Eating Within our Foodshed

It seems that everywhere I go lately folks are talking about the need to support the local economy.  I suppose it may be part of the reaction against the effects of outsourcing and globalization that seem to play out at every level of our lives.  I was overjoyed when a conversation I had with a group of entrepreneurial GenXers turned to the idea of opening up a shop in downtown Syracuse that featured only local and regional products--wouldn't that be grand?

In the meantime, a challenge is going up in August that invites people to, as much as possible, eat within their foodshed.  That is, consume foods produced within 100 miles of where you live.  I plan to draw a circle around the 100 mile radius surrounding Syracuse to see if I can eat only what is grown in that area.  While some things will be difficult--any rice growers in Central New York?--others will be quite easy.  Chicken, beef, pork, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, bread, produce, fruit--such as these strawberries grown right here in Baldwinsville--, granola, ice cream, and many other favorite foodstuffs are grown right here in Central New York.

Many of us (including me until about a year ago) bought into the myth that food had to be imported from places like California or Europe to really taste good.  In reality, our taste buds have been conditioned to the flavor of foreign soils.  The idea of terroir--the particularity of a place (geology, geography, climate) and its effect on the taste of food-- was not something people outside of the world of wine spoke about often.  The berries grown here outside of Syracuse were delicious.  But they looked and tasted different from those imported from Watsonville, CA.  When friends tasted these at dinner last weekend some were astounded.  And none of us could really believe that such good berries could be grown here.  But before the development of the federal highway system, that is exactly how people in the northeast enjoyed strawberries--they grew them.

Eating within our foodshed can open us to a world of tastes right in our backyard.  We may even rediscover that it is possible for us to feed ourselves again.

Note:  These berries can be found at the Syracuse Real Food Co-op, the Hamilton Farmers' Market, and through a subscription to the Green Rabbit Farm CSA.