Could you have merry holiday minus rum in your eggnog? And what if the cranberries fell off the menu?
Could you forego such pleasures to give a little gift to our overheated world?
Thanks to a hit book and the online community that has grown up around its website, such questions will be part of the holiday consciousness this year.
In 2007, Vancouver authors Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon published The 100-Mile Diet (Vintage), a title that became a catch phrase for environmental awareness in the kitchen.
At 100milediet.org, the committed from all over North America exchange recipes, issue challenges and share information on eating locally. Check out the recent exchange on 100-mile diet Thanksgiving solutions for a taste of how interested parties might approach their Christmas celebrations.
The book was inspired partially by a statistic: we typically have to burn enough fuel to transport our food 1,500 to 3,000 miles from the farm to the kitchen — an increase of 25 per cent from 1980 to 2001.
The statistic was research that followed a stellar meal at the authors’ rustic cabin in Northern B.C.: A char reeled in from a creek nearby, chanterelles plucked from the forest, potatoes and garlic turned up in an overgrown garden plot, and apples and sour cherries picked in an abandoned orchard.
The meal and the statistics shaped a year-long experiment of trying to eat only food produced within a 100-mile radius of Smith and MacKinnon’s Vancouver apartment. Food became a catalyst for their rediscovery of home turf and they impart the experience in colourful detail in The 100-Mile Diet.
The book inspires a shift from automatic to manual when it comes to shopping and cooking. Searching supermarket shelves feels like a forced march under flourescent lights. You hear the farmers calling from the market.
Okay. It’s easy in Vancouver, right? About 95 per cent of the Canadian cranberry crop is grown here. Some communities in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have access to that tradition as well.
Edmontonians might enjoy a switch to currant or Saskatoon preserves next to wild turkey or pheasant from Dirt Willy’s Game Birds (www.dirtwilly.com) or a wild boar ham from Hog Wild Specialties (www.hogwild.ab.ca). The Slow Edmonton Food Guide at www.slowfoodedmonton.ca offers a good rundown on such local producers.
There’s a definite shortage of local rum in Vancouver, however, so I’ll have to forego the rum & eggnog and, in fact, there are few spirits to pour into a homemade Irish cream. I’m jealous of Quebecers who have 100-mile access to Fine Seve, the distilled maple wine, which sounds perfect for such purposes.
My holidays won’t include spirits so instead I’ll stock up on wine, cider and beer produced within 100 miles of Vancouver: the pinot noir from Garry Oaks Winery on Salt Spring Island; the exquisitely bottled Pommeau, a 17 per cent alcohol aperitif-style concoction from Sea Cider on Vancouver Island; and at least a keg of Auld Nick, a Scottish-style ale from R&B Brewing, here in the city.
I better run down to R&B right now to see if Auld Nick’s in stock yet. I like this 100-mile thing, especially when research takes me just stumbling distance away.
