olive oil and cane sugar on my exemptions list. I doubt my diet will ever make it 100% local and sustainable, but it just seems to make sense to try.
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1-11-2008 @8:03AM calamari said... How ironic that the locavores.com poster from Berkeley considered SALT to be a necessary exemption, when there are producing salt flats within 50 miles of him/her.
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1-11-2008 @12:13PM Tamer Brad said... This diet is silly. Buy local when they have what you want, don't when they don't.
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1-11-2008 @1:43PM Jon said... I care about local food, and try to eat locally whenever possible. But the whole "X mile diet" is silly. It's fine as an experiment to see if it's possible, or to show the strengths and weaknesses of your area's local food options. And it's obviously a good way to get a book deal or attract blog traffic.
But eating locally is supposed to be a general goal, not a set of rigidly-defined rules. It's not an all-or-nothing deal. If people eat more locally, that's a good thing. There's no point in castigating people for using non-local salt, or coffee, or wine, or whatever. If the local food movement focuses too much on attention-catching novelty diets and excessive criticism of everyone's food choices, it will become marginalized.
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1-11-2008 @4:40PM dan said... Here ya go...
check out George's prices on single estate coffee.
There is no doubt that these are great coffees (and I have purchased a couple, but for me they are not a habit at *usually* greater than $20/8 oz. The origins and descriptions are what great marketing is all about!
http://www.terroircoffee.com/store/more_info.php?gid=271
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1-11-2008 @6:12PM Mary Sue said... Meh, we cheat in Portland; all the tags at New Seasons are color coded to tell you what's produced locally and what's not.
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1-16-2008 @4:44AM fifi trixibelle said... The best way to practice being a "Locavore" is either shop at a Farmers Market for local grown produce or even better join a CSA - Community Supported Agriculture and buy a box of produce once a week from a local farmer. For just $17 a week, I get 9 pounds of fabulous produce from Full Belly Farm in Guinda, California - about 45 miles from where I live. I also grow some food in a community garden plot, I have a huge herb garden and grow fruits/veggies in containers on my apt balcony. I've heard conflicting "rules" about being a "Locavore" some say 100 miles, some say within 500 miles.
While some people think it is ridiculous to try to eat locally grown food - it is phenomenally cheaper to buy food at Farmers Market than a supermarket or Whole Foods. Just what is "sustainable" about eating organic produce flown in from Chile, Mexico or China? Today I was at Safeway and there were organic mangos from Ecuador - for crying out loud, it's January and 38 degrees outside - eating local food in season makes a great deal of sense!
Fair Trade products and food grown by family farmers isn't just politically correct blathering....it creates economic infrastructure for small independent family farmers who would otherwise get gobbled up by transnational corporate agribusiness.
I've been eating organic since the 1970's and am disgusted so many privately owned organic food manufacturers have been bought up by huge monolithic corporations. Odwall Juice is owned by Coca-Cola, Dagoba Chocolate was sold to Hershey's, Cacadian Farm and Muir Glen Organics is owned by General Foods.
check out wwww.cornucopia.org
WHO OWNS ORGANIC?
There is a different link on the website which tells you what organic companies are still family owned and privately owned - less than a dozen that are national firms - Newman's Own, Eden Foods, Amy's Kitchen, Annies Organics, Cliff Bars, French Meadow Bakery and just a couple of others. The rest is all "corporate organic" and IMHO, very dubious. I do not trust the USDA organic certificatio label because since 1992 the USDA has constantly trying to water down and weaken the organic standards laws.
I trust CCOF, Demeter, Tilth and QAI (Quality Assurance International) organic certification labels.
BEWARE - Horizion Foods is FACTORY FARMED dairy feedlot cattle and identical to supermarket dairy foods. Organic Valley brand based in Wisconsin is authentic organic dairy and a national organization of coop small farm dairies who have banded together.
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