Getting Started with Local Food

By now, everyone has heard about the 100 mile diet, which took North America by storm a few years ago when Alisa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon decided they were going to live a whole year eating only food grown within 100 miles of their home. Many of us even before this ambitious project recognized the ecological importance of eating food grown locally, but as Smith and MacKinnon found out, it isn't necessarily easy to do.

This is intended a guide for the rest of us, who would like to get more local food in our diets, but are not just sure how to go about it. The first thing to mention is that going cold-turkey from one day to the next is just insane. Even Smith and MacKinnon agree it was extremely difficult to do, and that it is not for everyone. I believe that cold-turkey is the surest route to failure for most people, which is why I am writing this.

Know where it is from, even if it is not local

I want to start out by stating simply that my family still has a long way to go before we are where we want to be with local food. But the biggest step you can make to start yourself along the path, is to be conscious of the food you are eating and where it came from. Most people take food so much for granted that they probably could not tell you what they've eaten in the past week, let alone where it is from. It is like the air we breath. So sit down and take a look. If you are having rice for supper on Tuesday, try to find out where that rice comes from. If you can't find out, then switch to another brand of rice whose origins are easily determined - either from the package or the distributor. Even if it is from half a world away, the fact that you know where it comes from gets you started on the path. What you eventually want to do, is know where most of your food comes from. For starters, you just don't care if it is local or not, as long as you know where it is from.

Once you are conscious of where most of your food comes from, you can start whittling away at it, to find local sources. Remember that we don't want to go cold-turkey because that is a sure-fire path to failure for most people. It is an iterative process - a whole lot of baby steps will eventually add up to one huge leap. Take one item on your food list, and try to find a source of that item that is closer than your current source. Set a goal for yourself that is realistic for you to achieve. For some, this may amount to finding 1 new closer source of a given food item per month. For others it might be 1 per week. Whatever the case, just be sure to make it happen, and to pat yourself on the back when it does. Every little bit counts. The main goal at first is simply being aware of where your food comes from. If you currently eat rice from Japan or India, switch to a brand from Texas.

Ultimately you are going to find food items for which there is no local source - and of course I chose the example of rice for a very good reason, because it requires some very specific growing conditions and its production is concentrated in a few areas around the world. So what do you do if you really love rice? Consider switching to something similar that you can find a more local source for - like millet, for example. In fact, most grains like barley, oats and even wheat can be prepared in much the same way as rice, and are widespread in their cultivation.

Find a Farmer

This sounds almost too obvious to even mention, and for someone living downtown in a big city like we do, it may even sound impossible. But it is not in the least! And once you find a local farmer for just about any food item, it is a foot in the door of your local food network. Because that farmer knows other farmers, and they in turn know yet more. And even downtown in a big city, it is not that difficult to do these days. Community Shared Agriculture is taking off everywhere these days, and probably all you have to do to find a source of a local basket of fresh veggies is to ask around amongst your friends and coworkers. Or search google.

Here in Ottawa I was easily able to find several local sources of both beef and pork simply by asking around in this manner. One of these farmers I've been dealing with now for about 10 years as the main source of our beef. And about 3 years ago he got into pork farming as well so we now source most of our pork through him. And he knows chicken and lamb farmers, and is happy to source us both of these with our beef and pork orders, at no mark-up. Where I do a lot of brewing, I was also interested in a local source of honey, which I easily found by asking around. Now I buy it in bulk at a price that is even cheaper per kg than the best price you'll find at Costco. And it turns out that my beekeeper knows even more beef and pork farmers if I ever want to try another source. Again, prices are even cheaper than the best prices at Costco. And the quality of the local meats that we've been buying is just leaps and bounds above what you can get in the supermarket.

As far as grains goes, we manage to get most of ours - wheat, barley and oats - from a supplier called Mountain Path. They are not grown within 100 miles of Ottawa, but they do come from Southern Ontario about 500km away, and I consider that to be "local" until such a point in time that I can find a source for these items that is even closer still. Step by step. At least I know where these items come from, and it ain't all that far away. It is certainly a lot closer than Saskatchewan. Actually, in the meantime I have found a local source of barley, but so far it is completely unprocessed, which I'm not sure I can use for anything but brewing. But if I keep digging, I may eventually get there.

Most big cities have at least one farmers' market, and that is usually a pretty easy place to find a farmer. Duh. Actually in Ottawa many of the stalls at both the Byward and Parkdale markets are not run by farmers but rather by merchants, but if you ask around you will find a farmer at one of the stalls. And thankfully, this is the first year in Ottawa with the new regulations at the Farmers' Markets, which state that produce sold at them must be sourced locally when in season. We are lucky that the Parkdale Market is right at the end of our street, so it is easy to get fresh local veggies in season. But even if you are not so lucky, a weekly or bi-weekly trip the farmers' market makes a great family outing. We have also signed up with a local CSA and volunteered our driveway as one of the pickup points.

Learn to Preserve

So what do you do in the off-season? This is Canada and we get a few months of snow! What my wife and I do is preserve food. We've been avid home canners for over a decade now, and every year in the fall we go crazy putting down dozens and dozens of jars of local food. Again, this is something you can do in baby steps. In fact, this is the first year that we've managed to get through the entire year on our own tomato products. We also do lots of jams, and veggies like carrots and string beans.

Another easy and fun way to preserve food is by bacterial fermentation - like turning cabbage into sauerkraut! It will keep just fine in a bucket in your basement, as long as you make it properly. Same for dill pickles. Stay tuned to this site for details on how to do it!

Freezing foods is easy to do as well, though we tend to shy away from it for anything but meat mainly because we want to minimize our requirements for freezer space.

This year we made our first attempt with simple root cellaring techniques in our basement.

And of course there are food dehydrators for preserving local fruits and some vegetables. This is an area where we have not yet ventured, though we will probably get a dehydrator this year and make our first baby steps.

But there is no time!

It may seem like we spend our lives doing nothing but preserving food. But this is not the case. First of all, it is both a hobby and a passion, and something that is extremely enjoyable to do. Try it. I think most people would really enjoy it as well. Here in Ottawa we put the offer out to friends every year to come over for a "canning circle", where we get together and put down a bunch of food with friends. My Aikido Sensei comes over every year to make a huge batch of dill pickles, which we split up in the end. We've definitely managed to infect a lot of others with our passion for food!

But if you really think you don't have the time for all of this, here is a quick and easy tip : turn off the damned TV!!! I'll spare you the tirade, but will simply mention that I personally was one of the biggest TV addicts EVAR, from my early childhood up until the birth of our first son 7 years ago. When he was born my wife and I decided to go cold-turkey, and we sold our dish and didn't even bother to try to get over-the-air free channels. And we don't miss it one iota! There are so many other more interesting things to do with the family, and preserving food is one of the most fun!

Wrap It Up

I hope the above has been helpful. The main message is of course that eating locally is not something that most people can do overnight. Take it slowly. Set a reasonable goal for your family, and even if it takes you 5 or 10 years to get there, at least you are making your way in the right direction. Spread the word, and don't be shy to pat yourself on the back in front of friends and family. Don't be smug about your good deeds though - be friendly and inviting, and let them know how easy it is to do.

The planet will thank you for it!