Op-Ed: Eat Local- Food Challenge

This is the time of year that I love...so many fresh fruits and veggies to chose from! I can't hardly wait! :))

It is a great season. we just got back into town and were able to pick up some vegetables from a roadside stall.

We have them here all over the place by this time every Summer. Our biggest favorite are the fresh tomatoes...then next is the squashes and of course the fruits!

our choices, in and near town, are few but a local store does carry local in-season produce.

That's still good though, permafrog. We are lucky because we have so many choices between the farmer's markets, roadside stands, as well as any grocery stores.

Dumais, that is the store, is a great place. They also sell organic products and fair trade coffee.

If a person can buy locally the produce always tastes better than when it is shipped in from who knows where.
My husband plants a small garden with tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and some squash

I think I would have a real problem doing this. I mean, we eat cereals, use condiments like ketchup, mustard, relish, barbeque sauce, etc., my kid drinks Coke, Fruite and lots and lots of beer(!); just these few examples ... how would I know if they are produced within 100 miles of my home? Produce I can see doing, meat that is a little harder because sometimes I buy at the Loblaws and how am I supposed to check where their meat/chicken/fish comes from?

Speaking of fish, we often go to eat at a place called Rodney's and I know for sure that the lobster and oysters do not come from around here, because we don't "grow" lobsters and oysters in Toronto. So, there are certain foods that are always going to be outside that 100 mile radius and we just have to live without them?

I'll try to remember to buy my produce from local farmers only next month. Actually I often go to a gourmet market near my home & they have their own farm where they grow some of the produce. I won't buy any of their stuff they import from out of the country though - like their Mexican red grapes!

GHL, there is much that is difficult to buy within the 100 mile radius, one suggestion is to pick one meal a day or one a week where all the main food items, come from within the 100 mile radius. As to Loblaws ask them where their meat comes from.

I think it is a great idea, helping the locals more, instead of giving profit to guys that will never see investment in that area.

eating locally is investing in where you live rather than watching your dollars leave town.