Sunday, July 29, 2007

oh, what's going on...

localvore challenge.

Three households. 30 days. Eating only things that are 90% local (i.e. grown within 250 miles). Two exemptions per household. 7 meal exemptions (eating out or such).

Household 1 - Hungry House - is in Brooklyn, NY with four hungry people. Two little monsters. And two grown ups. The house is exempting - grown ups get to eat nuts and cereal. Monsters get dried fruits and cereal.

Household 2 - Endicott - is in Endicott, NY with a gal returning home to bring the message of local, organic and natural to the tri-cities. Endicott is exempting bread and cereal.

Household 3 - Hippytown Hero - is in San Francisco, CA with a guy laying down the law. H'town Hero is exempting bread and cereal.


Why are we doing this?
I could say but James and Alisa describe it better here.

It all begins on August 6th.

the kids are not alright...

Anyone still doubting that America has a childhood obesity problem? You can look atcharts or just spend an afternoon at any major US Amusement Park. We went to Sesame Place. Amazing.

I was amazed at how many obese children were at the park. More amazingly, the parents feeding them lollipops, chips, soda and ice cream astonished me.

I don't pretend that our little localvore challenge will change all these habits. Hopefully, someone will read about efforts like ours and others and maybe give it a little thought.

I'll quote the recently-made famous author Michael Pollan, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Sounds simple enough. If that's not simple enough, he lists a few rules to eat by.
1) Eat food. Don't eat anything that your great-grandmother (or someone's great grandmother) would not recognize as food.
2) Avoid food products with health claims.
3) Avoid food products with ingredients you cannot pronounce. Avoid high-fructose corn syrup.
4) Get out of the supermarket.
5) Pay more, eat less.
6) Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks. Pick a culture and eat like them.
7) Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
8) Cook.
9) Eat like an omnivore - a varied diet.