"food challenge" news and stories

• If you're a fan of Stella Artois, you may want to drink up now. Beer supplies are running low in Belgium, as InBev, the producer of the lager as well as Leffe and Jupiler, plans to cut 10% of its staff and worker retaliate by striking.
• Malaysian cops seized samples of a coffee with benefits beyond caffeine. Officials claim the special brand contained sildenafl, a component found in the drug Viagra.
• Astronauts are getting the Michelin treatment in space. German chef Harald Wohlfahrt, who has three Michelin stars, created freeze-dried delicacies designed to last for two years and contains extra spices because sense of taste is affected in space.
• Next time you're in search of free food and gustatory entertainment, try one of these 40 food challenges.
• And on the topic of eating for sport, the International House of Pancakes recently brought back its all-you-can-eat pancakes. Right now, the record stands at 46.

From September 5th to the 14th, people in Wisconsin are encouraged to participate in the Eat Local Wisconsin Challenge. Participating involves spending at least 10 percent of your food budget on local foods. For the challenge, "local" does not simply mean that the food has to be from the U.S. Rather, it must come from Wisconsin or within 100 miles of your home.

If you're not sure where to begin, the website for the challenge offers a site where you can find sources for local food. The challenge is incredibly educational. It not only offers ways to incorporate local foods into your diet, but it also explains why that's important in the first place. Buying local is a good way to support community sustainability, local farmers, and your local economy.

An article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel states that the Eat Local Wisconsin Challenge is about reducing our carbon footprint and simply eating better tasting food that's also healthier. What interests me about this challenge is that it's all inclusive. By targeting wealthy urban consumers, many local food challenges seem elitist. On the contrary, the Eat Local Wisconsin Challenge makes it seem affordable for everyone. If you know of similar challenges, let me know. I'd be curious to see how they compare.

The average family seems to get carry-out food far more often than any time in the past, and the number one reason cited is convenience. It seems easier than cooking at home, since there is no planning and no shopping required. One Chicago family realized that they got take out meals just about every single day and Mary Ann Schultz suggested to her husband and son that they try going for 30 days without carry-out. They didn't have a problem affording all their meals, as both Schultz and her husband are well-employed, but she wanted her son to actually experience "family meals" as she did growing up.

The family took on the challenge and, after a rocky start, they learned to plan meals and write out shopping lists. They learned to stock the freezer and pantry so that they would have options at home. Quick-fix cookbooks were helpful for providing inspiration and do-able recipes for an inexperienced cook. You can take a look at her ongoing journal to see how the challenge went from day to day.

Overall, the family learned that cooking at home was just as tasty as restaurant food and they enjoyed it more. They saved over $200 and Mary Ann lost 7 pounds during the switch. They're probably not going to cut it out completely, but perhaps their challenge could lend a bit of inspiration to anyone else who uses the "carryout menu folder...as a crutch for meals."

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I thought I could do better than the Hillbilly Housewife, whose weekly menu of weiner stirfry and tuna-and-peas-over-rice didn't appeal much to my sense of budgetary gourmet. I'm not the only one, evidently. The good people at the Better Times Almanac have created what they call the "Slow Food for Poor People Challenge."

Taking the "Food Stamp Challenge," they ate on a food stamp budget for a week (about $61 for two people) and tried to make their example an even better one by employing "(1) frugal supermarket shopping, (2) preparing meals from basic ingredients, (3) buying local foods, (4) gardening, (5) food storage, and (6) home preservation of food."

Menus like "Buffalo meatloaf, oven fries, corn on the cob, green beans," biscuits and gravy, buffalo pot roast and a breakfast of "2 scrambled eggs, 1/3 lb sausage, hash brown, potatoes, rolls, apple cobbler" are a little more my speed. The drawback is that their menu is a bit repetitive (and, being from Oklahoma, relies heavily on buffalo meat). But you can hardly argue with a $60 weekly menu that employs organic eggs from free-ranging hens and meats from local cooperatives. It's a nice attempt and only fuels my desire to come up with more and better cheap-but-gourmet meals.

[photo Sarah Gilbert]

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