Eat Local?

[FarmerChick]

What to do with leftover bananas got me thinking.


Could you just eat local and NOT EVER buy product like bananas that are not local to your area.

Could anyone do this?

It would mean truly being denied alot of things---hmm...I don't think I could do it unless forced to thru disaster or something.

Just wondering about the rest of you?

 

[Dace]

I would love to say I can do that! But the truth is that right now I am driven by price, and when I see bananas for .36 and someone in my house eats them, I am getting some.

If money were not an issue it would be much easier to stick to local. I find that my local farmers market is pretty pricey, I can buy tomatoes there for $3.99-4.99 a pound or wait till they go on sale somewhere and get them cheaper but I mostly don't know where they come from

 

[patandchickens]

Sure I *could*, but I like chocolate and a selection of cooking spices so much that only *absolute necessity* would pry them out of my kitchen

I would be fine giving up bananas (but DH and the kids are unfortunately addicted), citrus fruits, and pineapple. I could live without cane sugar but I do like it better than honey for a number of things and I don't think there's anywhere near enough honey production for everyone to stop buying sugar .

I'm trying to think of what else in the kitchen is nonlocal... a few bottles/jars of Asian condiments and rice noodles. Pasta, but I could make my own if I had local flour.

Actually flour and other grain products would be the most serious problem for me; a certain amount of wheat etc are certainly grown around here but of course you cannot buy them directly from farmers. The only retail distributor I know of, of locally-grown grains (organic, as it happens) is about an hour away and I have heard somewhat unencouraging things about the quality of their product.

Cooking oil would not be too much of a problem, I could live with using chicken (etc) fat if necessary.

I would have to start doing massive amounts of freezing or canning, though, as you just cannot grow green veggies up here for about 5-6 months of the year (except bitter greens, in a specialized greenhouse, but I loathe most of them). For that part of the year, I currently rely partly on what I've frozen from our garden but mostly on Birdseye and their competitors

I do not honestly see any point in the whole '100 mile diet' thing except as a thought-experiment or rhetorical exercise. If a person wants to eat something from, say, 101 miles away; or a little bit of coriander from across the planet; or even a bunch of coffee; big fat hairy deal.


Pat

 

[miss_thenorth]

For the most part, most of my stuff is local. I know my beans, corn potatoes, onions, tomatoes, carrots, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, apples, peaches, and all my meat is local. In fact, --withing 10 km of my house or less.

I do buy bananas year round, but I don't buy out of season strawberries or anything like that.

Someone had posted somewhere about buying garlic already minced, as it is cheaper and lasts forever. Garlic is grown locally around here, but the garlic farmers cannot compete with China and places like that who make the minced garlic. So I buy my garlic fresh. When I'm shopping, I do try to look at where the product is from. Jarred pickles, ketchup, flour--you'd be surprised where some of these things fome from.

I do my best, but for things like that I don't always buy local, or Canadian made. Some of my purchases are made based on cost.

 

[Dace]

I do not honestly see any point in the whole '100 mile diet' thing except as a thought-experiment or rhetorical exercise. If a person wants to eat something from, say, 101 miles away; or a little bit of coriander from across the planet; or even a bunch of coffee; big fat hairy deal.


Well Pat, as usual, you bring everyone back down to earth with your practicality!

 

[FarmerChick]

Well what comes to mind is the "real" old days.

When you only had to eat what was in the area. Before true transports like trucks and railway.


It would be insane what you would have to pare down to in your meals.

Around here we can grow alot of stuff. We have tons of fruits for the south and easily can be eaten and then canned.
No more kiwi, no more 'nanners, no more ALOT of things.

We eat rice and rice sure isn't grown around here..LOL

I know I could not do it. Heck, like Pat said, chocolate. I am "candy" in general is made like when I made molasses candy from our lassy mill, but cocoa beans sure aren't grown here and never is coffee etc.

You know in the olden days on wagon trains you always saw them drinking coffe...hmm....I wonder if that is real. Coffee back then would be a monster extravagance. Not as easily gotten as some would think but you always see the big kettle pot with coffee..HA HA

 

[sylvie]

I use bananas daily but think Pawpaws would be a good local alternative for what I use them for. I would still have to travel to get them, they don't seem to thrive in my immediate area. I have a stand that has never produced in 25 years despite providing a pollinator.

I'd have to give this some thought. I don't know if I'd be able to give up EV olive oil. I gave up so much training myself to use it only. So it boils down to how much effort am I willing to make? Hmm. Get back to you on that

 

[miss_thenorth]

I just keep thinking of the Little House series, where Caroline had to sell eggs to buy sugar, and spices.

I try my best to support my locals. I would not, like Pat said, give up my spices, coffee, bananas etc. but I do try to avoid buying from certain countries whose standards are not up to par.

Not to mention--have you looked at your clothes tags lately? My dd was doing an assignment for school where she went around the house looking to see where things were made.

No matter how hard you try, you can't get everything local.

 

[Wifezilla]

I gave up sugar, bananas, pineapple, wheat, oats, rice, etc... years ago. Not for any local food movement, but because I don't handle sugars and starches well.

I do buy local food when I can get it and the price is reasonable, but no way in hell am I giving up dark chocolate, coffee, cinnamon, curry powder or sweet potatoes!

 

[FarmerChick]

No matter how hard you try, you can't get everything local.

___________
yea I agree---but they used too and I know no one who can go back to that. It would be a monster step into the olden days that most could never handle.

Spin wool to make clothes? I can't do that..LOL

Make your own---everything! Literally!

Nah, I can't see it happening.


So basically it is we now have the taste and use of every single product from every country in the world---we can never go back.
Baby steps yes on alot of things, but never could ever give them up.