the chicken dinner

each night after blessing the dinner at our house, we celebrate what's local on our plate, ("local" = within 100 miles from our house).  during the summer of 2008, i read a few different books about food, including michael pollan's omnivore's dilemma and barbara kingsolver's animal, vegetable, miracle.  these texts were added to a list of books that truly influenced the way i lived my life.  (i passed it along to james, and local foods became the focal point of his grants and research - his life was changed, too!)  this change in me uncoincidentally coincided with the summer we were introducing solid foods to our first child, samuel.  it made me think a lot more about the foods we put on the table and sent through our bodies.  i slowly began to seek out as many foods i could find that were local.  last night, we were able to eat local chicken, broccoli, and potatoes - it was a great night! 

i mentioned in my last post that i link local foods to justice.  in my opinion, i think that food should cost more in the US, but we should also gain increased quality in paying more.  it seems more just to me to pay a fair price to a local farmer for produce grown in my region.  the alternative is that i buy tomatoes that are cheaper but have possibly come from a farm in mexico where workers are not fairly compensated and the people surrounding the farm struggle to afford food themselves because of its rising price.  meanwhile, farmers in the united states use millions of acres of farm land to grow corn and soy beans.  we then feed these two crops - grown in excess - to animals or convert them into something the fast food industry passes off as food and sends through our bodies to the detriment of individual and public health.  this then affects our health care costs and public well-being.  but farmers have little choice but to grow the commodity crops in order to earn a fair wage because they can't make enough money growing fruits and vegetables.  therefore, we the rich nation eat the food produced by poorer nations, while we use our own land to fuel things like fast food.  it's a broken system.  i am so impressed by farmers who are willing to take the financial risk and personal sacrifice to provide food to their own community.  so when we can, i like to do our best to support them. 

like i said in my last post, i'm certainly not a purist in this.  a few nights ago we had this fantastic cajun jambalaya with sausage, beans, and rice.  not a thing was local, but it sure tasted great!   but i try to make little changes.  my parents' church organizes a csa (community supported agriculture) in their congregation.  i think this is such a cool thing to do.  although the cost is usually more than you would pay for non-organic produce in the grocery, i see it as a great investment in an crucial bigger picture.

local foods....en esto creo.