FoodieTots.com

Today is the first day of the Eat Local Challenge*, which lasts the month of October. Despite my enthusiasm for the One Local Summer challenge, I hesitated a bit before deciding to join the ELC. It’s not that I don’t think we can eat entirely local, but more that I was wondering whether we really should. I’ve decided that we will give it a go, but not be overly dogmatic about it. And I hope to discover and share a few ways busy families can incorporate local foods into their menus without going to crazy extremes.

Our Eat Local Challenge goals for the month are to:

• Eat one local ingredient at every meal.
• Explore local sources/alternatives for seafood, snacks and sweets – the three “s” pitfalls.
• Extend the “buy local” enthusiasm beyond food.

As I was thinking about this post yesterday, I received an alert that DC’s oldest independent bookstore chain, Olsson’s, had abruptly gone out of business. They had recently closed my favorite location, one that (along with my favorite chef) helped revitalize a neighborhood of DC that I was told not to walk through after dark when I first moved here. Apparently they were unable to save the remaining locations in the bankruptcy proceedings. It’s a stark reminder of one of the reasons I started eating locally, which is to support our local economy, our local small and family businesses and farms. I love that we have the option, in our neighborhood, of shopping somewhere other than the Big Red Giant, and would like to keep it that way. I will be heading over to our new (!) children’s bookstore ASAP – and pledge to buy something in one of our neighborhood shops each week this month. (No, not gratuitous consumerism – I’ll be looking to get an early start on my holiday shopping.)

This month is also marked by Blog Action Day, October 15, when bloggers from around the world will blog on the topic of poverty. I launched FoodieTots on Blog Action Day last year, so you can bet we’re participating this time. Stay tuned for how.

Anyone else giving the Eat Local Challenge a try? Or here’s a starter challenge – will you buy one local ingredient each week? I’ll personally suggest a recipe or menu around your item if that helps – just shoot me an email at foodietots at gmail com! Happy eating, locally!