Wednesday, December 19, 2007

100 Mile Diet

I find the concept of the 100 Mile Diet very interesting. I would have to make a lot of adjustments in the way I eat, shop, cook and think. Might be a challenge worth pursuing - I can really only see benefits from eating locally.


When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically traveled at least 1,500 miles—call it "the SUV diet." On the first day of spring, 2005, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon chose to confront this unsettling statistic with a simple experiment. For one year, they would buy or gather their food and drink from within 100 miles of their apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia. Since then, James and Alisa have gotten up-close-and-personal with issues ranging from the family-farm crisis to the environmental value of organic pears shipped across the globe. They've reconsidered vegetarianism and sunk their hands into community gardening. They've eaten a lot of potatoes. Their 100-Mile Diet struck a deeper chord than anyone could have predicted. Within weeks, reprints of their blog at thetyee.ca had appeared on sites across the internet. Then came the media, from BBC Worldwide to Utne magazine. Dozens of individuals and grassroots groups have since launched their own 100-Mile Diet adventures. The need now is clear: a locus where 100-milers can get the information they need to try their own lifestyle experiments, and to exchange ideas and develop campaigns. That locus will be here at 100MileDiet.org—turning an idea into a movement.

3 comments:

laurel said...

I also think this is an interesting concept...though I am not even close to only eating foods grown/made w/i a hundred miles of me, I have become more aware of how far food has travelled to get to my table. If you are interested in the 100 mile diet, you should DEFINITELY read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It is a great book.

Anonymous said...

My brother and his wife participated in a similar concept that was a three month test. They said it was extremely eye-opening and really made them consider their food origins and choices. There is another great book out there, the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

Anonymous said...

Another great website I just learned about is www.eatwild.com
It gives a wealth of information on grass fed beef, the nutritional differences, where to buy it locally, etc. If you are meat-eater it provides valuable information.