Local Food

How long does something have to stick around before it moves from Trend to The Norm? Local food, the 100 mile diet, etc. For the last few years these have been the buzz words flying around the food world. Personally, I tend to cook what I like, not what is trendy. In fact, I'm more likely to make fun of a trend than to follow it. However. I think the local food idea is a good idea. I hope it sticks around here. Go to Europe and local food is generally how they live. I don't get excited about organic, no-spray and all that jazz, but I do want to support local farmers and businesses by trying to eat more food that is grown locally. Or at least in Canada. I have also had a small vegetable garden for the past couple of years. Tomatoes, zucchini, herbs and such. I think it is so cool to watch things grow that you planted!

So, my point. This post is not just a rant. I wasn't all that excited about all of this until just now. A couple of things are going into this equation- we are moving just outside of the city to a small community soon and so I have been imagining myself biking to the market or butcher and picking up something for dinner. The likelihood of this scenario? Not so much... but I just discovered something cool. On FoodTV.ca there is a banner on every recipe for finding local food for that recipe. This is a bit of a gimmick- the link doesn't list where you can buy the specific foods- but it does open another page where you can search by your postal code and get a list of places where you can get local (well, 100 mile) foods. Very cool. This led me to Baileys Local Foods, which buys food from local farmers and then you pick them up once a week. You can choose to order every week (in the summer, after October it's monthly) or just occasionally. You pick from their order form what you want based on what they have available and then pick it up a few days later. I just registered, so I haven't tried this yet, but it's a cool idea anyway. Their website is kind of preachy about the "local food movement", "carbon footprint" type stuff, but that tells me that they are passionate about what they are doing, which is a-ok with me.