Fondy Food Center,Outpost Natural Foods, Slow Food Wisconsin Southeast, the Urban Ecology Centerand Westown Association have joined forces to organize the Eat Local Challenge,which encourages Milwaukee-area residents to eat locally for the first twoweeks of the month, Sept. 1-14.
The first question athand: What is local? The answer: There isn’t a standard definition for local.Joan Dye Gussow, a nutritionist and 81-year-old matriarch of the eat-locally,think-globally food movement defines local in her 2001 memoir, This Organic Life, as “within a day'sleisurely drive of our homes.” Others, such as Plenty authors Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, committed to a fullyear of eating only foods grown within 100 miles of their residence. Stillothers get their food from within 100 feet of their doorstep. What’s great aboutMilwaukee’s Eat Local Challenge is that it allows a participant to define everyaspect of his or her challenge.
“The Eat Local Challengeis just to get people to be more conscious about what they’re eating and whereit’s coming from,” explains Jamie Ferschinger,community program coordinator for the Urban Ecology Center. “It’s reallyeasy to go into a grocery store, pick something off the shelf and just notthink about everything that happened prior to that. Is it coming fromArgentina? Is it coming from New York? Or is it coming from somebody who is inthe same community as we are? Each one of those choices has a suite ofcircumstances that comes with it. I think it’s really important right now tostart thinking about the re-localization of our food system.”
Advocates (akalocavores) choose to eat locally for a number of reasons, but four main pointsare driving the movement: concern about the planet; concern about personalhealth; the importance of investing in local economies; and the taste of freshfood.
Food often travels agreat distance from farm to table. Between rising fuel costs and thecontribution that transportation is making to global climate change, there is agrowing number of people who no longer find eating cherries or tomatoes year-roundto be worth the environmental disadvantages. Instead, locavores adjust theirmenus to what is in-season and purchase whatever’s available at local farmers’markets.
Many Americans arecurrently learning painful lessons about food safety. The faceless producers ona distant factory farm lack the transparency that can be found by simplybuilding a relationshipand trustwith local farmers and stores. Wondering ifsynthetic chemicals are used on that produce, or if those eggs are free-range?Ask the producer next time you see her at the farmers’ market, or visit yourCSA (community-supported agriculture) farm.
Studies have shown thatwhen we buy from local producers rather than nationally owned businesses,significantly more of that money is used to make purchases from other localbusinesses and farms, maintaining or strengthening the economic base of thatlocale. It’s really quite simple: We keep a farmer in business, and the farmerkeeps us fed. The ease and sustainability of that basic exchange often makesmore sense than gambling on an unknown agricultural corporation a thousandmiles away.
“I think once people trylocal, especially produce, they’ll appreciate that flavor and taste,” says Lisa Kingery, M.S., R.D., food and nutritionprogram director at Fondy Food Center. “That alone will be enough tomotivate them.” That Red Delicious apple grown by a local farmer and neverrefrigerated will retain more of its delectable flavor than one shipped in afrigid cargo hold from China. Plus, local farmers often cultivate produce andlivestock that are bred for flavor and suitability to our region, rather thanfor uniformity and ability to travel.
Milwaukee’s Eat LocalChallenge features various activities and resources throughout the first twoweeks of September, including a kickoff celebration at the Westown Farmer’sMarket, a Friends of Real Food dinner, an Eat Local book club through BoswellBook Co., and a local food festival at the Fondy Farmers Market.
For more information, visitwww.eatlocalmilwaukee.org.
