My friend Dina told me yesterday that I should start a food blog. Maybe she just wants me to stop talking about food in other contexts. But this seemed like a good time to start, since it's harvest season like crazy in Portland, I am doing food preservation of some kind almost every day, AND I'm gearing up for my second annual personal Local Food Challenge. My girlfriend and I chose September, the easiest possible month to subsist entirely on locally produced and processed food. With a few exceptions (selected after doing a hard-core local diet last September that wasn't very much fun), all of our food will come from Oregon or Washington.
These are the exceptions: salt and spices, lemon and vinegar (although I did start a batch of homemade apple cider vinegar a week ago), cooking oils (we primarily use olive oil from California), chocolate, coffee (only for Theresa, not for me!), and sugar only for use in food preservation.
Want to join us? All you have to do is decide to eat only local foods next month! Pick out a few things you can't live without to make it easy. Then get all your groceries from the many Farmer's Markets, People's co-op, New Seasons, your backyard, and your CSA. Once you figure out the big stuff, like where to get your grains and protein, it takes no work at all. My hints to you, if you live in Portland, Oregon: Shepherd's Grain flour, which is outstandingly delicious, is grown and processed in Washington, and you can buy it at People's, Pastaworks, and the Sellwood farmer's market. People's also carries locally grown and fantastic black beans, farro, dried cranberries, dried Ranier cherries, and nuts. And Freddy Guy's has local hazelnuts and wild rice.
Coming soon: pictures.
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Shepherd's grain flour is my favorite for bread, and is also sold at Alberta Coop. It's the cheapest one there!
ReplyDeleteI just found out that my friend Deena has a food blog, too: mostlyfoodstuffs.blogspot.com -- not the same as your friend Dina, though, right?