Monday, March 19, 2007

The 100 Mile Diet

Did you know that most produce from North America travels, from farm to plate, a minimum of 1,500 miles? Or that only 20 of the roughly 30,000 plant species grown worldwide provide 90 percent of the world with food? These two startling facts and many more are found on the very interesting and inspiring website.

Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, for one year, ate only food that was gathered within 100 miles (160 km) of where they live. Now they've got the website and a book on the way.




This interests me a lot, as the more I learn about farming and food production, and GMO and pesticides, hormones, blah blah, the less I want to eat.

I am going to start researching our 100 mile part of the world to see what I can come up with . We've been talking for a while now of trying to cut down on how much shopping we do at the big name grocery stores and this might be the perfect incentive.

Our 100 miles.

I've preordered the book from Amazon.ca. I'll tell you more next month when I get the book!

7 comments:

The Glitterati said...

Neat idea! You probably already know this, but Sunterra Market purportedly has a focus on locally-grown & produced food, which may be useful in your quest. That place is actually something I actively miss now that I live in Ontario. I also wish I'd taken advantage of the great farmers' markets!

Anyway, fantastic blog. I found it via Copperpots, which I found looking for roast chicken recipes of all things. Look forward to reading your experiences with the 100 mile diet!

Lis said...

This is probably a stupid question, but how, exactly, do you find out if a food is locally grown/produced? I know a lot of people think that Cleveland's biggest farm market is all about local foods, but I can guarantee that most of the produce is certainly not locally grown.. I've always wondered how I'd go about this.

Peabody said...

Lucky for me I live in a very abuntant region...the Pacific Northwest.

Sara said...

TG - Hi and thanks for stopping by! I always forget about Sunterra, as the closest store to me is the small one on Elbow. I'd much rather live near the big one off Bow Trail!!!! I will have to include them in my list, thanks for the reminder.

Lis - that is not a stupid question at all, and I had planned on talking about that in my post but I forgot. We have a year-round farmers market here and like you, almost all the produce is not local. I was going to take part in an event with a similar concept last year, but when I went to the market, everything was from Ontario or the US! I guess that unless the food is clearly marked, you've got to find someone who works there that is willing to talk to you. I am not looking forward to that part, I am pretty shy.

Peabody - yes, I imgaine you live in the most ideal area. Lucky you!

Anonymous said...

I read about these guys a few months ago, and I think what they're doing is very cool. I'm thinking it would be easiest to do on one of the coasts, though my dear Alberta does have some fabulous food resources.

One of the major staples at the Southern Alberta farmers' markets are the Hutterite booths. All of their foods would be locally grown, but not necessarily available year round. Do they sell in the Calgary markets?

Morgan said...

If you're willing to stretch the distance all the way to the Okanogan, you could actually get fruit this summer... Good luck though. I've though about this and then realized I would have to give up salt and tea and 95% of my spices and citrus and seafood and so let the impulse pass.

I don't know if you saw this article when it came out, but it's a good one about a Calgarian trying to do it for a single meal,
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/artslife/weekendpost/story.html?id=5b2c8c13-d656-4347-8463-a30ab9d47025

Keep us up on how it's going (and where I should be shopping!)

Sara said...

Paige - yes the coast people have a definate advantage. The Hutterites go to the markets in the summer. I am not sure if they are at the year round one here in town.

Morgan - thanks for the article, I hadn't read that before. I would definatly be pulling out my hair on this one, so I think what I will be focusing on is buying as MUCH as possible from farmers markets and smaller stores. If I have to go to Superstore for spices or whatever, so be it.