The other night, hubby and i watched the first episode of the 100 Mile Diet challenge on food network, where folks in the town of Mission were challenged to eat all local food for 100 days. It was quite interesting to see people work through the process of thinking about the challenge and signing up.
In the last 1-2 weeks leading up to Passover, there have been a lot of articles and recipes for foods that are kosher for Passover. (Disclaimer: I am not Jewish, nor do I claim to have in-depth knowledge or insight re. kosher practices)
On the surface, these two threads of discussion appear to have nothing in common, however, when thinking about this a bit deeper, it occurred to me that in both situations, due to the thought required for the gathering of, and preparation of the foods, there is a much deeper appreciation of food than the average consumer would have. In order to eat kosher, there are rules to follow and many things to consider, about all aspects of the food — and an additional set of rules and guidelines for preparing Passover Seder. At each stage of the meal preparation, one must stop and think — where has this come from? what process it has gone through? if it was alive, how was it butchered? who butchered it? what it will be combined with?, and what the preparation method will be? A lot of things that most cooks don`t normally spend much time thinking about.
As we were watching the pantry purge and initial shopping trips in the 100 Mile Challenge, it seemed that there was a similar process playing out for the families involved, causing them to think deeply about what constituted `local` food. It was not sufficient to merely purchase a loaf of bread from the local farmers market, but questions were asked about where the flour was milled, where the grain was grown, what sweeteners were used, what leavening agents were involved, and if so, where did they come from — a new thought process that was now required for every piece of food they considered eating.
Not to get too deep, but in both situations, the end-result seems to result in a greater appreciation and respect for the food we consume, which in these days of processed food-like products, can only be a good thing. This is part of what motivates me to grow some of my own food. There`s nothing like knowing first hand what went into it!
Am busy trying Peter Reinhart`s basic recipe with the wild-yeast starter I concocted thru the week. Will let you know how it works out. It`s not 100% local, but pretty close. The starter was made from scratch with pineapple juice, and I used agave syrup instead of honey in the dough (for a vegan loaf), but the flour is from locally grown and milled wheat.