Eating locally

Someone is trying out a local, Manitoba diet. And she's documenting it for the Winnipeg Free Press, which is nothing short of excellent exposure for an amazing cause. Way to go Lindsey!

It's based on the 100 mile diet, which I first read about in an airplane magazine last July. It's really a simple concept - if you eat food that was produced locally, you are doing good for the local economy (supporting farmers and producers in your hometown or home province) as well as the global environment (products don't travel as far for our consumption, meaning less fossil fuels, less greenhouse gas emissions, less climate change and less air pollution).

I grew up in the city, with the vast majority of the food on my table coming from the Grocery Store. Some vegetables, and crab apples until my parents got rid of the tree, were available from our backyard and other relatively local gardens during the late summer and fall. In particular, my Baba continues to grow tomatoes like the world is ending (her house is a jungle before she transfers the plants outside). However, this has always been about the extent of my personal relationship with the food I eat. For the most part, this remains the case today.

To me, "the farm" has always represented in my mind this place that my grandparents and numerous relatives used to live on. I also remember is as a whimsical field trip taken during kindergarten. All I remember is the barnyard smell, and the baby chick that went to the bathroom on a girl classmate (to our horror), and the fly accidentally eaten by a boy classmate.


Besides building awareness and cultivating a push for eating local, I really hope the results of these WFP articles and accompanying blog can be turned into an online resource for everyone that wants to make the effort... myself included.