The Launching of the Lenten Locavore

Welcome to the Diary of the Lenten Locavore - 2007. Today is 21 February, the first day of Lent. And I have made the impulsive decision to do my utmost to eat like a locavore - that is, to eat foods that are locally grown - from now until Easter.

This is a project doomed to failure. I mean, hey...I live in New England and it's the middle of winter. Actually those two things alone are not the biggest problems. It's the impulsivity with which I've taken on this project that will prove the root of its downfall. To be successful in this venture, I would have had to start planning and preparing in the summer and fall.

So, what's really going to happen in this contemplative season of Lent is that I'll be reflecting on my food and where it comes from very intentionally - moreso even than usual. And I'll also begin in earnest to track down local sources of foods that ARE available in this season. In so doing, I'll begin to learn the intricacies of my local "foodshed" and build up a local food network, which could support me if I choose to continue in my locavorianism.

Some ground rules - or guidelines...

For my purposes, I'm defining "local" very loosely as all of New England - Massachusetts, where I live; Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south; Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to the North. This is kind of crazy - the furthest tip of Maine from my home is over 400 miles away. With a radius like that, I could be eating food from the Chesapeake Bay Foodshed, too. It's tempting, believe me. And there's lots of good stuff to be had in upstate New York, too. (I may even break down and include it if I get desperate.) Still, it's better than continuing to eat food shipped in from Florida, from California, and from the furthest international reaches of the global food economy, right? And, in time, as I learn more about local sources of food, I hope to shorten that distance considerably. At the moment though, the closest source that I can find of whole wheat flour is about 400 miles north.

All that having been said, I am going to do my best to eat as much as I can from as close as I can. If I can find a good source of eggs within 5 miles of my house, I'll choose that whenever possible over an equally good source of eggs 70 miles from my house. Maybe the distances will average out to something respectable.

Some exceptions...I'm going to follow a variation of the locavorian "Marco Polo" rules, which means that items that could have easily been attained through traditional trade routes are allowed. This includes coffee (although I'm going to try - again - to cut back on it), tea, and spices, for example. I'm also going to keep using lemons and I may not cut out fruit entirely. Same with vegetables. I mean, I gotta eat them. I'll rely as much as possible on regional foods, but like I said, it's mid-winter, and this year I may be mostly out of luck. Plus, because I'm now in culinary school, my diet is somewhat determined by what we cook and eat there, too. I will pay closer attention to the sources of the schools food as we continue along. I'll do what I can and adjust as I go. I'm not going to be brutal about this. It's a contemplative exercise, for goodness sake.

Yesterday, as I noted over in the EIK, was Pancake Day - the day during which housewives in England traditionally cleaned out their pantries of FAT before Lent. I thought a couple times yesterday about cleaning all the non-locally grown foods out of my larder, but the sad truth is that I would have had to haul out 99.8 percent of the food I currently have on hand. And my wife would have killed me. And we would have starved. I have cleared a small shelf, which I'm going to hold for Local Foods when I find them. One of my goals will be to have outgrown that shelf by April 8th.