Eating Local – Are You Up for the Challenge?
We love local and this month local is in full swing. Farmers markets are opening around the Lowcountry and it’s Eat Local Month, an initiative of Lowcountry Local First. The idea is to encourage buying and eating local and that includes shopping the market, joining a CSA or dining out in restaurants that support local farms and growers.
A vegetable is a vegetable, you say, doesn’t matter if it comes from Johns Island or was shipped into the grocery store from California. Well, sure, a strawberry is technically a strawberry regardless of its origin, but there are plenty of reasons to eat local food.
We like this column from TheLocalBeet.com with reasons for eating local, including supporting the economy, the food tastes better and food safety.
Lowcountry Local First offers these reasons:
– You are supporting neighbors.
– Locally grown food tastes better.
– Keeps us in touch with the seasons.
– Reduces the amount of carbon emitted into the environment.
– It contributes to our economy.
– Helps maintain our rural areas.
– With our abundance of local farms and farmers markets, shopping and eating locally isn’t so tough. Plus, we have plenty of local restaurants that support the local food movement.
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Are you taking the eat local challenge this month? Have you started shopping at the markets? As Lowcountry Local First reminds us, fruits and vegetables have seasons. We’re so accustomed to finding whatever we want at the grocery store we forget about the seasons. So take your local eating to the next level and commit to eating seasonally as well.
What’s in season in April:
– Arugula
– Asparagus
– Bok choy
– Cabbage
– Carrots
– Chard
– Collards
– Kale
– Lettuce
– Spinach
– Turnips
Let us know how you’re eating locally – did you join a CSA, are you growing your own vegetables?