Say What?

Say again? The Cowlitz What?

Locavorian. An information source for locavores, and a personal account of my adventures in finding, preparing and enjoying local food.

A locavore is a person who has made a commitment to eat food from local sources. The level of commitment varies, as does the definition of "local." For this site, I'm using a circle with a 100-mile radius to define local, with the center at the Longview Farmer's Market. I hope to have a Google map available soon.

My own take on the issue looks like this. For food that I buy to prepare at home I will, whenever possible, buy food that is:

Local
Organic
Sustainable
Socially Just

I try to get as many of these factors as possible in the same food item. I can't always get them all. For today, I will just address local and organic (briefly) and save the other issues for another day.

If I can't get local, I will try for regional (Washington, Oregon, and at a stretch Idaho). I will always make exceptions for items such as coffee and tea that can't be grown locally, but I'm trying to replace goodies such as orange juice with equally delicious local options (think strawberries....) and I will wait for produce to be in season. Right now I am waiting eagerly for strawberries and asparagus. I will buy a few berries in the supermarket as soon as the label says "Oregon" instead of California (because I've been waiting so long) but I'll wait until there are truckloads at the farmer's market to buy more.

I didn't buy more eggs today at the supermarket (after using my last two) because I'm planning to get more tomorrow at the farmer's market...I'm working on getting the number I buy local matched evenly with the number I actually use...but if I run out, I'll probably buy organic eggs at the supermarket.

My understanding of organic is flexible as well. I buy from local farmers who tell me that they don't spray pesticides or use herbicides (and I hope that they are also using real organic methods of cultivating, fertilizing, etc.) This is not the government definition. Certified organic farms have to do a lot of paperwork to prove that they are not using chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides. If I could always get certified organic, that would be great. But I accept that the farmers--the people who greet me with a smile at the farmer's market and answer every question I ask--are doing the real work of organic farmers without always doing the paperwork.

Having said all that, I admit that I am talking about the food I buy to cook at home, and that I eat fast food at least as often as I eat at home. I'm working hard at changing that sad fact of my life. Yesterday was breakfast at McDonalds, no lunch (big long busy day involving a trip to Tacoma), and dinner on the road munching on food purchased at the Olympia Food Co-op, followed by a substantial late evening snack.

I liked the Olympia Food Co-op very much...and I was looking specifically for local cheese...and they had a little section in the dairy cooler labeled local so...I forgot to pinch my pennies and...I had been given a little package of smoked salmon earlier in the day...so...

the late evening snack, shared with several friends at a Thursday evening Bible study, was a loaf of whole-grain artisan bread topped with a choice of Organic Valley cream cheese (organic, but at best regional rather than local), Cirrus cheese (a Camembert type cheese) from the Mt. Townsend Creamery, and the smoked salmon from the Muckleshoot tribe.

And breakfast was strips of fresh handmade blue corn tortillas browned in butter and olive oil, then scrambled with eggs and topped with cheese and salsa. And lunch was more of the tortillas fried up as little tostadas and topped with black lentil refritos and a "taco mix" of ground beef, onion and salsa and a little sliver of cheese.

What was local? The eggs, the grass-fed beef, and the cheese, a tangy, earthy Gruyere style cheese called Valentina from the Estrella Family Creamery. My link doesn't go to their cheese page, but their "about us" page...take a look at those happy faces before you look at the cheese.

The blue corn masa that I used to make the tortillas was definitely not local. I think the only way to get local blue corn will be to grow it myself. The salsa was from Trader Joe's and doesn't meet even one of the criteria above (but it was already in my cupboard) and it was delicious, hot with chipotle chilies. The coffee I served with it was from Guse's in Longview. The onions? I'm pretty sure they were both organic and regional (Washington or Oregon) but I don't remember when and where I bought them. The black Beluga lentils were also from the co-op and, while still dry, they really do look just like shiny little black caviar eggs. Cooked, they lose some of their color and look more brown and more like the usual disk shaped lentils. I bought them (and some French green lentils as well) to try them out as candidates for growing in my garden.