Begin experimenting now!
What does it mean to “eat local”? Where do I find locally grown food? Each fall during Utah Eat Local Week we explore these questions as we celebrate all the great food that is grown and produced in Utah.
Eat Local Week—a partnership among Urban Food Connections of Utah, Slow Food Utah and Wasatch Community Gardens—is a week-long series of educational events and activities that focus on local food resources, our agricultural heritage in Utah and the environmental impact of food production and transport. Now in its 11th year, the Eat Local Challenge is the centerpiece of Eat Local Week.
The Challenge starts by people pledging to eat food as locally sourced as possible for one week. We provide resources, recipes and tips to help you along the way.
Eat Local Week doesn’t occur till September. However, you can enter this year’s challenge better equipped for success if you start exploring new options now.
Local produce is available soon at select neighborhood groceries. Ask what’s local and adapt your recipes to what looks good that day. Farmers markets start up again next month, too, and that’s your easy ticket to becoming a locavore.
You’ll be eating what’s fresh and in season, eating food that has more nutrition and better flavor.
But there’s more than fruits and veggies to being a locovore. Consider meat. And bread made from local grain. And cheese!
The Challenge is only as strict as you want it to be. Give yourself permission to eat some things not grown locally, like chocolate and coffee. You can seek out local roasters for some really great alternatives to the supermarket varieties.
To help inspire you, here is a sample menu and sources for locally grown and produced ingredients. Some items below may not be grown 100% locally, but are made in Utah by small businesses that are often using ingredients from local farms in their products, such as the herb blends made by Solstice Spices.
Another thought: Begin where you are. See if you can figure out where your existing diet hails from. Eggs from California? Bountiful’s Oakdell eggs are an easy alternative, available even at Costco. Just one example.
Also, what do you like to eat that you could grow? This is the month to get planting.
Good luck on your locovore adventure!
Gwen Crist is the president of Slow Food Utah:
SlowFoodUtah.org
Breakfast:
Frittata, toast and coffee
Eggs (Clifford Farms, Redmond Heritage Farms)
Bacon (Clifford Farms, Smoke and Salt, Beltex Meats)
Butter (Gold Creek Farms)
Scallions, green garlic, spinach, asparagus, mushrooms (Zoe’s Garden, BUG Farms, Intermountain Gourmet – farmer’s market vendors)
Toast (bread from Eva or Crumb Bros)
Coffee (Caffe Ibis/Coffee Garden or Salt Lake Roasting Co.)
Lunch:
Chicken noodle soup
Chicken— roast the day before, then remove meat and simmer bones for broth (Old Home Place Heritage Farms)
Carrots, onion, sunchokes (Blue Spring Farm)
Kale, peas (Asian and Heirlooms)
“For the Birds” spice mix (Solstice Spices)
Noodles (Tankinz Noodle Co.)
Dinner:
grilled burgers, chips & salsa
Hamburger (Canyon Meadows Ranch, Blue Tree Beef)
Buns (Crumb Bros.)
Relish (Rustic Tomato)
Onion, lettuce (Salt Lake County Jail garden, Murray Market Gardens)
Cheese (Beehive Cheese, Heber Valley Artisan Cheese)
Chips and salsa (Salsa del Diablo)
Chocolate—because dessert! (Solstice Chocolate)
Beer—because beer! (Bumper Crop Honey Ale from Squatter’s)