Going Local

This September we are "going local." There is a movement happening right now to encourage people to buy local food in an effort to reduce the amount of oil we expend to get our Asparagus from South America to New York. Statistics are staggering: If every family were to eat just one local meal a week it would save 81 Billion barrels of oil a week.

The reduction of oil consumption is certainly a bonus to our 'eat local' endeavor, but (can I readily admit) it really is not our main motivation. For us it's more about the challenge and joy we get from growing, catching and cooking our own food. The challenge of having an oddball mix of veggies and protein, and figuring out how to turn it into a fantastic meal. There is something unbelievably gratifying of knowing exactly where your food is from, what was used to grow it, and the physical labor or energy spent to get it onto the plate and into the belly.

We have been unintentionally eating "local" since we moved to Gloucester four years ago. Our once meager garden has grown exponentially since we first planted a few tomato and cucumber plants in the spring of 2003. Our ability to catch seafood has also improved as our diving skills have taken us to new grubbing depths, and fishing has become something more than a hobby but less than work.

We take great pleasure in knowing exactly where our meals come from, save a few ingredients. Trips to the grocery store during the summer are few and far between - and mostly made to pick up essentials like deodorant and razor blades; not so much because we need something for dinner.

Because I'm always up for a good challenge, and am slightly obsessed with achieving small goals, we've decided to take the eating locally one step further and go total local, with more than a handful of exceptions. We're not making a political statement or trying to be "purists" - we are completely transparent and upfront about our exceptions so we have nothing to hide. Our goal is simple: the heart of every meal needs to be locally grown or caught. Our definition of local is Essex County, Massachusetts - but we are allowed to go outside county lines and into New England if the specific ingredient we are looking for is not produced in our county. For instance, I'm having a heck of a time finding cheese made in Essex County - so I've purchased some artisan cheese made in Vermont from a farm stand in Gloucester.

Exceptions: coffee, bread (although only buying locally baked bread, preferably from bakery that grinds its own wheat flour), olive oil, vinegar, probably a few more that I haven't thought of yet.

We also have a few clauses:
1) Pantry Items: "if it's in the pantry already it's OK" rule. I'm not all that comfortable with this one. We will use pantry items only if we can't figure out an alternative. Items like sugar we will try to replace entirely with local alternatives like Maple Syrup (try it in coffee, it's delicious) or honey.
2) Travel: This month we have 2 wedding receptions and a few weekends away with family. As much as possible we'll stick to the rules, but don't want to be offensive, difficult or rude - so, if we are not preparing our own meal it is okay to eat non-local.

This past weekend was Labor Day and we were traveling in northern New York to spend the weekend on Lake George with my family. I had brought lots of local items, so for the most part we stuck with the plan for breakfast and lunch. Dinner was more challenging, but my mom is a bit of a locavore herself, so the meals were primarily made with food from her garden. The travel clause was invoked on more than one occasion (who can resist discussing marshmallow toasting strategies with their 3-year old nephew?).

Now starts the real challenge. We are back home. Time to get creative.