How much local should we aim for?
Barbara Kingsolver describes in her captivating book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle how her family went nearly 100% local for a year. Here in North Carolina, there’s a movement to get everyone to go just 10% local. The shift helps community farms thrive, making fresh, healthy food more available and affordable. It keeps your family safer, too, by supporting a more diverse food system, which helps minimize the damage that can be caused by accidents, greed, and terrorist attacks. Your food uses less oil to get to you, reducing pollution and your carbon footprint.
My Taster and I are taking the Cook for Good plan local in July to see what percentage of our food dollars are spent locally, without having a farm like Kingsolver. Half-way through July, we’ve spent 75% on local ingredients, including costs of eating at two local restaurants. Taking out the restaurants puts us at a whopping 84% local. And that’s with treats like the chocolate-covered cherries from who-knows-where at my local gourmet store. It’s easy and oh so delicious if you just cook seasonal food from scratch.
Tomorrow, find out how to improve your recipes to meet your goals, whether that’s going more local, being easier, or just tasting better.
Today’s recipe is Summer Black Beans with Tomatoes and Corn
