Locawhat?

I have had a great desire to write about my new found passion. What is that Passion? Well, it's for something that every human being on this planet has in common. No one's immune to it and everyone needs it. Food.

You might ask, "D.J., why is food your new passion"?

1. My current reading of The Omnivores Dilemma by Micheal Pollan. Pollan follows the food chain from beginning to end. Frightening and liberating at the same time.

2. Living in Chattanooga, Tn. Here, I've found a group of friends who cares so dearly about the food we eat and how it gets to us. That includes one of our clients at widgets & stone, Sequatchie Cove Farm. At SCF they're raising food the traditional way. (Cows on grass, no hormones, free roaming chickens and pigs.) Often I ease drop on meetings between our creative director and Bill Keener(owner of SCF). I'm so grateful that I get to glean from his wisdom of food.

3. Just being a connected person. I like to know the story behind things, whether it's a person or food.

4. Spirituality. It's said that our bodies are temples and we must take care of them. Literally, I am what I eat. If I eat junk (food loaded with additives, preservatives, and things I can't pronounce), I feel like junk. If I eat healthy food, I feel great! I'd rather chose the later and eat the food the way God created it, way back when. Think about it, the food at the farmers market isn't much different from the food that Adam and Eve enjoyed. (stolen idea from Micheal Pollan)

I'd like to share two meals with you, that I had today and yesterday. I wasn't trying to, but I became a Locavore. For the day, I became a locavore, because everything I ate was from the Chattanooga region. (Think about, all of my money went back to Chattanooga!) At the Main Street farmers market, I met the handlers of my bread, and the growers, sowers, and pickers of my Kolirabi, Radish, Kale, and Cabbage. I had stories! I knew where this food was from.

I was a bit trigger happy at the farmers market. I ended up buying a whole bunch of stuff I didn't know how to cook. (Perhaps, an omnivores dilemma?) Luckily, yesterday, Bill Keener came in and alleviated my intimidation of my food. He said, just saute it or steam it or make a salad of it.

So here it goes, my local, healthy, story filled meals. The connected persons (me), dream meal. If only I had planted and grown portions of it. (I did nibble of a bit of arugula that I'm growing at one point) Joseph (my roommate and co-worker) and I shared this meal along with great fellowship.

Napa Cabbage, Kolirabi, Niedlov's ciabatta bread, Radish, Kale

Dinner is served! Ciabatta bread toasted and served with olive oil and Joseph's grown rosemary, Sauteed kale and kolirabi greens w/ touch of lemon, cabbage salad with kolirabi and radish, steamed kolrabi, kale, cabbage, and radish.

mmmm!

Pasteur raised eggs from Williams Island Farm

Look at the color of the yoke!

Toasted Ciabatta, Pasteur raised egg, home grown rosemary, and local Chattanooga water with a touch of homegrown mint.

On top of being a locavore, I rode a bike to work today and yesterday. I'm not boasting about any of this. My hope is to encourage and inspire others to try. It's intimidating at first, but, if I can do it, you certainly can!

Cheers!



















UPDATE: Drinking local beer from the Terminal Brewhouse, for lunch. Beer counts too! For those outsiders, that's lookout mt. in the background. The intersection you see is Market and Main. I'm enjoying the local beer on the Terminal's green roof.