I’m very excited over the new “anti-supermarket” plan I’ve got going, inspired by Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. The idea is to make significant changes by sticking to the concept of buying local vs trucking, relying as much as possible on local farmers and farmer’s markets, reducing my carbon footprint, our reliance on fossil fuels and supporting small farms rather than big Agro. This weekend I stocked up on the always available from local farmers: sour dough bread, hot turkey sausage, hard goat cheese, fresh eggs (from Green Chimney’s farm where I volunteer!) and what’s in season:
- baby beets
- mini cauliflower
- spinach
- gala apples
- blueberries
- fresh corn
- tomatoes
- garlic
That translated into several delicious meals, a lot more out of pocket and several Oh No! moments.
Breakfast was a breeze. Toasted sourdough with jam, cute little turkey sausage patties, tomato & onion omelet one day, eggs over easy on top of sauteed onion and garlic the next.
Oh No! I used olive oil for the sauteing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a farmer’s market.
For dinner the corn came off the cob, steamed slightly then tossed with a little butter, chopped tomato, onion and a bit of left over avocado.
Oh No! Avocado? They don’t grow around here. Enjoy this one I think, it has just become a delicacy and it’s the last taste you’ll have for a while.
Where will I get rice, quinoa or spaghetti? What about my staples, popping corn and Crystal lite iced tea? I can buy whole milk at the market, but I’m lactose intolerant, do they have lactose free milk? Am I saying goodbye to orange juice, citrus in general? Nuts? Not as in am I, because clearly I am, but where the heck do pecans grow, isn’t is somewhere down south? And what about spices? Didn’t Columbus set sail for the West Indies, home of all things savory?
These are not rhetorical questions folks, but the rumblings of a little bit of panic.
Let’s take my good intentions one question further. I bring my own reusable shopping bags, but if I don’t get supermarket plastic bags, what do I wrap my garbage and kitty litter in? I already recycle everything possible and I guess I could compost the edibles, but I live in an apartment and my only plant lives in the bathroom–in mortal fear of the cat (who recently switched to biodegradable ground corn clumping litter, and while it’s not local, it is a lot better for everyone involved).
Suddenly, food has more value on many levels. I get three pounds of blueberries for just over $5 at Costco and mixed greens just about anywhere for about $5/lb. At the market that same $5 gets me a pint of blueberries and a half of a pound of spinach (the mixed greens, an inconceiveable $16/lb). My Costco thinking had always been, sure, this plastic package of tomatoes could be reused to store all my summer clothes when it’s empty and there is no way I, as a single person, can use all of those tomatoes before they go bad, but at this price, who cares?
Well, now I care. More accurately, now I’m aware. Aware of how much food I wasted and how cavalierly I was willing to do that, tossing slightly wrinkled grape tomatoes without thinking. Am I not the girl who funnels her Christmas money to Heifer International ? The girl marched twenty miles in 1970 to raise money for the farm workers? Well, yes, but there should be some middle ground between $16/lb greens and food so cheap I can afford to let it go bad. My brother-friend Mark says that middle ground is called Whole Foods, where I can buy greens from local Long Island farms for less. We’re taking a Whole Foods field trip next week.
My mother worries. She says my timing is terrible, what with being newly unemployed and then choosing a lifestyle change that on the outside seems like it will cost me more money and deprive me of things I love (avocados…mmmmm). She wonders if I would be “allowed” to eat avocados if someone else brought them into my house? It’s a mother’s job to worry and in all capacities, but that one in particular, she is a most excellent mother. I assure her I will not go hungry, live in the streets or wind up eating from the organic refuse outside of Angelica’s Kitchen. I expect she’ll happen by with a extra three pounds of blueberries at some point. There will be blueberry muffins for everyone that week.
My timing may not be convenient or well planned, but I believe you do the right things simply because they are the right things and that good intentions do not go unnoticed by the universe. I have a lot of confidence in the universe.
Is there a food co-op you can join? Or a CSA? “my” co-op is fabulous and generally cheaper than Whole Food-they also have a more strict definition of local,sustainable and organic. Whole Foods advertises a bit better game than they really play(I know a number of employees and the advertising tricks). Olive oil brought over in tankers from Italy or Greece is a better choice(carbon speaking) than oils from California. Eat seasonally if you can’t eat locally. Splenda is not only bad for you-it’s production is an environmental nightmare. Have you tried Stevia or Aloe Vera? Even minimally processed cane or beet sugar is better than Splenda!
The back cover of The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters is a good focus.
Consider moving to NC where the climate is great for growing a wide variety(nearly year round) and the state is very supportive of the back to the farm/slow food/local and sustainable production.
You keep trying to get me to move down there Juels! Sandy recommended Alice Waters as well and the food co-op is a good idea. The CSAs give me too much of things I don’t like and more than I can possibly eat in a week. I guested at a friends this past summer and did get turned on to some delicious stuff I hadn’t tried before (garlic scapes, yum). But you will have to pry the Splenda, along with the Trident Bubblegum, from my cold, dead fingers. Thanks for the support!
I’ma try to copy you. Kay?
@Eliza – Kay. Totes Kay. Today’s breakfast: blueberries and chunked apples over lactose free cottage cheese, sprinkled with delicious Bakery on Main’s gluten free granola. And tea. Yummy. Tomorrow? Very exciting trip to Union Square to see what’s around…
Baby steps dear, take baby steps- try Fairway instead of Whole Foods. They have a very nice organic and vegan section to the market (some yummy BBQ and sweet/sour tofu- I think the brand is Karen’s Sisters). Right now there’s a boycott of Whole Foods underway b/c of the remarks by their jackass CEO- he feels that health care is a privelage not a right and instead of providing coverage for people, why they should just eat better! As if the person who can’t afford healthcare coverage can afford to shop at Whole Foods! (they re-label a lot of stuff too to sell under their name- no telling how far it was trucked in) BTW olive oil and eggs? surely you’ve dated an Italian man who loved his scrambled eggs in olive oil? Or pepper and egg sandwiches – yum! Just remember in all this- BABY STEPS
oh yea, I know you live in an apt but if you can squeeze in a 5 cu ft freezer- do so! blueberries freeze perfectly, strip the corn off the cobb, make peach pie filling and freeze w/o the crust- you get the idea. then inJan/Feb when it’s really dismal around town you can make a fresh berry pie, sautee the corn or make a soup out of all the veggies you’ve frozen. If you’re really adventurous, whip up some sauce from those plum tomotoes and freeze that into small portions- bon appetit!
Lisa – yes, olive oil for eggs is fine, but, but, but, where does one find local olive oil is more the question. I’m actually very excited about this project. It’s fun and keeps me much more in the moment.
no oil is local unless you have your own press. Even corn oil or soybean oil is not produced locally. so don’t stress over the olive oil. If you want something local, then butter it is!
Just about every grocery store relabels food to their own brand. Don't shop Whole Foods anyway!
Whole Foods is apparently not very popular with this crowd. How come? I'm craving greens, but I'll wait until Wednesday and hit the Farmers Market.
all i know is that i love this line: ' I have a lot of confidence in the universe'. that made me feel good and now i am going to bed. you really rock onlythejodi.