Living on the 100 Mile Diet

[Shalmanese]

    this illustrates a theme that presents itself over and over in my thoughts: that in the last 100 years or so, we've lost the mental attitude (and the know-how, sometimes) of being self-sufficient.

    can't get rice or white potatoes? eat wild rice... or sweet potatoes ... or bashed parnips ... or turnips ... or carrots ... or rutabaga ... or white beans ... or black beans ... or red beans ... you get the idea.

    just one person's opinion.

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I don't think it's mental attitude so much as a change in the agricultural landscape. Why bother slaving away producing wheat on marginal land when that land could be turned much more productively to watermelons or grapes and import the wheat from somewhere else?

Back in the "good old days", people had to grow everything locally because they had no choice. I certainly don't think this would be a desirable condition to go back to.

[helenjp]

Living on the outskirts of a major conurbation, I have to consider what the modern city *is* before I think about how feasible this idea is (Actually, that's a lie, the first thing I had to do was figure out that 100 miles is roughly 160km!).

Old Tokyo (Edo) never got much past 1 million people. There was arable land enough on the Kanto plain to provide for much of that city's needs, and the city was limited by transport etc. from growing too far past the productive capacity of the surrounding region. Interestingly, that 100 mile limit (from where we are, a little east of Tokyo) pretty much covers the Kanto plain plus some of the lower hills to the west and east. Now that people commute up to 2 hours into the city, their houses cover most of the richest land that fed previous generations of Tokyo residents!

What's grown in the area now is token production of the basics on tax-rebate toy farms - household vegetables for fresh consumption, and limited amounts of rice. I'd have nori but no konbu; salt but no shoyu (it's made locally, from trucked-in and imported beans), sake and wine, but no whiskey or beer, sardines but no tuna, spinach and scallions but no onions or potatoes, chicken but no beef...and NO BREAD!!!

[Country Cook]

Being in the Central Interior of BC that would be hard to do. I would need to build a really good greenhouse, plan a bigger garden, make my own hooch and give up coffee . No thanks!

[Bond Girl]

According to this web site when the average american sit down to dinner their food has traveled an average of 1500 miles from its source to the plate. So, this couple from canada has decided to spent a year eating from within the 100 miles radius of their home. Discounting the fact that I sometimes crave for an occasional Scottish langoustine fished from the water 6000 miles from NYC, I really don't see how this is so difficult to do. Any thoughts?

[JAZ]

You're kidding, right?

First, the easy points: Where do you think your spices come from -- New York? Is there olive oil produced within a hundred miles of New York? You'd have to give up cheeses from Europe (or California, for that matter); any wines from farther away than 100 miles; sushi -- in fact, rice, period. Forget Scotch or Cognac. And, do you know where the wheat for your flour comes from? My guess is that it isn't from within a hundred miles. The cane or beets for your sugar? Probably doesn't come from New York.

Second, even for ingredients that can be grown or raised within a hundred miles, you have to investigate them -- if they're from a supermarket, chances are they aren't local. If you're lucky to have access to a farmers' market, you have a head start, but it still means no emergency trips to the local corner store for a pint of cream -- probably not going to be local.

Third, unless you're sure of the ingredients your favorite restaurants use, better not plan on eating out.

I'm much luckier than most -- I live in California, and I could get a lot of products that are grown or made locally. But if I lived in Southern Utah (for example), it would really suck to stick to foods grown within a hundred miles.

[miladyinsanity]

I would starve.

Singapore hardly grows anything at all. Practically everything is imported.

[Bond Girl]

Okay, I'm being a ditz.... I forgot about the spices and the oils, and the sugar and rice...I was only thinking about the main ingredient source like vegetables and fish, which is usually local. Cheese from Vermont isn't bad....I don't really drink so that's okay, and long island has pretty okay wines, not that I can tell the difference.....Yep, definitely a ditz moment. Now that I've been corrected, anyone think they could do this?

[JAZ]

Oh yeah -- forget coffee, tea and chocolate too.

[Bond Girl]

Oh yeah -- forget coffee, tea and chocolate too.

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Okay, I can't do this.

[sanrensho]

I forgot about the spices and the oils...

You can say bye-bye to coffee and tea as well. The idea is certainly noble and will hopefully encourage more people to think about their food choices, but I am not giving up my "imported" foodstuffs any time soon.

[Toliver]

There was a food blog by an eGullet member, jwagnerdsm, who was trying to "eat Iowa" for a year:

"Food Blog: jwagnerdsm, Eating Iowa"

As Janet (JAZ) pointed out, it's not as easy as you think.

FYI...unfortunately, the link in his signature, which had more information about Iowa and food items grown in Iowa, is dead.

[I_call_the_duck]

Reading this thread, it's amazing what we take for granted. I was thinking along the lines of Bond Girl--take a trip to the Union Square Greenmarket, and get everything you need. I'm all for buying local products whenever I can, but I also forgot about the flour, oil, coffee...

[Gifted Gourmet]

On the other hand there is this short, but interesting and insightful essay: Eat local? No thanks from Too Many Chefs blog ...

It's important to remember that the quest for different varieties of food is one of the great driving forces of human history. The expansion of Rome into Egypt was as much for control of the grain grown along the Nile as for the cotton or Cleopatra's charms. The merchants of Venice built an empire on spices like cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and pepper, and the Portuguese desire to break that monopoly led to the financing of Columbus's expedition to India, which was blocked by a New World of opportunity.  All this movement and trade and conflict brought new foods to old cultures and transformed them.

[JAZ]

Maybe because I'm reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, I've been thinking about this sort of thing, which is why I jumped in.

There's an interesting account of "eating locally" in the Missoula (Montana) Independent: Grubshedding

"Grubshed" can mean many things. As a noun, it describes the geographical area whence your food originates, and the trail it follows to your table, much the same way "watershed" describes the paths of a river, from headwaters to mouth.

As an adjective, Grubshed modifies certain nouns to indicate that the item in question is "of the Grubshed." Consider the "semi-Grubshed nectarines" filling the cobbler Mark and Brigid serve for dessert. Grown in northeastern Oregon - the outer-reaches of our local Grubshed - these nectarines are from the closest area to home where nectarines are grown. They might also be considered Grubshed nectarines by virtue of having been found and brought home by a Grubshedder.

The verb "Grubshed" describes the act of devoting time and energy to keeping your personal or family Grubshed as local as possible. It conveys caring, almost to the point of obsession, about where your food comes from.

[sanrensho]

On the other hand there is this short, but interesting and insightful essay: 

I pretty much agree with the sentiment of the article. While the notion of eating local products should be strongly encouraged, the concept is anti-food when taken to its extreme. I have no interest in turning my back on what options we have just to prove a point.

We might as well ban all travel outside of a 100-mile radius.

[Gifted Gourmet]

You are aware, perhaps, of the Locavores of the San Francisco Bay area? website

We are a group of concerned culinary adventurers who are making an effort to eat only foods grown or harvested within a 100 mile radius of San Francisco for an entire month. We recognize that the choices we make about what foods we choose to eat are important politically, environmentally, economically, and healthfully. In 2005, we challenged people from the bay area (and all over the world) to eat within a 100 mile radius of their home for the month of August.

[SuzySushi]

Yeah, right. Even in Hawaii, where we grow fruits and vegetables locally, have a local dairy farm, and can get fish from the sea, there isn't nearly enough locally produced food available to feed the population even for a short while.

This came up in discussion this week when the Health Department put out the call for a working group to develop a pandemic flu preparedness plan that will take into account not only medical problems, but impact on other industries and facets of life such as tourism, banking, education, and -- yes -- the supply of food and other staples.

"Think about SARS, or post-9/11, when transportation was basically shut down," said Sarah Y. Park, deputy chief of the state Health Department's disease outbreak control division. "We're five hours out from the closest land mass, and that's by plane. Only about 5 percent of our industry is agricultural." (as quoted in the Honolulu Advertiser, May 11, 2006).

[bavila]

I've been thinking a lot about this, and I think in addition to the healthy arguments presented here, I'd add this.

Just because it's local doesn't mean it's great for the environment. Hey, Californians, remember the Colorado River? Salinated from too much agricultural irrigation? Growing crops like rice, which needs to be flooded continually, in what is essentially the desert, is not what I consider an environmentally sound practice.

If I'm wrong, please correct me.

[Smithy]

I've been thinking a lot about this, and I think in addition to the healthy arguments presented here, I'd add this.

Just because it's local doesn't mean it's great for the environment.  Hey, Californians, remember the Colorado River? Salinated from too much agricultural irrigation?  Growing crops like rice, which needs to be flooded continually, in what is essentially the desert, is not what I consider an environmentally sound practice.

If I'm wrong, please correct me.

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California rice isn't grown in the Colorado River valley. Rice cultivation takes place in northern and north central California, where the climate and conditions are suitable. The Colorado River's woes are indeed related to overuse - which may relate back to your initial point, since agricultural use is part of that overuse - but not from something as wildly inappropriate as rice.

I'm not necessarily trying to shoot down your basic premise, that "local" doesn't necessarily equate to "environmentally friendly", but I think it should be pondered in the light of real examples.

Edited: Spelling, confounditall.

Edited May 15, 2006 by Smithy (log)

[Pan]

I would starve.

Singapore hardly grows anything at all. Practically everything is imported.

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Yeah, but there's a lot of stuff grown in Malaysia or Indonesia within 100 miles of Singapore. For your rice, you probably have to import from a bit further, though: The Chao Phraya Valley in Thailand.

[pedie]

Well it is spring again and I just finished amending my soil to plant my annual tomato plants. Last weekend I participated in a neighborhood "sustainable garden tour" and I am enthused to begin my yearly vegetable garden. I too have read numerous articles about the 100 mile diet and I really enjoyed the "Omnivore's Dilemma." I guess I am not a purist because I am not giving up some essentials...like my coffee and some Italian items like my imported cheeses. But I do think there is value and "taste" in locally grown vegetables and fruits.

I would like to know if there are recipes that any of you enjoy that make use of local items in your "radius."

[mkayahara]

Have any of the authors/advocates of this diet indicated why "100 miles" is the distance chosen, as opposed to 50 or even 150 miles? Is there some scientific basis for it, or is it just arbitrarily chosen because it's a nice round number?

[Chufi]

Have any of the authors/advocates of this diet indicated why "100 miles" is the distance chosen, as opposed to 50 or even 150 miles? Is there some scientific basis for it, or is it just arbitrarily chosen because it's a nice round number?

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On the website they say that 100 miles is a "large enough number to reach beyond a big city but small enough to feel truly local".

click

I have thought of doing this for a week or so, but not 100 miles, my limits would be The Netherlands because this country is so small. (about 220 miles North-South, 100 miles East-West)

haven't worked up the courage to do it yet though...

[Smithy]

Well it is spring again and I just finished amending my soil to plant my annual tomato plants.  Last weekend I participated in a neighborhood "sustainable garden tour" and I am enthused to begin my yearly vegetable garden.  I too have read numerous articles about the 100 mile diet and I really enjoyed the "Omnivore's Dilemma."  I guess I am not a purist because I am not giving up some essentials...like my coffee and some Italian items like my imported cheeses.  But I do think there is value and "taste" in locally grown vegetables and fruits.

I would like to know if there are recipes that any of you enjoy that make use of local items in your "radius."

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It'll be a couple of months yet, but when the tomatoes finally come in here then it's an orgy of tomatoes, basil, onions, chives, lettuce, you name it - with meat that can be grown or fish caught locally. Wild rice and potatoes are the only local things I know of that could pass for starch (wild rice is a stretch) in this area. I'm not willing to give up rice or wheat flour or nuts, much less spices or wine.

Given those caveats, one of my favorite summer meals is chicken meat (thighs or breasts) boned, rolled and stuffed with basil pesto, sauteed with garlic and good sweet tart cherry tomatoes until they're just warm and bursting, with the pan deglazed by white wine or vermouth, then cooked down to a good sauce consistency. Given that there aren't walnuts, pine nuts, olive oil or parmesan cheese produced within 100 miles of here, I make no bones about cheating with the pesto. Tough. It makes wonderful use of those tomatoes.