The Local Graze: Let's Get Grazin'...

It's election day! People have been posting their opinions all over facebook, but we are taking action. Today we begin our localvore journey, and today we vote with our dollars!

You may be thinking, what the heck is a localvore? Well, it's pretty self explanatory if you take the two derivatives of the word: local and vore. Eating local has become a growing diet trend in the last few years, as well as a social movement with political implications. Not only does this word represent the tree hugging radicals, but even the Oxford Dictionary claimed it the word of the year in 2007. It is defined as,

a person who makes an effort to eat food that is grown, raised,or produced locally, usually within 100 miles of home.

So that's what we decided to do this week! We are going local! Based on this definition we are pledging to only buy and consume products grown or produced within 100 miles of Burlington, VT. As with vegetarianism and other diets, there can be varying levels of intensity and dedication, from extremists to the casual localvore. We're trying to find a happy medium, while still staying sane as finals are coming up in a few weeks. Here is our realistic interpretation of going local this week:

Local Foods Rules

1. All consumed products must be from a 100 miles radius from Burlington, VT.

2. Let's be real we're college students; we need coffee. So, we're limiting our choices to local roasters like Speeder and Earls.

3. We also thrive on flavor in our lives. Spices, herbs, and oil will be acceptable as non-local products.

4. We know that not everything we eat can be produced in the winter in Vermont, but we still want those darn awesome cookies and goodies. We will continue to support Vermont businesses even though not all the ingredients may have been originally produced in Vermont.

5. We will (do our best to) record all of the foods that we eat during this week as well as where it came from.

So, why are we doing this? We feel strongly about eating good quality, ethical food, and we want to support our local producers. The goals of our actions are to change the food system we currently live with. We also want to combat the critiques of the localvore movement as being elitist and expensive. Everyone should be able to access and afford local food, even broke college students like us. We are so excited and optimistic about this challenge!

We decided to start small and convenient by going to City Market. Check our pics to reveal our shopping experience tonight (took us a little longer than normal)...