Meet The Writers / Sarah Gilbert

Watch out. That ham and swiss baguette may have protein, dairy and wheat!

Signs have appeared in Wegman's grocery store delis (this one was spotted in Dulles, Virginia) warning customers that children -- due to fear of allergens -- may not order food without an adult present.

I have no idea what to say about this, but it seems further proof to me that food has gone from pleasure and nourishment to a substance needing regulation, brightly-colored barriers and warning signs.

Alert! There may be eggs in your asparagus omelette! Hide your women and young ones.

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).

Tired of reading about eating local? Mad that your friends are going on and on about the provenance of the sage leaves (heirlooms from my own garden, they are!) on the gourmet dinner they served you? Really sick of hearing about your college roommate's new chicken coop? Well, you may not be, but NPR commentator Amy Stewart, is.

In a piece that seemed more bitter than escarole picked past its prime, Stewart takes America to task for its focus on the word, concept, and media conglomerate behind "locavores." (In case you missed it, "locavore" was selected as the 2007 word of the year by The New Oxford American Dictionary.) She says local eating is just "another symptom of our deeply troubled relationship with food" and "our obsession with local food has gone far enough ... we have heaped all our fears and anxieties onto the dinnerplate." Umm... isn't that the whole idea of the local eating "obsession"? Isn't it that we've ignored our dinner plates too long? I thought that reconnecting with our food supply and caring about animal rights (not so much for the animals' sake as for our very health and life, mind you -- poor treatment of animals and vegetables is thought to be responsible for the majority of often-deadly foodborne illnesses we confront) was completely the point.

It sounds to me as if Amy Stewart is a little peeved she didn't get a book deal to pay for her groceries for a year.

I've been reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a book extolling the virtues of eating locally (and the horrors of eating veggies trucked in from California, Chile, and other places far afield). Beyond simply pushing organic food or a vegetarian lifestyle, Kingsolver suggests that eating foods grown locally, in season, by farmers using sustainable practices can, basically, save the world -- not to mention, be delicious. I've swallowed her pitch hook, line, and heirloom potato, and have begun deeply rethinking our family's grocery lists. Starting this process in the dead of winter is a challenge, and "the sustainable food project" is my way of sharing the struggle with you.

The sandwich, a staple of my family's diet, is a particularly interesting problem. Were I to open a pictorial culinary dictionary under "S," I'd imagine a photo of bread, meat, tomato, lettuce, mayo. But fresh red tomatoes and leafy green lettuce are anything but in season in Oregon, where I live -- and the vast majority of the U.S. and Europe for the next several months. Because it's easy to find a sustainably-farmed source, we've been eating lots of beef, ham, and crusty local bread, but what else?

I've been able to find lots of delicious, flavorful options utilizing local, organic produce.

I was getting off the bus on my way to a craft swap, and I was mind-numbingly sleep-deprived. I needed coffee immediately and almost cried with happiness when I saw the sign outside the new electric car dealership. "Hip Drip Cafe," or something. Whatever. They had coffee.

I bought a cup and started feeling guilty when I got to the airpots to fill up. There was a sign encouraging patrons to bring their own cups -- you'd save 25 cents -- and I've been really working to reduce my waste lately. I mentally reminded myself to bring the cup home, so I could compost it and recycle the plastic lid. I grabbed the lid and... discovered Tater Ware.

Tater Ware is, as the cup lid indicates, made of potatoes. They are 100% biodegradable and, if you're worried about those things, GMO free. In addition to the to go cup lid I had on my coffee, the company makes clamshell takeout containers, deli trays, cutlery, and hot/cold cups. The products are "microwarmable" (you can use them to reheat food and beverages in the microwave) and, yep, they can go straight in the compost pile.

Most importantly, my coffee did not have a potato-ey aftertaste. My next campaign: convincing my neighborhood coffee shop to switch to Tater Ware. Someone's got to keep Idaho in business!