Locavore Experiments

I've been rereading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a book that makes me want to run away to some rural place with good soil where I can grow all of my own food too. At the very least, I should start eating more fruit and vegetables. It's the end of summer, after all. Nature's bounty should surround me.

I'm craving those roadside stands that exist all over the rural roads of South Carolina, where you can pick up a basket of peaches or tomatoes that were grown just over the fence. I don't really crave a pick your own experience, at least not in this hot, humid weather.

So, I've been going to some of our local farmer's market. Now, by local, I don't mean that I get food grown locally. In the last five years, many of the few, remaining empty fields in South Florida have been used to grow condo complexes, not food. So, I go to these farmer's markets, and essentially I get the same produce that I'd find in a grocery store.

Is it cheaper? Maybe. Better quality? Maybe. Is my carbon footprint reduced? No.

But still, it's been nice to snack on cucumbers and cantaloupe this week. This week-end, I plan to grill eggplants and peppers; I have a hankering for Baba Ghanouj. I'll need pita bread--there's a great Middle Eastern store that sells pita and the most piquant feta cheese I've ever eaten. Maybe this week, I'll give up my locavore quest and frequent food markets that feature foods from far away.