Locavore Challenge: This October 1-15...

October 1 will find me taking on a new challenge: the 2009 EcoChallenge. I will be attempting to eat super locally for 15 days-- consuming nothing that originates from outside of a 100 mile radius of my home in Portland, Oregon.

Why on earth am I doing this? The simplest answer is for the Earth.

Our food systems have grown, and distanced us from the source of our food. This has environmental, social and psychological implications, and none of them are too great. (Don't get me wrong, there are advantages to having readily available foods no matter what your growing conditions or season, and I am not idealizing the past in any way, but there are also major advantages to knowing the source of your food, eating foods that are in season, and supporting local farmers and food processors.)

I first became interested in eating locally while living in the "produce belt" of California. Santa Cruz offered plentiful local food options, and I started to consider eating locally and seasonally while shopping the farmer's markets and learning to prepare new foods. My interest in sustainable eating has only grown since moving to Portland last summer.

Here, we have the ability to grow many of our own foods, to join CSA's and support local farms, to choose restaurants who create local & seasonal menus, and to reduce our environmental footprint by choosing foods that haven't been shipped from across the country.

Our first spring in Portland has opened our eyes to the availability of fresh, local fruits and veggies. My partner, Mark, and I have started our first garden this spring, joined a CSA and after taking NWEI's Menu for the Future course with some friends, started to automatically consider the source of the foods we buy.

For all these reasons, and because I like a good challenge every once in a while, I will try to eat only foods that are grown and processed here in the Portland area. It won't be as easy in October as it would right now-- when the garden is full of options!- but I think I can do it...

(If you are interested in learning more about our food systems, check out Food Inc., a great documentary that came out this spring. Or read Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, or Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. )