Localvore Challenge: Belated Wrap-Up
Day 7 was just breakfast and lunch--omelet and leftovers, respectively.
The Challenge was worth it for the things discovered alone--same-day corn, farmers' market potatoes and garlic, etc. It's also left a distinct impression on my eating habits in the week since I supposedly finished. Some of this is good, and much of it is inconvenient. I have a whole new appreciation for flour, salt, olive oil, and cinnamon. I definitely wouldn't want to eat purely local on a long-term basis. On the other hand, most of the things that can be found locally are better that way.
The thing I enjoyed most about the Challenge was non-factory farmed meat. I really don't want to go back. This is slightly awkward, as I can't actually afford all-local-free-range-organic. Both Nameseeker and I need regular meat for mood maintenance, so we're not about to go vegetarian. However, I have been experimenting with less-meat options, and more vegetarian meals--it's possible that we can afford a diet with better-quality meat, but less of it. So far I've managed to go a week without buying conventional meat, but this has involved a certain amount of freezer-raiding, plus a convenient sale at Whole Foods. I've been experimenting with a cooking style that's a bit different than what I'm practiced at, and we'll see how that goes. But replacing the factory-farmed stuff in our diet with local-free-range-organic has definitely become a long-term goal.
On a more purely aesthetic level, several sorts of processed food have stopped looking edible to me. This is probably healthy, but definitely awkward. For example, prior to the challenge I generally grabbed a Lender's Bagel on my way out the door in the morning. They didn't taste like much, but they woke up my metabolism and that was all I needed. Now, after a week of omelets, my body wants real food in the morning--except that I don't want to keep getting up early to make eggs. So far I've been baking something breakfasty on the weekends and using that for breakfast--the last of the cornbread first, and coffee cake this week.
For those interested, here are the places we bought food, and my thoughts on them:
Green City Farmers' Market
We got the bulk of our fruit and vegetables here, plus a chicken, goat cheese, butterkase, and not-parmesan. The quality is high, parking is reasonable, and I'm fairly certain that they are accessible by public transit as well. It's very easy to overspend on treats, and I've done so even on non-Challenge weeks. Open Wednesdays and Saturdays in season, plus a biweekly winter market.
Lombard Farmers' Market
Every Tuesday, a block from my house. Good for stocking up on whatever vegetables you've run out of, but not particularly exciting otherwise.
Sunflower Market
Labels "local treasures," but doesn't actually have that many of them. We got locally produced granola and wine here, and could have gotten both somewhere else. They may well be a very good whole foods store; they are out of my way and I probably won't end up going back to check.
Fox and Obel
Not actually all that useful for local foods. I believe we got sour cream and milk here. The sour cream turned out to be low-fat and full of evil, and the milk brand appeared in our nearby Whole Foods the very next week. But as a gourmet foodie store, this place is amazing. A la carte Vosges truffles. Candied violets. Swooning Ashni. We paid hideously for parking, but only because we didn't know that they have free valet service.
Heritage Prairie Market
Forty minutes west of my house, in Plainfield, entirely inaccessible to someone using public transportation. This is where I got the whole wheat flour, a laudable item but not actually what I turned out to need. I didn't actually end up getting anything here that I couldn't have gotten closer, but the things I got were high-quality, and they had several nifty treats that I couldn't touch during the challenge.
I take that back--I got a shopping bag. I've had string bags for years, and have been careful and vigilant about leaving them behind every time I go shopping. Now I have a tent-fabric bag that squishes into a wallet-sized draw-string pouch and fits in my purse. I have probably saved a barrel of petroleum in non-disposable-bag-use in the last two weeks.
Also, they have peacocks. How could I resist?
Farm Stand the Name of Which I Cannot Recall
But I know where to find it, on North Avenue a little west of 53. This is where I got same-day corn, and also local peanuts.
Plapp Family Organics
Had I but known, these folks sell at a farmers' market in the city every other Sunday. Since I didn't, they were way the hell out in Dekalb, more than an hour from my house. But they make all-purpose flour, pastry flour, and cornmeal. At times, they also make vegetable oil.
Jonamac Orchard
Apples. Cider Donuts. Corn maze. Not exactly a grocery store, but what they have is delightful.
And last but not least, Whole Foods
Sure, they're corporate. Their vegetables are nowhere near as good as the Farmers' Market. But they've started labeling their local foods--they started the week of the challenge, and already had more than Sunflower, even though Sunflower is a local chain. They were the most convenient place for milk, cream, and eggs throughout the week. The cream and eggs, in fact, were my usual cream and eggs because the prices on those two items are just that reasonable.
The most notable thing about an all-local diet, unfortunately, isn't the taste or the ethics. It's that it's freaking expensive. My food budget doubled for the week of the challenge. Admittedly, I had to buy a lot of staples that I normally wouldn't have been purchasing all at once. On the other hand, I got most of my meat for barter, so it probably evens out. If I didn't make a professor's salary, I couldn't have afforded to do this even for a week. The fact that I had the time to cook from scratch in the evenings helped, too. I am not the first person to point out that it really sucks when the average person in this country can't afford a diet healthy either for themselves or those producing it. But, you know, it sucks.
The Challenge was worth it for the things discovered alone--same-day corn, farmers' market potatoes and garlic, etc. It's also left a distinct impression on my eating habits in the week since I supposedly finished. Some of this is good, and much of it is inconvenient. I have a whole new appreciation for flour, salt, olive oil, and cinnamon. I definitely wouldn't want to eat purely local on a long-term basis. On the other hand, most of the things that can be found locally are better that way.
The thing I enjoyed most about the Challenge was non-factory farmed meat. I really don't want to go back. This is slightly awkward, as I can't actually afford all-local-free-range-organic. Both Nameseeker and I need regular meat for mood maintenance, so we're not about to go vegetarian. However, I have been experimenting with less-meat options, and more vegetarian meals--it's possible that we can afford a diet with better-quality meat, but less of it. So far I've managed to go a week without buying conventional meat, but this has involved a certain amount of freezer-raiding, plus a convenient sale at Whole Foods. I've been experimenting with a cooking style that's a bit different than what I'm practiced at, and we'll see how that goes. But replacing the factory-farmed stuff in our diet with local-free-range-organic has definitely become a long-term goal.
On a more purely aesthetic level, several sorts of processed food have stopped looking edible to me. This is probably healthy, but definitely awkward. For example, prior to the challenge I generally grabbed a Lender's Bagel on my way out the door in the morning. They didn't taste like much, but they woke up my metabolism and that was all I needed. Now, after a week of omelets, my body wants real food in the morning--except that I don't want to keep getting up early to make eggs. So far I've been baking something breakfasty on the weekends and using that for breakfast--the last of the cornbread first, and coffee cake this week.
For those interested, here are the places we bought food, and my thoughts on them:
Green City Farmers' Market
We got the bulk of our fruit and vegetables here, plus a chicken, goat cheese, butterkase, and not-parmesan. The quality is high, parking is reasonable, and I'm fairly certain that they are accessible by public transit as well. It's very easy to overspend on treats, and I've done so even on non-Challenge weeks. Open Wednesdays and Saturdays in season, plus a biweekly winter market.
Lombard Farmers' Market
Every Tuesday, a block from my house. Good for stocking up on whatever vegetables you've run out of, but not particularly exciting otherwise.
Sunflower Market
Labels "local treasures," but doesn't actually have that many of them. We got locally produced granola and wine here, and could have gotten both somewhere else. They may well be a very good whole foods store; they are out of my way and I probably won't end up going back to check.
Fox and Obel
Not actually all that useful for local foods. I believe we got sour cream and milk here. The sour cream turned out to be low-fat and full of evil, and the milk brand appeared in our nearby Whole Foods the very next week. But as a gourmet foodie store, this place is amazing. A la carte Vosges truffles. Candied violets. Swooning Ashni. We paid hideously for parking, but only because we didn't know that they have free valet service.
Heritage Prairie Market
Forty minutes west of my house, in Plainfield, entirely inaccessible to someone using public transportation. This is where I got the whole wheat flour, a laudable item but not actually what I turned out to need. I didn't actually end up getting anything here that I couldn't have gotten closer, but the things I got were high-quality, and they had several nifty treats that I couldn't touch during the challenge.
I take that back--I got a shopping bag. I've had string bags for years, and have been careful and vigilant about leaving them behind every time I go shopping. Now I have a tent-fabric bag that squishes into a wallet-sized draw-string pouch and fits in my purse. I have probably saved a barrel of petroleum in non-disposable-bag-use in the last two weeks.
Also, they have peacocks. How could I resist?
Farm Stand the Name of Which I Cannot Recall
But I know where to find it, on North Avenue a little west of 53. This is where I got same-day corn, and also local peanuts.
Plapp Family Organics
Had I but known, these folks sell at a farmers' market in the city every other Sunday. Since I didn't, they were way the hell out in Dekalb, more than an hour from my house. But they make all-purpose flour, pastry flour, and cornmeal. At times, they also make vegetable oil.
Jonamac Orchard
Apples. Cider Donuts. Corn maze. Not exactly a grocery store, but what they have is delightful.
And last but not least, Whole Foods
Sure, they're corporate. Their vegetables are nowhere near as good as the Farmers' Market. But they've started labeling their local foods--they started the week of the challenge, and already had more than Sunflower, even though Sunflower is a local chain. They were the most convenient place for milk, cream, and eggs throughout the week. The cream and eggs, in fact, were my usual cream and eggs because the prices on those two items are just that reasonable.
The most notable thing about an all-local diet, unfortunately, isn't the taste or the ethics. It's that it's freaking expensive. My food budget doubled for the week of the challenge. Admittedly, I had to buy a lot of staples that I normally wouldn't have been purchasing all at once. On the other hand, I got most of my meat for barter, so it probably evens out. If I didn't make a professor's salary, I couldn't have afforded to do this even for a week. The fact that I had the time to cook from scratch in the evenings helped, too. I am not the first person to point out that it really sucks when the average person in this country can't afford a diet healthy either for themselves or those producing it. But, you know, it sucks.