eat local

More and more we have been hearing about superfoods and that we should eat more of them. The idea of a superfood may seem over the top, but Julie Morris, in her book Superfood Cuisine, does a magnificent job of explaining the benefits and efficiency of these nutrient-dense foods in an accessible way. Julie is a natural foods chef and healthy life advocate. Some of the foods we already eat (like berries and kale, for example) are considered to be a part of this group and some things, for me at least, I had never really heard of until I dug in...like lucuma powder; its derived from a deliciously sweet South American fruit that is high in beta-carotene, niacin and iron.

Being a student again can be a humbling and invigorating experience. It's a fact that there will always be more to learn. This is true for all subjects and especially for anything food and cooking related....or at least its true for me. There are always new ingredients, techniques, tools and not to mention endless and conflicting information about food politics. Now that I have completely overcomplicated the subject of cooking, let's break it back down.

 A little over a month ago, an op-ed in the New York Times got the online locavore community all worked up. Stephen Budiansky’s “Math Lessons for Locavores” contended that many of the commonly-spouted arguments for eating local are misleading or downright bogus.

The only reasons why I do anything are because it is fun now, it allows things to be fun later, or it ensures that things will continue being fun. Eating? Fun now. Working? Fun later when I eat what I bought with my paycheck. Shoveling the walk? Ensures that when I haul my groceries into the house, I don’t slip, fall, and ruin the fun of eating them.

So, obviously, the main reason why I’d buy local food is because it’s fun in so many ways:

Image Credit: David Joles, Star TribuneI was delighted to find myself quoted in the Star Tribune this morning, in an article entitled: "Making the local food movement accessible." The article, by Hayley Tsukayama, is all about how to eat local food on a student's budget, and includes terrific advice from Lucia Watson from Lucia's, Tracy Singleton from the Birchwood Cafe, and Jennette Turner. Here's an excerpt from the article: