Eat Local for Thanksgiving

Are you ready for a little challenge?  If you are an American and you are planning a Thanksgiving dinner for next week, do this:

Put one local food on your table.

That’s it.  Pick whatever food you want.  Just make sure it is local.  (Define local as it fits your region.  In the frozen Rocky Mountains, we shoot for a 150 mile radius.)  Pick local flour or carrots, dairy products like whipped cream and butter, eggs, turkey…. Mmm!  It’s such a perfect adjustment to our traditional Thanksgiving dinners, truly getting back to the roots of the holiday.  The pilgrims ate local food, and for hundreds of years, our ancestors have been.  Why not do the same?  Just once.  Just one little thing.

eat local

Some advantages you’ll be pleased to hear about putting local food on your Thanksgiving table:

1. It makes you feel amazing.

There are arguments about how local food tastes better (because it’s fresher) and how it’s better for the environment (because it doesn’t travel thousands of miles).  No matter what you believe, the bottom line is this:  you feel really good about what you’re doing.  How cool is it to have apples you picked yourself in your apple pie?  Or mashed potatoes from a local potato farmer?  Just telling your family, “Oh that sweet potato was grown in our county, you know,”… doesn’t that just make you giddy?

2. It’s better than organic (?).

In March 2005, the Food Policy journal reported that organic food often travels huge distances to get to our plates (including from China).  The environmental damage of this transporting, according to their report, completely outweighs the benefits when compared to locally grown foods.

3. You can see where your food came from.

Small, local farms are more inclined to answer your questions, show you their fields, or tell you about their crops.  There is nothing cooler than hearing a farmer describe to us the origin of his preferred potatoes outside of Berlin.

4. The food is seasonal.

Most farmers can’t afford huge refrigeration containers.  So they sell foods when they’re in season.  You might be able to find strawberries in Germany or the US right now… but how far did those berries travel?  Or how long have they been refrigerated.  Eating locally often = eating more fresh foods.

5. Your money stays in your community.

If you buy groceries from a huge chain store, the only money that truly stays in your community is the employee wages and local taxes.  It’s only a fraction of your dollar.  Local food lacks all the middlemen, travel expenses, CEO bonuses, and so much more… it might not give you a bang for your buck, but it will for your community.

local food

Want some ideas for finding local food?

  • Shop organic stores and specialty grocers.
  • Ask vegetarians/vegans/environmentally conscious friends and co-workers for a food source.
  • Call organic grocers and restaurants in neighboring communities for suggestions.
  • Contact local bakeries (some specifically use only local apples in their holiday pies)
  • Call your newspaper – ask them to run an article on local food sources.
  • See if a nearby college has an environmental club.
  • Stop by coffee shops where college-aged students gravitate.  Ask.

    • Some of the local foods we’ve found for our Thanksgiving in Germany next week are: potatoes, tomatoes, milk, carrots, squash & pumpkin, apples, and sweet potatoes.  It’s quite the jackpot considering we live in a city of 3 million.

    So there you have it.  (Are you as hungry as me now?)  I hope you join me and incorporate at least one local food into your Thanksgiving dinner.  And now, you know what time it is… time to share what local food you might be serving!

    (Images from an early autumn farmer’s market in Berlin)