Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Another good book...




Lately, I've been reading Michael Pollan's latest book, "In Defense of Food". Not quite half-way through, but it is very good. He is wonderful at combining the science, politics, and "local knowledge" about a topic into an interesting and easy to understand format. Understanding more about why and how nutrition science and the government food pyramid evolved to be how they are is fascinating. Highly recommended!

Monday, March 3, 2008

Great Book for local eating inspiration!



If any of you are looking for a fantastic inspirational read about local eating, this book is the way to go! I meant to mention it a while back, but am just finally getting around to recommend it.

Here's the link to the book's info on Amazon.com (although there are undoubtably many independent booksellers out there, like Powell's books where you could get it too!)...or save a few trees and get it at the library!!

http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Vegetable-Miracle-Year-Food/dp/0060852550/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204605635&sr=1-1

The book is great because the Kingsolver family goes above and beyond local eating by actually farming most of their own food, including produce, canning, meat animals, eggs, etc. Pretty incredible! The book also includes lots of great recipes and menu ideas for regionally available foods (I believe their farm is in Virginia, so not to far off our Ohio climate.)

Anyway, enjoy! And if you still have lots of available time, check out either of Michael Pollan's fantastic books on eating locally, wholly, and sustainably. "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In defense of food: an eater's manifesto." More preaching to the choir, yes, but good for a little pick me up at this time of year when we are desperately looking forward to farm-market season!!

Friday, February 8, 2008

We're still here!

Hello blog-readers (if there are really any of you out there!!!)...

It is now February, quite a long time since my last post, and our local eating over the winter months has not been anywhere near the level it was during the warmer months. As people who tend to be hard on themselves to begin with, Eric and I have probably procrastinated from writing here as it exposes yet more of our flaws and shows the world we are not as perfect as we'd like to be! (Darn it!)

We will also soon be adding a new little one to our family, and that has frankly impacted my eating habits and preferences just a little bit too! (Some days I am at the whims of my hormone-directed food cravings!!!)

Having started out our journey into eating more locally last spring, we didn't plan lots of extra time and energy into canning and preserving things for winter. So mainly our winter local eating has consisted of frozen meats and cheeses, homemade freezer jam and tomatoes, and maybe a few other frozen veggies like green beans. I also still try to shop for locally baked bread (West Side Bakery makes fantastic bread!)

I guess the biggest change this winter has been in awareness. When we go to the grocery store, we look at where food is from. If we can find apples from Pennsylvania, we are sure going to buy them over apples from Australia. Australia!!!! We haven't been buying produce grown out of the US, and we've really just tried to pay attention to how far our food travels, even if it isn't all from Ohio this winter.

We're also concerned with buying food grown sustainably, and organically when possible, so it is sometimes a struggle to balance the urge to buy things that are "healthy" for the environment distance-wise, while finding food that is "healthy" for our bodies with less chemical contamination.

So, that is where we are right now. I'm missing the community and fresh smells of the farmer's market, and looking forward to taking the kids to the market this summer!! There is just something about doing your shopping outdoors, and buying direct from the grower that can't even come close to being matched by any supermarket. Only a few more months to go!!!