To Market, To Market

With each week, I have been trying to get closer to the origins of my food and be connected to the practices that drive its production. This has required a greater and greater degree of transparency. In Week 1, it was easy to know whether or not my food required the slaughter of animals. In Week 2, it was a bit harder to know how much human intervention had been required in my food production, but "certified organic" labels helped guide my choices of selection. Unfortunately, there is no standardized and trusted label guaranteeing that a product is locally grown. The solution? Get away from labels altogether.

In order to eat locally, I decided to buy my groceries at a local farmers market. Luckily, there are 25 to choose from in DC. I picked Eastern Market because of its size and its proximity to my neighborhood. The majority of the produce sold in Eastern Market's open-air food stalls is grown in rural counties in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. The indoor merchants at the South Hall also carry local seafood, meat, and baked goods.

I decided to buy fruits and vegetables from Maryland and Virginia outside (specifically green beans, new potatoes, corn, fuji apples, mixed greens, and pears). I spent about the same amount of money as I would had I bought these products at the grocery store although I was not able to purchase some items that I normally would (such as bananas and avocados). Inside I bought chicken breast and locally-harvested bread from the bakery.

Besides impacting where I purchase my food, eating locally has caused me to cook at home more than I normally would. I have had to use some non-local ingredients (like spices and olive oil), but I have been able to stick to a mostly local diet. However, I think this would be really hard (and expensive) to keep up for an extended period of time.