Going Local

I wrote this for the member newsletter of my local food co-op over a year ago, but seeing as it's Earth Day and all, I thought it was a good time to repost it.

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Before I begin, I feel like I should make a disclaimer statement: This article is not meant to prescribe a “correct” way to eat, shop, or live. It’s just my own story of how local food ties into a larger “fully local” life for me.

When my wife and I moved our family to Northfield from Minneapolis seven years ago, neither of us had very strong ties to the community. We’d both gone to college here and had friends and family nearby, but there was nothing as solid as a job that brought us to town. Our main reason for relocating was a desire for the simple pleasures that a smaller community could provide: things such as walking to the library, having face-to-face conversations with store owners, and sending our kids to the same school as the other kids on the block.

It didn’t take my family long to settle into the sort of Northfield life we’d hoped for. And when I finally found a job in town I began to feel like a Real Northfielder. I became what I like to call “fully local.” Before moving to Northfield, I had never eaten a walleye from the Cannon River, never sautéed weeds from my own backyard, and never enjoyed a so-fresh-it’s-still-warm egg. Now I have, and my life is better for it!

Not long after I became a full-time Northfielder, my family signed up to participate in Just Food’s Eat Local Challenge. It was a great learning experience for all of us, and a life-changing one. Not only did we learn about all the foods available nearby (as someone who eats no meat but cooks it for the rest of the family, I had no idea how abundant and affordable local meat could be), but the local eggs we started eating during the challenge led us to become chicken-owners ourselves.

For my family, eating local food is part of the same appreciation for authentic community experiences that lured us to town. It’s partly about eating better, healthier food, but it’s mostly because it feels good to do it. It feels like the way I want to live.

Listening to a great local band. Biking to work. Ordering “the usual” in a restaurant. I want to live in a town where those things are commonplace. And I do.

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Top five Local Food Discoveries

1. Dandelions make a fantastic pizza topping, similar to spinach. I like them sautéed with a little garlic and accompanied by feta cheese.
2. The best pancakes in the world come from a mix made in Red Wing. Try the Sturdiwheat Original Pancake Mix and tell me if you don’t agree.
3. The Cannon River is home to a great many delicious gamefish. And the water is cleaner than you think. Seriously.
4. Hope Butter, made at a small-town creamery in Hope, MN (about 50 miles south of town), is revered by Minneapolis chefs as one of the best butters in the country.
5. Fresh eggs are an entirely different food than the ones most people eat. Think about the difference between a garden tomato and a normal grocery store tomato. They’re that much better.

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