"eat local" news and stories

Food bloggers who have been around for at least a few months know about the Eat Local Challenge, born out of the mind of Jennifer from Life Begins at 30. She has been working with Locavores to host this virtual event in which the challenge for participants is to focus on eating foods that are as local as possible - grown and produced close to your home.

When I sat for a moment to think about the foods I eat every day, I realized that my habits would have to change. Sure, I can buy produce at my local farmers' markets. But what about other things? My coffee might be roasted locally, but where are the coffee beans for my coffee grown? What about bottled water? How tightly you keep to the challenge, as well as how "local" is local, is up to each participant. It's a very good lesson.

Participants can sign up at the Locavores site.

Let's not go into those resolutions that everyone and their entire extended families have on their lists. Oh, alright, I'll list just a few to test myself out: lose those last x pounds, spend more time with my kids/wife/husband/dog but spend less time on the Internet, watch less tv but watch more my spending, read more books, etc.

Those are on my list, too, but in addition, I have a few that are specific to food, along with some actionable steps:

1. Drink water. I don't drink very much water because I like to taste something. I drink way too much coffee, tea, and diet sodas, so replacing at least one of my two to three cups of coffee each morning will also take care of the "Cut down on the coffee" resolution that didn't quite make this short-list.

2. Eat a little more local. Eating local was very trendy last year, but I do hope it becomes a lasting change that I too will incorporate into my lifestyle. I did well over the summer by spending quite a bit of time in local southern California farmers' markets, but that fizzled when market locations and schedules were far less convenient than the open-24-hours chain grocery on my way home from work. I hope to make it to the local farmers' market at least twice a month this year.

3. Cook at home at least twice as much as I did last year. Twice as much cooking-at-home, however, would still be less than half as much as going-out-to-eat. But with more visits to the farmers' markets for fresh produce, hopefully I'll be able to have dinner at home twice a week, every week.

4. Master the techniques and tastes of my own Korean cuisine. Especially since I am convinced that 2006 will be the year that Korean food will be the "it" cuisine. Yeah, yeah yeah, so it made its debut several years ago, and it was on the up and up last year, but this is the year that folks in Iowa will say, "Hon, you know, I'm craving bibimbahp."

5. Read more food books. As opposed to flipping through cookbooks and magazines just looking at the pictures. I have yet to finish the final chapters of Tony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour, Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires, and just got one for Christmas, The Devil's Picnic (which is more about travel than food). There are at least ten more food books I want to read, as well.