the 100-mile diet

[AdamH]

Katie and I have decided to give this a try for two months. If you're not familiar with it the 100-mile diet challenges you to consume food produced within a 100-mile radius of where you live. You can make your map here: http://www.100milediet.org/map/

It is day two and so far so good: We're almost at peak farmer's market time so there is no shortage of vegetables available particularly at Lansdowne. I just now found out that Bread and Sons bakery on Bank Street has Rye bread produced with Rye that's locally grown and milled (as opposed to just locally milled)

We're allowing ourselves a couple of cheats: salt, pepper, coffee, VQA wines and locally "brewed" beers...in the latter two cases you'd be hard pressed to find a beer or wine made with locally grown grains and locally cultured yeast I suspect but I might be wrong.

If we're invited to someone's house we'll eat what they serve. We'll probably go to the Manx a couple of times and eat there. But otherwise we're trying to be diligent. We aren't sure just yet whether we'll allow ourselves to eat what's in the house that doesn't qualify but we probably won't.

[AD]

keep us posted, i've been intrigued by this for a while now. i don't think i have the cooking skill to make it happen for me, but perhaps i should try... sometime. not during bluesfest!

[Jaimoe]

I believe I'll be going this diet in the near future. It's an excellent idea for a diet.

[Booche]

The closest I can come is the 100 mile long hotdog.

[phorbesie]

i would like to hear about your progress with this too adamh! it sounds hard.

[Blane]

i've kinda been 1/2 on this by default here. import foods cost 2-5x the price of local stuff here, and because Dakar is the hub of production and transport is so shoddy, 100 miles is actually pretty reasonable for goods.

A year-round growing season helps too!

GOod luck with it.

[phorbesie]

what's the food like there?

[Blane]

-staples are rice (senegalese, almost the consistency of a fat couscous if you will), fish, onions, chillies, palm oil. Bread is also a big thing (baguette style, and croissant as well, from the french colonial days).

-drink is boabab juice, ginger or "bissap" (hibiscus drink), or Coke inc. products (probably bottled here, but hardly local!). Beer is local.

on occasion:

french fries (home made), green salad, couscous, for meat eaters: chicken and liver, carrots, zuchini, tomato, cabbage, for fruit: mango and banana (both local).

That pretty much sums it up. Nearly everything else is imported. Makes for a pretty predictable menu, but it's reliable and quite tasty!

Edited July 5, 2007 by Guest

[AdamH]

It's been a week of 100-miling and I'd say it's been a pretty smooth experience so far.

We can buy locally grown and milled flour at Herb and Spice (produced by mountainpath, available in bulk as "organic white hard (bread) flour") and that's meant fresh bread and fresh pita bread.

Saslove's, Aubrey's and the Glebe Meat Market have good and numerous option for locally raised meats. The largest majority was available at Aubrey's but for variety we were able to buy pork, chicken and pork sausages from Saslove's yesterday.

Veggie-wise we're all set with potatoes, carrots, onions, beets, peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes. We're getting close to garlic season which will be a nice addition to the fresh herbs we use from our backyard, and the allowance we made for salt and pepper.

Fruit intake consists right now of raspberries and strawberries

Dairy? There are actually too many options: cheese has been easy, yogurt and sour cream from Liberté (Which is in Brossard, Que and is about 5 miles outside of the 100 miles...whoop dee do) and a fantastic tzatziki from Skotidakis farm that's available from herb and spice.

Observations thus far:

1. I do feel good. It's probably because I'm eating less and not eating anything processed

2. With no local oils this diet is almost atkins-esque..and that's troubling since I have been eating more dairy and meat. It's hard to find a butter alternative that can be used for cooking that is local. How any vegan could attempt this is mind-boggling.

3. As expected it gets expensive buying all of this organic local meat. On the other hand I am saving money by not eating out at all or buying my lunches while working

4. You need alot of time to do it. We needed almost a half-day to make pita bread, coupled with all of the packed lunches and dinners that I'm eating at Bluesfest this week. Not to say it's impossible but there's much more preparation and planning when it comes to having a few options to choose from and not being resigned to eating the exact same thing every day.

[Blane]

have you thought of making your own oil? if you can get local peanuts (not in season yet I don't imagine) it's pretty easy at any health store.

[Ms Zimmy]

I like this Link

Edited July 16, 2007 by Guest

[LXQ42]

If you haven't tried it, there is a cider company in prince edward county (picton) that has the best late season cider i have ever tasted. they are called the County cider company and their best is called Wapoos cider.....amazing, grown and made in the county, and barely ouside 100 miles from toronto

[AdamH]

Week 2: back on track after a few drunken slip-ups during bluesfest. I figured it would happen and embraced it but you know what's funny is that my drunken slice of pizza and drunken poutine weren't actually much of a reward. That is I felt the craving but when I was eating it it wasn't satisfying.

I should've planned my cheat to be something like Pho or some Ma Po Tofu because I'd love nothing more than asian spices and tofu.

This past week we got into garlic scapes and fresh apples from Lansdowne market. We had lots of friends over for dinner and also made a cider and maple glazed pork roast alongside a mix of bison, pork, chicken and turkey sausages from Sasloves that all fit the 100-mile diet (spices in the sausages were all good except our allowed salt and pepper). I've also been able to buy some decent whole wheat bread from the Wheat Berry, which is a nice compliment to the very dense and near untoastable Rye from bread and Sons.

I'm still a little concerned with our fat consumption and am considering a subbing-in of olive oil to mitigate butter and cheese with every meal. Yeah sure I could have steamed vegetables for diner but with no condiments how is that going to taste? I can fake a decent oilless salad dressing using a lemon verbena vinegar I made and adding maple syrup but some olive oil would be pretty damn helpful.

Not sure the cider brand LXQ but we got some from lansdowne last week and have been enjoying it.

[LXQ42]

How's the 100 mile diet going AdamH? We haven't heard any updated for a while.

This thread has really got me looking at where the groceries we buy come from. I don't know if I'm ready for the 100 miles yet, but we have been keeping pretty well to a product of Canada thing, with a few exceptions of course. Thanks for bringing this to my attention Adam, it's been a fun way to choose food, as well as a way to support Canadian farmers!

Edited August 11, 2007 by Guest

[AdamH]

It's going/gone well I'd say. We just came back from a 10-day vacation to the East Coast, which was nice as the 100-mile radius to follow us, consuming shellfish and seafood, local cheeses, low-bush blueberries, etc.

A highlight for us was an extravagant meal in Quebec City that featured mostly-local ingredients (Venison terrine, seared deer medallion, wild boar, wapiti and local veg).

We're starting to slack a little bit, but we're going to do our best for the next couple of weeks.