Local miche?

Well I've kept track of my eating habits for the week. You may see a common thread or two. Reviewing, everything is local except the various breads, coffee, lentils and crepe toppings/spices (and whatever I ate when at restaurants). All my produce is from Marche Jean Talon, as well as the maple syrup and honey- if only there was local bread.
I have to admit I only drink coffee because it is the least expensive thing to buy at Cafe Art Java (my study spot of choice). As nothing sold there is local I'll have to find somewhere else where I can focus adequately.

Monday:
Premier Moisson baguette smothered in creamed honey- lightly toasted to perfection
Cafe Art Java Coffee (Half mild, half bold)
Honeycrisp apple (MJT)
Curried carrot soup

Tuesday:
Still warm Au Pain Dore baguette smothered in creamed honey- no toasting required
Honeycrisp apple (MJT)
Curried carrot soup (last two bowls)

Wednesday:
Cafe Art Java Coffee
Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot
Homemade Irish Soda Bread- avec miel.

Thursday:
Patisserie Belge miche campagne- creamed honey (naturally)
Braised Lentils with Bayleaf, carrot, celery and onion
Half an acorn squash roasted with cumin and maple syrup

Friday:
Crepes with lemon and sugar
Cafe Art Java Coffee
Honey crisp apple
Edemame, Miso soup, Kappa Maki, Oshinko Maki
Toasted Crumpets with a slabs of melting honeycomb

Saturday: The diet begins
Last Honeycrisp apple
Made and had a bowl of:
Late Autumn Organic Campus Soup (A new recipe I'm coveting)
Squash and Roasted Garlic Soup
Tastes of a plethora of Root Vegetable, Butter and Apple dishes at the commencement party

Mission: Find Local Wheat. Help?

And so it begins...

The first day of eating locally has begun. It's been easy. Period. I don't want to mislead you, fine reader, but eating locally is and should remain the easiest thing to do. That is, if you take into account all the work that goes into the alternative -- well-traveled food.

Here's what I ate today. For breakfast, I had what I am now calling potato-squash pancakes (recipe below), while for dinner it was as easy as inviting people for a potluck. I brought applesauce with maple syrup in it. Yum!

Local Potato-Squash Pancakes
(makes 2 (ful)filling pancake)

1 cup grated potato
1 cup cooked spaghetti squash (in glass baking dish at 350 for 1 hour (more or less))
1 egg
3 cloves garlic (optional)
1/4 of a medium sized red onion (optional)
1 teaspoon vanity salt (optional)
1 teaspoon sunflower oil (you can buy this local from Le Frigo Vert!)
Maple syrup (optional)

Squeeze as much moisture out of the grated potato as possible. In a bowl, mix the potato, stringy squash, egg (and garlic and onion, if you want it savoury), and fashion into a sphere. Schmoosh into frying pan with sunflower oil, filling the entire bottom of the pan. Cook as you would a pancake, flipping only once. Eat straight if savoury (perhaps a dash more of salt) or top with maple syrup or local applesauce (with maple syrup in it!).

A note about the eggs. They are sketchy. I bought them with my roommate at Marché Jean-Talon (MJT) from a stall called Le Capitaine. Originally, we were attracted to them because there was an article in the Gazette about them being uncertified organic (which can be cool if the farmers are "post-organic"), but the article is sparse on actual reporting beyond quotes from the stall owner, and the cheapness of the eggs has raised eyebrows online. I've learned that you have to check your facts with some of the vendors and be suspicious more times than not about "farmers" at the market. It's usually as easy as a friendly chat!

Tim

Band name I made up: "Down low and the High Five"

recent addition

So I'm stepping up to the plate. That's right, I'm ready to challenge myself to locavoritarism. Although I'm nervous (ie I'm throwing myself in without the prep) I'm thrilled about the possibilities of what we'll discover. I should add in that I've recently discovered my love for cooking. It'll be great to learn how to dress up the tasty local food. And I'll keep you posted along the way.

Btw, I'm open to any suggestions you have for "fall" smoothies. So for I've thought of using apples, pumpkin, squash and maple syrup.

cheers

jh,

At least the exam was local...

The recording of my food choices this week has been lack-lustre, though it's probably in my best interests to keep it hush-hush anyhow. All that matters is that my midterm is done, and now I can focus on other things, like getting ready for this local food dealie. My diet so far this week has been as follows (excuse the gaps, it's been rough):

On Sunday, I woke up with Vegetarian Chili with cheese (Santropol), presumably with tomatoes(origins unknown), beans(origins unknown), and other assorted veggies (origins unknown). Dinner was pizza from a local spot on my street. I'm starting to realize that the normal state of affairs is just not having enough information to make practical decisions on where my food comes from, especially when I'm eating out as much as I am in the run up to this midterm.

Monday through Wednesday was generally a blur of Super Sandwiches, pizza, tofu pad thai, and Midnight Kitchen (the campus collective that serves free-ish vegan meals every weekday), leaving the only noteworthy (I know, I know, I've already noted those other ones) meal of the week the basmati rice and dill peanut sauce I had for dinner last night. If you want this... creative recipe, feel free to ask. Local food involved this week: the dill was produced in my sister's garden, the garlic was bought directly from the farmer at the McGill Farmer's Market, the apples I've been munching on all week are Québec-produced from Marché Jean Talon and the juice I bought contain pears and apples could only marginally be claimed as remotely local.

But all is not lost, dear friends, as I've stocked up on all the potatoes, eggs, apples, squash and buckwheat I can eat, and I'm looking for more.

On a more political note, it seems to me that one of the biggest obstacle to making proper choices about your food these days is the complete lack of labeling of food in our market society. If I know my capitalism, I know that free markets are based on the exchange of products based on full information of what one is buying. Now I'm no free market fundamentalist, but I would say this is one of the basic failures of our system, and not least of which if you're trying to go local. Don't even get me started on organic!

Before I go on, I must confess to you a secret fantasy I've been harbouring ever since I agreed to this whole project. Somehow, someway I'm going to make pizza from exclusively local ingredients. It will happen, folks, and when it does, you're invited! Leave your local pizza recipes in the comment section.

Tim

Great band name I heard recently: Adam Smith and the Invisible Hands

Locavore 101

So I must say, this new term being a locavore has got me pretty excited! My dietary trends have gone from eating Mountain Dew and popcorn pretty much exclusively as a young teenager, to my wrestling days where I was on a diet consisting of lettuce and water (maybe a bit of protein on the weekends). A few years back I began to take the food I ate and its impacts on the environment seriously; first as a vegetarian, then becoming vegan last year, and now of course taking on this newest challenge, the 100 mile diet. My first thoughts were, "this is going to be easy." After all, I left the United States along with its broken agricultural system, right? I had imagined Montreal would still apreciate qualitiy as a result of its French influence. We'll see I guess...
Anyhow, with a week before the official challenge begins it is time to start thinking critically about what's for dinner. I've learned over the years from all my failed attempts at wacky diets that shocking your system almost never works. So in preparation for when olive oil will be no more, and when I have to kiss avacado behind, it's time to say hello to lots and lots of potatoes, apples, carrots, mushrooms, onions, and cabbage. Soup recipes anyone?

The Vegetarian's Dilemma

As the three of us sat around the two pushed together two-person tables in the conservatory of Santropol Ian asked me if I would be continuing my vegetarianism through this challenge.

First thought: 'Pssht',
Followed by: 'Why wouldn't I?'
And perhaps: 'Am I still capable of digesting meat?'

Why give it up?
- No beans (However I think I may have seen some a few weeks ago at Marche Jean Talon (MJT) fingers crossed they may have some next visit)
- No tofu (Though I'm not big on over processed soy-stuff anyway)
- No supplements
- No cereal (Usually fortified with vitamins)
- No nutritional yeast? (I assume this is true)
- Local meat is available and easy to find

Why not
- Local eggs (easily found and great source of protein)
- Local dairy (also easy source)
- The slight possibility of beans

Conclusion: I won't be slapping a steak on the grill any time soon.

My name is Tim, and I have a local food problem.

So this is the beginning of our local food adventure, and I have to say, I'm rather excited. Aynsley, Ian and I met today over at Santropol (Duluth at St. Urbain; their meat isn't organic...) to organize our thoughts on how we could actually do two weeks of locavoring in the middle of November in Montreal. Noteworthy discussion:

-Rumours of mountains of (*Tim looks both ways sketchily* ...sometimes free) locally-produced food up at Marche Jean-Talon elicited an early pact between the participants to make a voyage up to Little Italy on or around the 8th of November.
-I was rather pleasantly reminded of the customary one-vanity-item-I-can-exempt rule, though I haven't quite decided which it will be. Salt seems like to safe of a bet, though suggestions are welcome.
-Organic Campus, McGill's weekly organic connection also sources from within 100 miles. This promises to be a staple in my diet.

So this week, we'll be documenting our "normal" eating habits, which, I daresay, will be biased significantly by the midterm I have on Thursday, and start doing research on what and where we can procure that scrumptious local food. Keep your eye on the blog for my utter failures.

Tim