I Took the Locavore Challenge (Sort of)
Move over, Barbara Kingsolver, she of the best-selling book about eating local for a year. This weekend I took the local challenge, at least for one dinner. But I may have screwed up, so I need a collective ruling from the Serious Eats community. Have mercy, and please show some compassion.
On Saturday, I cooked my wife what I thought was a locavore's delight: great, bicolor corn from Locust Grove Farm in the Hudson River Valley that was sweet and corny rather than just stabbingly sweet; red heirloom tomatoes from Locust Grove, alternating on the plate with stunning yellow tomatoes from Yuno Farm in Bordentown, New Jersey; and excellent sweet Italian turkey sausage from DiPaola Poultry Farm, from the southern New Jersey town of Hamilton. All I did was boil the corn, slice the tomatoes, and brown the sausage in a sauté pan for ten minutes on each side on low heat. For dessert we had perfect raspberries (also from Locust Grove) and creamy Fage Greek yogurt, which I thought was made in another borough of New York, Queens.
I was feeling particularly proud (and full) until the nagging doubts started.
I used a little bit of extra-virgin olive oil from Spain in the sauté pan to keep the turkey sausage from sticking. I don't think olive oil made from locally grown olives exists in the northeastern United States. The Fage yogurt turns out to be made in Greece and is distributed by a company in Woodside, Queens. The final slap in my locavore face was the sprinkling of Malden sea salt that added just the right saline flavor to the sweet and gently acidic tomatoes. I'm afraid Malden is in England, which would certainly fit into no one's idea of local, unless you are from Malden or near it.
So I ask you, Serious Eaters: Is there a Locavore Court of Appeals? Can anyone tell me the name of a good locavore defense lawyer? I believe I have a very strong case here.
There is no local olive oil in New York state. I suppose the locavore judge could say that I could have used butter instead, but it has a much lower burning temperature and, besides, I'm watching my cholesterol. I could claim deceptive marketing practices on the part of the Fage people, but then again, I could have used the other Greek-style yogurt I occasionally buy in my local market, which is made in Astoria, Queens, a mere 15 miles from my house. The Malden sea salt may be hard to justify, but it's so good on sliced local tomatoes. Plus, I don't know of an enterprising Brooklynite trying to harvest Coney Island sea salt, but I know that day is surely coming soon.
I fear I am going to have to appeal my case to the Chief Locavore Judge, the honorable Alice Waters.
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11 Comments:
There's the "Marco Polo" exemption -- spices, coffee, things that historically have been high-value trade-ables are sometimes considered okay. Of course, it's like the different flavors of vegetarianism -- there's always going to be someone who will take purity to outrageous conclusions. I'd condsider olive oil part of the Marco Polo exemption, but then again, I live in Montana, where there are no olive trees --
Charlotte at 11:40AM on 09/10/07
You could make your own yogurt from local milk (cow, sheep or goat! you choose!) My boyfriend and made some this weekend and it's incredibly easy as long as you have a convenient place to incubate. A styrofoam cooler works perfectly. As to salt, I bet you could get some local salt from Syracuse if you tried really really hard, but olive oil? bah. Anyone that tells you you can't use olive oil b/c it's not local is a scrooge.
theheadhen at 12:02PM on 09/10/07
Ohhh. I dunno. I say try it again till you get it right.
Karen Resta at 12:09PM on 09/10/07
There are several excellent yogurts available at Union Square. My favorite is Karen Weinberg's (3 Corner Field Farm), made from sheep's milk.
I bet Alice will give you a pass on the olive oil and sea salt.
Cathy at 12:31PM on 09/10/07
This is such a great post to showcase the enjoyment and potential pitfalls of the 'eating local' movement. The upside is everything you'd think it would be: great tasting food; a chance to support local growers, artisans and purveyors; and the soul-satisfying feeling you get after a meal made from local foods.
The downside, as you perfectly illustrated, is the feeling of "I could never do this right," which then provokes people to give up before they even try and pull into the drive-thru.
I say, if you buy even one heirloom tomato from a local farmer, it's a start. If you have the will to seek out more, stick with it and cut yourself some slack when you slip. Your meal sounds fantastic and I applaud you for taking the challenge. Whether it was a 'success' or not, in my view, isn't about whether you used Italian olive oil or Malden sea salt . . . it's about where you'll buy your tomatoes two weeks from now.
swirlingnotions at 1:53PM on 09/10/07
Ignoring the bit about cholesterol, I'd like to point out that clarified butter has a higher enough smoke point to saute in, easily.
thepictsie at 2:28PM on 09/10/07
And you can clarify large amounts of butter and freeze them in cakes so you don't have to go through the trouble of clarifying your butter each time you want to use it.
treznor at 5:04PM on 09/10/07
You've just described a typical meal at my house and I wasn't even trying. In NYC it is so easy to be an almost locavore.. next time you could get your greek yogurt from stonyfield farms, that have a new one on the market. I even saw it at Shoprite in Jersey City. It is organic too. problem is they only carried 0% which is not for me.,
As for the olive oil, of course it would have been easy to find American olive oil but it still has to travel far..
Overall, I'd say B+
izzy's mama at 8:52PM on 09/10/07
Not bad, not bad at all.
I'll give you the aforementioned Marco Polo exemption on the salt and what the heck, on the olive oil too.
But you blew it on the yogurt. And buying that other yogurt made in Queens may not have helped -- it depends on where they get their milk. It doesn't help to get yogurt made in Queens if the milk is trucked in from another time zone. ;)
Peter at 10:18PM on 09/10/07
Pedants corner (that is in no way intended to denigrate a valid commentary on the locavore fad) - it is MaldOn salt : www.maldonsalt.co.uk
It appears to be a common mispelling, however, as can be seen to it's best effect here: http://www.amazon.com/8-5-oz-Malden-Sea-Salt/dp/B0000U2R1A
Maldon salt comes from Essex, so is roughly equivalent in terms of UK geographical prejudice to, say, Coney Island salt.
godstar at 1:45PM on 09/11/07
I think that using non-local plain salt and things like pepper makes sense in the spirit of eating local. Those things have been traded since forever.
But my opinion is that olive oil is out. I might be mistaken, but I've heard that certain parts of Italy use almost no olive oil but use lard and butter instead just because that's what they have around. In the same vein, just because New York state has no olive trees doesn't mean that you can claim a Marco Polo exemption. It just means you can't use olive oil in your cooking and call it local. If you're watching your cholesterol, eating truly local is probably bad for your health.
Anyway, that's why I'm not a locavore. Way too difficult. And so much guilt. As long as it tastes good and doesn't flagrantly decimate the environment I'll eat it.
chungle at 3:18PM on 09/11/07