Whole Foods, not so heaven-like

Ah, the challenge. Eat local or die. Ok, maybe not that harsh.

So I went out to stock-up for the month, by visiting my local Whole Foods. It claims to be the organic capital of stores, which I think it does a pretty good job. However, organic from California, Brazil or Holland, doesn't seem like an eco-friendly thing. How much energy was wasted to import or transport those items...my gosh. What happened to local.

Cheese Section:
Me: Um, excuse me. I'm trying to find a locally produced cheese?
WFworker: From where?
Me: um, like Maryland or Virginia, close...
WFworker: Sorry, we have a Cheddar from New York, everything else is from Wisconsin.
Me: Really, nothing closer than New York?

So I bought New York cheddar.....

Bread Section:
Me: Um, hi, I was looking for a bread that was made with local products.
WFworker: mute...points to a rack of bread
Me: (thinking) all these breads are from Texas....
so I move to the next WFperson behind the counter.
Me: Hi, do you have any Maryland product produced bread?
WFworker: what is that?
Me: I'm part of a month long challenge to buy local and eat local, so I want sandwichs for lunch and need local bread.
WFworker: You might try a local bakery. All our bread are produced from WF products, not sure where they come from.
Me: I look up at the sign, hanging above her head that reads...Bakery, and say "Thank you".

So much for a local grilled cheese sandwich.

Lessons learned from participating in my first Buy Local Challenge:

- Vanilla yogurt (with local fruit) is the single greatest breakfast ever.

- It's possible to actually look forward to eating salad.

- Spinach doesn't keep overnight in a tupperware container.

- $20 can buy a whole lotta food.

- I need a bigger garbage can.

- You can buy not just fruits and vegetables, but also dairy, meat, and even toiletries, at farmer's markets.

- Farmer's markets are also a great place to hang out if you like people-watching or adore cute babies/children/animals.

- Size really doesn't matter after all, and local trumps organic when it comes to taste. (Case in point: those huge "organic raspberries" I bought from Whole Foods. They looked huge and appetizing, but have half the taste of the farmer's market raspberries I've been eating.)

- It's what you eat, not how much you eat, that determines:
- how hungry you are;
- how much weight you lose (6 pounds, thanks very much!);
- how much energy you have; and
- how good you feel about yourself.

~Jen

Jane Goes to Eastern Market: August 30

Went to Eastern Market on Saturday. Not much of a field trip, since my husband or I go there each week to buy home made bread, cheese from the surly cheese guy, fresh vegetables from various vendors and meat from a butcher—the kind who will take the bones out of your meat, slice off the fat—or give you some fat back for your brisket.

In the summer months there are an abundance of farmers or produce hawkers who buy straight from the farmers. The mustached man on the corner has an outdoor tent above his produce—and usually a big line. I like his area because all the produce is marked with its name and where it’s from, so I don’t have to bug him constantly asking where some item is from. I bought potatoes and onions from Pennsylvania, eggplant from Maryland and peaches from West Virginia.

It’s interesting to watch the “tourists” who visit Eastern Market gawk at the food and happenings. Although the produce from the outside table vendors is usually cheaper than the stands inside, I see many people go inside for produce. I think people are somehow wary of the outside vendors. As if, since they don’t have a real booth, they’re not legitimate—but really they are more so. If anything, the outside vendors usually are closer to the people who grow it—either they grew it themselves or bought it straight from the farmer around the DC region. I wonder if they’re not so ingrained in purchasing produce from grocery stores that it’s more natural for them to go inside.

This Saturday at the mustached man’s area, I was surprised to see a sign above a bunch of tomatoes that said, “As seen on TV.”

“As seen on TV,” is a tagline I equate with goofy products no one needs, yet tomatoes—fresh, red, ripe tomatoes—where would we be without them? Mozzarella would be lonely and a BLT sandwich would be…well, just a BL.

Unfortunately I forgot to ask the mustached man about them. Do they have their own reality show? Was this just a ploy to get the tourists to purchase them? We’ll have to wait to find out on another weekend.

A little bit of home every Sunday

I am grateful that I was introduced to the Dupont Farmer’s Market while participating in the Buy Local Challenge two years ago. I thought that I would have to fly to Michigan if I ever wanted to be reminded of my grandparents' perfectly kept garden with ripe tomatoes, fresh corn, and melon. Even though there is still pavement under my feet and the usual big crowd, there is still a little bit of home at the Dupont Farmer’s Market.

I can’t wait to go this Sunday and discover what will be available. ~Scott

Inquiring Challengers Want To Know

Bought yummy locally grown corn at the Giant. It was advertised and labeled as such…Easy, right? We’ve had it four times this summer already. When I asked the “grocer” (AKA person putting the broccoli out) what else they had in the produce department that was “local,” she looked at me like I had three heads.

Never mind.

Next stop: organic grocery store on Capitol Hill. This will be cake. How can you sell organic and not be excited about locally grown food? Bought some yummy vanilla yogurt (organic, of course). Had an un-fruitful (pun intended) conversation with the check out person…

Me: is any of your produce grown locally?
Cashier: [pause, looking randomly about]
Me: Is any of your produce from PA, WV, VA, MD?
Cashier: Well what produce do you want to know specifically about?
Me: [Thinking, ‘Wise guy, huh?’] How about your peaches?
Cashier: No, I don’t think so.
Me: Broccoli? [This was not going well.]
Cashier. Nah, not that.
Me: Celery? [Okay, I confess, I’ve never seen celery grow—I have no idea where it’s even from. I was panicked. I thought she’d just KNOW what was local and I’d buy it.]
Cashier: We sometimes have local produce.
Me: [Thinking, ‘Is this some kind of game?’]: Okay, how about you tell me what you think IS local?
Cashier: Bing cherries.

I could be wrong, but I’m not sure cherries really are grown locally. Then again, what do I know? ~Jane

Tonight we’re trying out heirloom tomatoes…

This is the third year that I’ve taken the challenge, and I can’t believe how much my life has changed in that time. I, along with most of my generation, grew up in the era of convenience foods. Microwaves and one-dish meals were staples of a busy household. I lived across the road from some of the most beautiful farms in western PA, but I had no idea that I wasn’t eating crops from those farms when I went to my local grocery store.

Teaching myself to ask questions about food and changing the way I cook and eat has been difficult but really exciting. I love that my husband and I now sit down together to watch cooking shows that help us come up with ideas for quick, creative meals. I love the taste of simple foods, like quesadillas with farm-fresh cheese or tomato-cucumber salad made from local ingredients. I love shopping together for fresh corn, cutting it off the cob, freezing it and enjoying the taste all winter. For most of my life, I thought any corn that wasn’t eaten on the cob had to come out of a can.

My experiences are helping to inform my friends and family. They’re now asking for recipes and farmers’ market info. The very best part is watching my daughter get excited at the farmer’s market. She runs from vendor to vendor with a plastic bag, picking out what she wants to eat the next week. Local, fresh food is normal to her. Healthy eating is just what she does. I couldn’t ask for a better result than that.

Each new year of this challenge helps reaffirm my commitment to this type of eating—a commitment that was borne out of a love for these issues and is sustained out of a love for healthy, good-tasting food. Tonight we’re trying out heirloom tomatoes… ~Brenda

GUEST BLOGGER: Suburban Shortage of Local Foods

I have been involved with Farm Aid for the last 15 years as their auditor. During that time, I have become educated about what is healthy food. However, I live in the suburbs of Boston, MA where local, organic, or family farmed food is not so readily available. The only organic food I can ever remember eating was at a Farm Aid concert. In recent years, I have been able to buy organic since Whole Foods Market finally moved to town. I always go out of my way to drive to the country for fresh corn; there is nothing quite like it.

So you can imagine how excited I was to read in my local newspaper that a Farmers Market was going to open every Thursday right in my home town of Chelmsford, MA. I drive right by it on my way home from work. Last night, I finally made my first stop. There were only two farms represented but I know I witnessed more booths on other Thursdays as I drove by.

Did the farms not return because of lack of produce or because people weren't interested? The first booth was from an organic farm. I purchased something I amfamiliar with and know I will eat; green beans. I wanted to spread the whole $5 that I spent between both farms, so I proceeded to the next booth. This was not an organic farm but was working towards becoming one. The farm is farmed by a mix of different ethnic farmers so there were vegetables available that I had never seen before. The farmer introduced me to a new local ingredient: Asian eggplant. It is the size of a tennis ball and green. She told me that it had the consistency of an eggplant but the taste of a zucchini. She gave me lots of ideas how to cook it and then invited me back next Thursday to share my dining experience with her.

I haven't eaten my purchases yet but know that I am in store for a treat. Now that I have made my first farmer's market purchase, which didn't disrupt my routine, I will be stopping every Thursday. I also learned about a farm not too far away that is certified organic and sells CSA shares where I can purchase weekly or monthly produce from the farm in predetermined quantities. I am going to investigate how to get involved. I'll let you know how it works out.
~Debbie Dobbins, CPA, mother, famer's market frequenter

I’m a person who likes to eat.

One look at me, and you know I’m a person who likes to eat. A lot. So Kim and I were a little concerned that we would have to forego our hearty red meat, potatoes, fry or die ways. Not so! For our first Buy Local meal, at which we hosted our long-time friend Rosemary, Kim concocted a tomato-cucumber-onion in vinegar salad — all local (right down to the White House Vinegar from Winchester, Va.); local corn on the cob; locally baked French bread; and crab cakes made with local Chesapeake Bay crab meat. (The recipe called for back fin, but at $30 a pound; we opted for the $15 a pound claw — trust me, Rosemary’s a good friend, but not worth $30 a pound.) Anyway, the crab cakes were just as good as Clyde’s, Johnny’s Half Shell or Kinkead’s, and Rosemary was impressed.

For our next Buy Local meal, we did BLTs. Yes, Virginia, you can buy local, free-range bacon from Virginia at the Court House Farmers’ Market on Saturdays. Local tomatoes were easy to find (we bought the orange ones — sweeter than the red), as was local bakery bread. But local lettuce? No dice. And bacon-lettuce-kale sandwiches just didn’t have the same appeal, so we had to cheat at Safeway. Our side dish was local cantaloupe. Very good, but we both kind of preferred the nitrite-laden Oscar Mayer bacon.

But the BEST was last Saturday. With a day of rain in store, what else to do but cook? And what to cook but something hearty? So I headed out to the Court House Farmers’ Market, where I picked up 3 lbs. of free range beef stew meat, 1-1/2 pounds of baby sweet yellow onions and some fresh garlic — all of which went into a Belgian stew with some fresh herbs from our herb garden, some beef broth and two bottles of beer. I served it with sliced heirloom tomatoes (from the farmers market) on the side, along with some of the leftover local French bread we had frozen two weeks earlier. Kim was stunned that I cooked, and it was the perfect dish for a rainy day (it takes about two hours to prep and another three hours to cook). So what’s the moral to my blog? Buying local doesn’t mean you have to give up the food you love! ~Richard

The eggplant was gorgeous.

Wednesday, I took off from work a little earlier than usual to visit the Clarendon metro farmer’s market that takes place on the green until 7:00 PM in the summer. I was in search of corn and peppers for a specific recipe, but was sidetracked by some fresh eggplant that caught my eye.

The eggplant was gorgeous. Firm, but not hard. Shiny and fresh, but not waxy. I’ve never seen eggplant like this in the grocery store. As I was taking it all in, the farmer selling the eggplant asked me how I most often prepared the vegetable. I told him that I tend to slice it lengthwise, brush it with olive oil and lemon, salt and pepper, and throw it on the grill. He told me to try rolling it in cornmeal and a little egg before putting it on the grill, and to come back to tell him if I’d liked it. I was amazed. This old farmer was so proud of what he’d grown, he wanted to be sure I enjoyed it to its fullest flavor. I bought the eggplant, smiled the whole way home, and thought of him as I threw it on the grill. I didn’t have any cornmeal at home, but next time I see an eggplant, I’ll think of his suggestion for sure.

And by the way, this eggplant was the best I’ve ever eaten, full of flavor and freshness. All for a whopping fifty cents. ~Brandi

Brooke's Fresh Jersey Corn and Tomatoes

This past weekend, while driving on Route 40 E back to D.C. from the Jersey shore, we stopped at a roadside stand for some corn and tomatoes. Last night, we made this recipe which I tore out from a recent Real Simple magazine and it was so good it transcended time.

Every summer, for 27 years, I've journeyed to the Jersey shore. When I was kid, we'd stay sometimes as long as three weeks with my entire maternal extended family--25 of us in all. Each afternoon, as my brother and I lounged around reading Choose Your Own Adventure books while recouperating from long hours of sand, sun, and waves, the produce truck would go by and the Jimmy Stewart voice would sound through the bullhorn : "Freeeesh Fruuuits and Vegetables! Jeeeeersey Corn and Tomatoes!" That sound is tatooed on my brain right next to images of cheap white paper plates on brown wicker chargers, lime green corn stickers, my grandma stirring a boiling stockpot of water, and the smiling, happy faces of my family chomping on corn on the cob around a dining room table with the windows open and sea breezes seeping in through the screens. And every August, on this day, we'd finish dinner by celebrating my mom's 29th birthday--again!--but that's a whole other story.

corn, avocado, and tomato salad
Place 2 cups cooked corn in a large bowl. Add 1 diced avocado (1/2-inch pieces), 1 pint halved cherry tomatoes, and 1/2 cup finely diced red onion. In a separate bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, 1/2 teaspoon lime zest, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Stir the vinaigrette into the salad and serve. Serves 4 to 6.

Erin, I live within spitting distance

from one of the finest farmer’s markets in the area. And I am ashamed to say that I rarely take advantage of it’s close proximity. Since the Buy Local Challenge started, I have been to the DuPont Farmer’s Market twice and each time I go I think to myself, “Now, was that so difficult?” I can safely say that if it weren’t for the BLC, I probably wouldn’t have made it this summer at all. Which led to this train of thought…

For me, there is a deeper aspect to this challenge than deciding on my groceries. I consider this a challenge to DO SOMETHING. I am not a doer. I’m a dreamer. I’m a talker and a thinker…but I have to kick myself to DO ANYTHING. So this is a big step for me because to commit to buying local, you have to do a lot. You have to GO to the farmer’s market instead of the Safeway up the street (both are the same distance from my door, where is the logic?!?). You have WASH the food instead of tearing open a plastic bag of frozen veggies. You have LOOK for recipes instead of finding the appropriate dipping sauce for the frozen chicken tenders you just bought. You have to COOK the food instead of ordering Chinese. You have to PRIORITIZE your life instead of letting fresh food go bad in lieu of happy hour ½ price burgers and $.25 chicken wings. But I think most importantly you have to TELL people about what you’re doing and how it’s affecting your life, your eating habits, your wallet, everything.