Pistachios don't grow in New York

But other than that mindless munching that I did this afternoon, I've been pretty darn good with this eating local challenge today. I'm working from home these days, which means that afternoons get a little bit slow for me. So after a breakfast of smoothie (blueberries and peaches I picked in New Jersey, raspberries from connecticut, milk from ny), I headed outside (yay! beautiful sunny day!) and was about to head to my usual coffe shop haunts when I thought, uh oh, do they serve locally grown food? The tea I was craving today was a vanilla rooibas-- from south africa, and I'm just not sure what teas are locally made, so i opted to not have any (luckily, again, not a cold day, because chocolate also would be questionable for being local). I wandered in and out of a few different coffee shops and restaurants, finding organic and a fish sandwich shop, and an all local gourmet hot dog restaurant (!) called Bark, which looked yummy and local, but for $4 a dog was a little spendy, and they had no wifi, but I'll probably make my way out there later on this week as I try to keep this up.

I finally ended up at Blue Marble, a fantastic ice cream shop/cafe with the best ice cream in new york, locally made! I had a bergen bagel, glass of water (mason jar) and pumpkin ice cream cone. No waste and all local, and all sooo good. So far so good.

And then I ended up coming home and trying to work some more. but since i was up pretty late due to hanging out late with a nice boy, i was struggling to stay awake and started popping the pistachios-- not candy... and then realized that they were from San Joaqin, CA. Blast! Ah well, dinner reformed me, with roasted local potatoes from the farmers market (a yummy mix of blue, red, white, and sweet potatoes) and sauted mushrooms, onion, and celery. Not elaborate, but good. The question I guess is then, can I use salt? I'm pretty sure that's not local, but it is kosher.

So, eating local all the time? probably not feasible for me right now. But trying to? I am a believe in this-- eat local, eat seasonal, eat less processed-- it just seems healthy, it tastes delicious, and it is environmentally more sound. Cost-- well, a body that doesn't fall apart in my 50s, no heart disease or diabetes, well, that's worth it to me.

What about you? Where does your food come from?