How would you feel eating only foods from within 100 miles of your home?
Coined by a Bay Area group, the term "locavore" refers to people who only eat food grown, processed and produced within a 100 mile radius of where they live.
Whether you call yourself a locavore or say that you are on the 100 Mile Diet, the concept of truly eating locally is starting to catch interest. Already gone organic but wish you could do more? You might want to give this concept a try!
Eating Local Guide
What Is "Local Food?"
Farmers' market]]
Local food (also regional food or food patriotism) or the local food movement is a "collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies - one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution, and consumption is integrated to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of a particular place"Feenstra, G. (2002) Creating space for sustainable food systems: lessons from the field. Agriculture and Human Values. 19(2). 99-106. and is considered to be a part of the broader sustainability movement. It is part of the concept of
local purchasing and local economies, a preference to buy locally produced goods and services. Those who prefer to eat locally grown/produced food sometimes call themselves locavores or localvores.Roosevelt, M. (2006) The Lure of the 100-Mile Diet. Time Magazine. Sunday June 11, 2006. Accessed at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200783,00.html on Nov 1, 2007 at 10:35 am PDT).
Learn More About Eating Locally
articles about locavorism and eating locally
Did you know that most food has to travel about 1,500 from production location to consumer? That's a lot of fuel consumed to move it and a fair amount of pollution along the way. Being a locavore can help lessen dependency on fossil fuels and cut down on that pollution. By supporting regional food production, many more varieties of fruits and vegetables are preserved and cultivated, which contributes towards saving the planet's biodiversity too.
- 'Locavores' Dine on Regional Chow -
- Local, sustainable eating is a noble cause. As advocates like Alice Waters and Michael Pollan have labored to make clear, it's good for both eater and eaten, not to mention the economy and the planet. The 100-mile diet is perhaps the quickest and cleverest way to build awareness of food miles, and the pleasures and challenges of local "foodsheds."
- The Lure of the 100-Mile Diet | TIME
- If you live in the town of Athens in southeastern Ohio, there are politically correct reasons not to eat a California strawberry. Think of the pollution and the global warming caused by its transport....
- Locavores and 100 Mile Dieters: Sustainable, organic, local, ethical food movement
- Eating locally is gaining converts and making me crazy. Why do we take a good idea and push it to illogical extremes? Eat only from a 100 mile radius? Seriously?
- ENVIRONMENT IN FOCUS / Diet for a sustainable planet / The challenge: Eat locally for a month (You can start practicing now)
- Diet for a sustainable planet, The challenge: Eat locally for a month (You can start practicing now) Olivia Wu, Chronicle Staff Writer, Wednesday, June 1, 2005
- 100 Mile Diet: Local Eating for Global Change
- When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically traveled at least 1,500 miles from farm to plate.
- Living on the 100-Mile Diet :: Life :: thetyee.ca
- thetyee.ca, British Columbia's online source for News, Views, and Culture, published weekdays.
- Time to Become a "Locavore"
- Time to Become a "Locavore" Published on Monday, October 9, 2006 by the Seattle Times (Washington)
- How to Eat Like a Locavore | Food & Wine
- A new group of cooks is taking the "eat local" dictum to an extreme: They'll only buy ingredients produced within a 100-mile radius.
- How to Be a Locavore / The Pennywise Eat Local Challenge, April 23-29
- Read how a Bay Area locavore challenge was for three households.
- Food Trends: Don't Just Eat Organic, Eat Local
- For a growing number of food purists, eating organic is no longer enough. These days, eating locally grown food is just as important.
- Become a locavore: Top reasons for eating locally grown food
- One key strategy to eating nutritionally sound produce is to make sure it is grown locally. When you shop at a farmer's market or pick-your-own farm, you're rewarded by some of the best-tasting fruits and vegetables Mother Nature has to offer.
Seasonal Eating
One tip for helping to become a locavore is to learn to eat seasonally. This means only eating food when it is fresh and in season, and giving it up for those times of the year when it's not locally available.
Locavore Books
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
Amazon Price: $17.79 (as of 11/10/2009) ![]()
List Price: $26.95
Usually ships in 24 hours
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Amazon Price: $16.98 (as of 11/10/2009) ![]()
List Price: $26.95
Usually ships in 24 hours
Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods
Amazon Price: $11.96 (as of 11/10/2009) ![]()
List Price: $15.95
Usually ships in 24 hours
The Latest Locavore Blogs
- Locavore Northwest: My family is eating well
- My family is eating well. My 2-year-old twins are far from identical, and over the last few weeks I've learned that even their palates are incredibly different. Turns out that one of them loves chanterelles, cayenne pepper and goat brie ...
- Trav Trivia: Volume 5, Number 30
- Should we join the locavore movement, eating food that is locally produced, not moved long distances to market? There is a movement to grow your own chickens in suburban back yards which has taken hold in places like Austin, Texas, ...
- Martha Stewart is a Temperist
- A bunch of Kraft Singles eating culinary heathens? Come on Martha. Get with it. Why wouldn't cheese be made in Florida? Of course artisan cheese is made in Florida and while Martha Stewart may be shocked to hear this, I think South ...
- No climate for a change treaty | The Stump - - OregonLive.com
- For example, they say the "locavore" movement -- people eating locally grown foods from small farms -- actually increases greenhouse gas emissions. They cite research showing that only 11 percent of such emissions associated with food ...
Join The Cow Pool!
If you want to have fresh milk and meat, consider buying into partial ownership of a cow at a local farm. This practice is called "cow pooling" and can also be done with pigs. Check to see if any organic farms in your area offer this great option.
Local Eating Groups
Please email me if you have a group in your area that I don't have listed here!
- Locavores
- Join the Locavores in a celebration of our local food cornucopia -- eat locally this August! - SF/Bay Area
- Welcome to Eat Local
- Eat Local is a new food concept offering chef-prepared organic and wholesome meals, gourmet in preparation and frozen for convenience.
- 100 Mile Diet: Local Eating for Global Change
- When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically traveled at least 1,500 miles from farm to plate.
- www.eatlocalchallenge.com
- www.eatlocalchallenge.com is a group blog on local eating
- Do the 100 mile diet on 43 Things
- Join other people who want to do the 100 mile diet
- Local food | Soil Association producer services
- Organic food, organic farming: Soil Association is campaigning for organic food, organic farming and sustainable forestry.
- Regional Food Online
- Local eating in Australia
- The Food Project: Blast Youth Initiative
- Eat In, Act Out Week is an annual event to encourage communities to eat locally and think critically about their food choices
- Upper Valley Localvores
- Upper Valley Localvores is a unincorporated community group formed to support and celebrate eating food from our region: New Hampshire and Vermont, specifically along the Connecticut River.
- MAD RIVER VALLEY Localvore Project
- Eat Locally - Spice Globally!
- Food and Faith: How to be a locavore
- Thirteen plant foods can be grown successfully anywhere in the continental United States. These can be eaten locally and in season without needing to import them from afar.
- How To Be a Yelp Locavore - Washington DC
- If challenged to consume only food grown or harvested within 100 miles of your 'hood, could you do it? Should you do it? What would compel you even to try and be a locavore - concern for the environment, support of local farmers, the promise of fresher food or possible protection from bioterrorism?
Start Your Own Garden!
Growing your own vegetables can be a rewarding and cost-effective way of getting local and organic produce. Learn more about container and backyard gardening.
Join The Eat Local Challenges
news articles on local eating
- Everybody wins the Eat Local Challenge
- Almost a quarter of the people who participated in the PEC's Eat Local Challenge this fall actually got a prize?that's 27 lucky winners taking home Dr. Ho's ...
- Summit explores local food
- Laberge said he is excited about the event, as he and his wife make a particular effort to eat local foods and to be aware of where the food they eat comes ...
- A 'Fresh' take on the food industry
- BELFAST (Oct 23): As part of the Belfast Co-op's November Eat Local Challenge, it will team up with the Belfast Free Library to host a documentary screening ...
- Green Diary Rescue & Open Thread: Food & Climate
- The research that has received the most attention on the subject of food miles and helped popularize the eat local (or locavore) movement was conducted by ...
Locavore Message Board
Let's hear about your local eating efforts and resources! (all comments must be approved and will have HTML stripped out of them)
KadabaCo wrote...
Great lens! 5*'s! Our neighbors want to cow-pool and we're considering it closely! Things like dairy and meat seem to be missing from our local farmers market... hmmmm!
SustainableSarah wrote...
Yes!!! So nice to see a lens from a locavore- nice work. And I think you've covered all of the main books I recommend as well, although I haven't read coming home to eat (but now I will!). I've actually been working on my own lens on eating local, but I'll make sure to reference you. :)
Locavore is Word of the Year for 2007!
The Oxford University Press picked "locavore" as their Word of the Year for 2007!
by Euryale
In myth, Euryale was an immortal Gorgon. I'm a gardener and Giant Squid, growing things via Lenses. I have a wide range of interests including playing...
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