Do you do your best to eat local?

I grow what I can and get the rest from the farmer’s market. If I have to get something from the grocery store, I try to find things that were grown in state.

Yes. And I find it isn’t too difficult.

In theory

I’m poor. Burger King is the cheapest way to get full.

I grow as much as I can and hit the farmer’s markets as often as possible. I still have carrots coming. I go into a funk in Winter when there’s no good produce.

I thought you meant not eating at chain resturants lol. I eat local in that sense.

My goal is to hunt and fish for enough meat that I don’t have to buy any for the year.
I will put an heirloom garden in next spring, I will finally have the ground cleared. With a little luck and a lot of work I will be self sufficient to the point of not needing to buy seed in 2–3 years.

Everything is grown in CA. It’s hard not to eat locally. Even food from Mexico is local, to me.

Yesss. It’s pretty easy in Boulder, people are freaks about eating local. Freaks in a good way. It’s awesome.

I’m better at it in the summer, farmer’s market all over the place.

Oui.

Yes. It is easy here due to the supply and demand of locally grown, organic foods.

Yep, and I am fortunate to live in a major farm trails zone.
My local market carries tons of locally grown organic produce, eggs and meats.

On my road alone there is a walnut ranch, several vineyards with wine and table grapes and a private Bonsai nursery.

@Coloma How do you cook the Bonsai? Sort of like broccoli?

@janbb haha, yes, steam the Cypress tree lol

My culinary skills are dormant, but I just got a job doing home delivery routes for a really good CSA, which has me stoked. I get a free box of produce a week as a benefit.

Nope. I eat in Paris or Naples every night. ~

Seriously, though, I do tend to purchase local produce whenever possible. I am fortunate that all of the grocery stores in my area have local produce sections.

No. Lots of things don’t grow here without a lot of work (like importing lots and lots of fertilizers), so eating local is often more harmful than eating the stuff imported from somewhere else. It’s also something that costs a lot more, so I don’t really have the luxury of spending all that extra money right now (in fact, I’ve seen some people be pissed at the idea of someone spending student loan money on food from Whole Foods and not Safeway).

Groceries? No, I shop bargains only.

I don’t do local b/c in South Florida, most of the only local stuff is citrus, or nuts. But I’m OK with Cali, as long as my produce comes from the US of A I’ll take it over eating oranges all day (But Florida oranges are the best citrus). The only produce I can’t find nationally is bananas, which I think are from hispanola or something.

Yes. I always have, even before it was coool!

No.That would be wacky!

Usually I eat “local” – in my kitchen!

I really have no choice, but I would probably support my local farmer’s market if I lived in a city on the mainland. I like the idea of it. There is an economic theory that spending your money locally gets spent three times. I like that, and I like fresh food.

I grow my own fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices. My hens produce more eggs than I need. Mutton and goat for milk and meat are produced here on the property. I make my own cheese and grow my own mushrooms. I get shellfish such as crab, lobster and conch by simply snorkeling on an afternoon. I can fish in the bays, in the surf, or off the shore for other fish. My surplus is traded for labor, or in town for flour and imported goods such as maple syrup and personal hygiene supplies—things not produced here. I’ve not spent hard currency on food, except for the animals, since my arrival here, Oh, except to have a case of kielbasa and Nebraska porterhouse steaks flown in—unnecessary luxuries. Beef products and grains, except rice, are not normally produced in the Windward Islands and are therefore extremely expensive. It is cheaper to have beef products flown in directly in bulk quantity from the producer.

This labor consists of about 20 hours per week. If I were a home-husband, this is exactly what I would be doing, besides organizing local fresh farm markets in towns around me the other 20 hours a week, or so. There are a lot of pdfs on the net from universities on how to organize your own farmer’s markets.

I don’t believe restaurants, especially those in the U.S., that claim they get all their provisions locally. “Local” usually means that they get their products within 350 miles of the restaurant, or within a radius of about one day’s travel. Investigations by various food critics over the years have proven this false to the 90% percentile in my former home county in Florida. Chefs have admitted that it is nearly impossible to do this and can only justify the prices they charge if they claim local. A Florida provender who runs a low-stress, organic, sustainable pig farm has sued Florida restaurants time and again for advertizing that they use his product when they don’t. He produces very expensive, lean, high quality pork at great extra cost to himself.