Eat your view

I was listening to an NPR show on "green food" a few months ago and the narrator mentioned a slogan he heard during his travels: "eat your view". The idea is to eat locally grown produce, locally raised livestock, and other locally processed or produced foods (such as milk, cheeses, and bread). Although the movement to eat local is trendy right now, Deedee and I have tried to eat more local food for the past five years (we started this when we lived in Tallahassee, FL). It's been great, and I pray more people try it.

I mention this because lately I've been wanting to "take this up a notch," as an annoying celebrity chef might say. So, starting tomorrow and continuing through to our Thanksgiving meal, I'm only going to eat local foods. And I mean only local foods. If the food wasn't grown or raised here, or made from local ingredients, I won't eat it.

This will be a bit tough, because we are at the end of the harvest and many staple fruit and vegetables are now out of season (and, we haven't been very good about canning this year). Also, I don't know of any locally grown and milled grain, which puts bread right out. Aside from that, I can quite happily eat my view, and I'm really looking forward to it.

While I wouldn't expect anyone else to completely remove non-local food from their diet, if you're reading this I hope you will at least consider using local food for your Thanksgiving meal (or, if you don't observe the U.S. Thanksgiving, your next big Holiday feast or other celebratory meal). If you need ideas or help building a menu from local food, please let me know (either by leaving a comment or using the "Contact Me" link). I'd love to help.

In any case, I hope you'll keep "eat your view" in mind as you shop and eat in the future.