if i knew that you were coming i'd a baked a cake.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Eat Local Challenge Goals - Update

I posted my personal goals for the May 2006 Eat Local Challenge a few weeks ago. Now that I've had a little more time to mull these over, I've tweaked and refined them.

Goal: To eat food produced within 100 miles as much as possible, then extend the range to food raised, produced, or caught in North Carolina, South Carolina, or Virginia.

Exemptions: salt, pepper, spices, tamari, flour*, pasta*, rice, olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider and balsamic vinegars, tahini, sugar, other baking necessities, Parmesano-Reggiano, coffee, tea.

Challenge: I'm used to eating out for lunch in the neighborhood, and I don't think that anyone serves local food. My addiction to Pepsi One, which I'll try to kick in May. My new craving for olives. I'll miss salmon and bacon. Local regulations will not allow pork producers to cure meat without nitrates.

Help needed in finding: Grains of all kinds, pasta. If I can find local sources for flour, pasta, and Carolina grown rice, I'll take them off the exemption list in an update.

Tips offered: The Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market sells locally grown chicken, beef, pork, dried beans, mushrooms, milk, butter, goat cheese, and eggs, in addition to seasonal fruits and vegetables. Chicken will be available from Back Woods Family Farm again in May. The corn for the grits and cornmeal from the Old Mill at Guilford is grown in Yanceyville. Donna sells their products at the Curb Market. The Piedmont Triad Farmers Market also sells sustainably raised lamb, and ostrich. Deep Roots Market carries some local products, including some fruits and vegetables, beef and dairy products.

NOTES:

I'll buy my fair-trade organic coffee from Tate Street Coffee House, which is a short walk away, and sorry, but I have to have sugar in my coffee.

I'll keep a pitcher of iced tea in the refrigerator to try to kick my diet soda habit. I can't go without caffeine - my migraines are enough of a problem in the spring. The problem here will be my husband drinking it all. He loves sweet tea. I'll flavor it with mint from my garden.

I'll buy my bread from Simple Kneads, a wonderful organic bakery in downtown Greensboro, or from nearby Spring Garden Bakery, or pita from Dough Re Mi at the Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market. Or bake it.

noodle cutterI am mulling over making my own pasta for the first time. After all, I have to justify buying this noodle-cutter at the Liberty Antiques Festival yesterday! Note that I bought a "new" baking pan that begs for lasagne as well. I think I found a source for semolina flour from Virginia. I'll post more if I decide to do it - it looks like the fates have decreed this. Now let's see if I have the time and energy.

I plan to eat a lot of salad, which is not really one of my favorite foods. The way I have decided to make this fun and challenging is that I will make my own salad dressings and marinades. I've been addicted to Annie's dressings for years, but there's no reason I couldn't make my own from scratch. I've added a lot of the base ingredients for salad dressings and marinades to the exemption list, to which I plan to add herbs from my garden and other ingredients that I find at the farmers' market.

5 comments:

Casey said...

What a cool challenge! I should look into what it would take to get more locally produced food here . . .

Jamie said...

Awesome. I wonder if you can buy a pork belly at the store (surely someone sources locally?) and baconize it yourself. The nitrate police can't come into your kitchen. :-)

David Wharton said...

Laurie, on Saturday I saw the premier of "Wild Caught," a documentary by UNCG professor Matt Barr about small commercial fishermen in Snead's Ferry, NC.

There's a lot of great stuff in it about the difference between these guys and the factory fisheries and huge commercial operations that are putting them out of business.

I'd be happy to lend you my copy on DVD -- let me know. You can get my e-mail from my Blogger contact info.

Laurie said...

I knew you'd like it, Spiral!

Jamie, I don't think I'm hardcore enough to cure my own bacon! A while back I bought some fatback from my pasture-raised pig farmer (from whom I also buy chicken and eggs) and sliced it, added liquid smoke, and fried it. I was just going to use it for seasoning, but it was too fatty and greasy for me to stomach even dealing with. I have just recently started eating pork again after ten years.

David, thank you and you may be hearing from me. I am probably closer to you than you think!

Anonymous said...

Southern Biscuit brand flour is from NC... (I'm in Chapel Hill and doing ELC)