Dine In, Eat Locally
Get Involved In The Hottest New Food Trend
Lately, many of us find our favourite dining and hanging out spot is Chez Moi, as eating in becomes the new in-thing. While inspired by the desire to give your credit card some downtime, you may find unexpected benefits from logging more hours in the kitchen to make meals for yourself, your family, and for dinner guests; it can be fun to transform your kitchen into an entertainment centre of sorts.
Dining in isn’t just good for your pocketbook but for the environment and the economy, particularly if you base your menu on locally grown and produced fare. As the recent Earth Hour demonstrated, many of us know that an easy way to save energy is to turn off lights and other electrical devices, but did you know what you eat can reduce your carbon footprint too? The idea is: that while food aims to sustain you, eating locally helps to sustain the local economy and the environment. So you get to eat with a clean conscience.
Eat green and lean
Eating locally, also called being a “locavore,” is about food that has a short distance to travel from producer to plate— the “100-mile diet” is based upon this concept. "Eating locally is good for our farmers and just plain tastes better. Because there is less travel and storage time involved, it makes sense that locally grown produce will have more nutrients than imported ones," says Sue Mah, a registered dietitian in Toronto who grows her own tomatoes, beans and peppers in her backyard. In-season produce also costs less because of travel distance; those Ontario strawberries or cherries you buy in June and July are cheaper that the ones imported from sunny Mexico in January.
Think like a locavore
So how do you buy locally when your supermarket produce section is an international smorgasbord? There are lots of ways:
- Grow your own. You don’t have to buy a hectare of land. A postage-stamp sized garden window boxes and pots for those living in high-rises will do. Potted cherry tomatoes grow wonderfully with little care. And equally simple to grow is a planter with a mix of herbs. You can enjoy them fresh with grilled meats and sprinkled over salads, then dry them and keep for seasoning hearty dishes through the winter.
- Squirrel something away. You can make your favourite in-season foods last longer by putting some away for the long winter. Think about raspberry jam, canned tomatoes and peaches, or frozen green beans, squash, and blueberries. You get to buy them when they’re priced low and enjoy them after they’re gone from the grocer.
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Shop at a farmers' market. When you shop at farmers’ markets, you get fresh meat, eggs, dairy, and produce, and you get to support the local economy. Plus you have the advantage of asking how something was produced or when it was picked.
- Get choosy about restaurants. If you do dine out, find out if what’s on the menu comes from local farms. A growing number of restaurants—like Cowbell in Toronto, and Raincity Grill in Vancouver—boast “local” cuisine and make a point of supporting local farmers.
- Make the menu a conversation piece. Don’t forget to tell your guests where the meal they’re eating came from. For example, how the cheese shavings on their salad came from a local cheese artisan. You’ll help spread the word about eating locally and thinking globally—and there’s nothing better than anecdotal value to make food taste even better.
