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| Even the snacks where local! How about that Marble Street Brewery IPA? |
But it is more different than you would think. It's a strange feeling.
I'm conscious of every bite having a story. I'm more thoughtful about what I eat. The qualities and texture are different too. I was a little startled by my first bite of local, pasture fed Pollo Real chicken. If you've never tasted a true pasture grazed chicken the difference from the plump, puffy, moisture injected store bought bird is remarkable. What have I been eating up until now?! This was a Real Chicken. This gal ran after grasshoppers, gossiped with her girlfriends and closed her eyes in the sun- minus any breast implants. But I wasn't sure I actually liked the increased flavor and texture at first. It was so non-supermarket, non-white bread, so unprocessed that I almost didn't recognize it as chicken. But like my own farm-eggs, this was the real deal . 'Honey, baby! Where've you been all my life?!'
And no iceberg lettuce on my plate either. Not that I'm dissing a crisp head of iceberg but...given a choice between that and a bunch of Arugula I picked myself? Guess what I'd choose!
I've been doing a mini-work share at one of our local CSAs, 'Los Poblanos'. In exchange for a reduced price on a market box I go in and work a 2 1/2 hour morning once a week. The farm has some fields near my home and its not a problem to go help pick vegetables at sunrise now and again. In fact- it has been so enjoyable and I've learned so much that I really wish I had more mornings to go help the full time workers and interns. They're at it all day and like Steven Colbert learned- 'its a lot of bending over!'
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| Some items from my first LPO market basket. Yep- I helped pull this out of the dirt myself! |
My revelation while at Los Poblanos has been how productive our valley can be. No doubt it's taken a lot of work and preparation but the soils are rich and loamy and support the most amazing produce I've seen locally. It's a pleasure to work among healthy, productive plants so heavy with tomatoes, squash, eggplants. And the people are nice too!
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| What does eating local look like? |
What does eating local look like? Anything you'd like it to be- in this case my light supper was local bread with cream cheese (I made it! More on that later) An arugula salad with apples and pecans and some sweet, sauteed chiles on the side. Everything local except the Sal de los Incas my cousin brought from Peru. Thanks Adam!
Stumbled across your blog through a mutual friend (whom I won't mention since the internet has a mind of its own) But its good to hear of someone else making the effort towards local and ethical food, if you will. I have my own garden, small and just started this year, but it has been increasingly rewarding to eat my own food, grown in my own yard, harvested by my own hands. I would recommend to anyone who reads your blog to not be intimidated by the initial set-up of an edibles-producing garden, for it is entirely worth the effort (especially because it really only takes a couple days work at specific times during the year, then you let nature do the rest). Just a bit of research and your on your way. Also I wanted to mention a few other organizations that you (and your readers) might find interesting (although not necessarily "local" themselves). Food First, is an oakland based organization focusing on research and policy education while encouraging the development of the movement in oakland and the maintainance and expansion of the movement in larger organizations. Also some social movements concerned with Food Sovereignty (what your doing but on a larger, more structural scale), MST (landless workers' movement in Brazil) and Campesino a Campesino (a farmers' based organization focused on empowering traditional, small scale, local farming). Pretty cool stuff. Also James O'Nions is a pretty awesome activist in London, also working on the larger issues in order to make local foods and sustainable farming accessible and beneficial to all. Anywho...more cool stuff for anyone to check out...but keep it up, I know I will! (Dirty hands lead to a happy stomach)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your note Anna. I would love to check out the various organizations you mention. It seems such a vital goal- to connect populations with the land and their food sources. Not to mention how important it is to encourage and support local and sustainable agriculture. Food is power. Anymore it is a political statement to eat what you or your neighbors grow. So many of us in '1st World' countries are amazingly removed from our food sources. It is the ultimate empowerment to 'go local'
ReplyDeleteHappy farming!