Speaker: John Caveny, raiser of heritage poultry.
Location:
Eli’s Cheesecake Factory
6701 W. Forest Park Drive
Chicago, IL
I don’t eat locally for any one reason. There are a number of reasons that have a bearing on any local food decision that I make. First and foremost, I’m interested in food and I like to know a lot about where my food comes from. Below are five other reasons that might make sense to you. You might not agree with all of them, but I hope that one or two resonate with you:
First and foremost, what drew me to local, seasonal eating was simply taste. My passion for new and exciting flavors taught me that the closer something is to its original source and natural state, the more likely it is to have a better, stronger flavor. Of course, “better flavor” is a subjective notion, but I believe that there are few people who would argue with the taste difference between a fresh peach picked ripe from the tree and a peach that was picked underripe a week ago, and gassed during its 2000-mile journey to force ripening.
There are a number of studies and statistics on both sides of the question of the environmental impact of local eating. I don’t find it interesting or compelling to quote studies and statistics, but I do believe strongly that supporting local farmers, especially farmers using sustainable practices, lessens our impact on the environment.
Eating locally helps support local agriculture and local small businesses. Choosing to do business with our friends and neighbors helps keep a healthy and diverse local economy.
I find it depressing that you can enter a supermarket almost anywhere in the country and see the exact same produce shipped from the exact same places. Grapes from Chile, oranges from Australia (I even saw this in Florida!), berries from Mexico. I believe that what we eat defines a large part of our culture. When we homogenize our diets from Maine to California we’re degrading what makes our cities and states interesting and enjoyable places to live.
When you know exactly where your food comes from, it’s much easier to find the source of a problem. Multi-state large-scale salmonella or e. coli outbreaks are harder to diagnose or control when our food comes from all over the world.
Our mission is to become a valuable resource for eating locally in and around Chicago. Local eating is not about having lunch at the restaurant in your neighborhood. It’s about incorporating locally-grown foods into your diet.
I’ve long been interested in the food choices that people make. When I started EatChicago.net, it was one of the first blogs in Chicago focused specifically on eating in Chicago. My goal was to introduce new tastes to a wider audience in an accessible way. My passion for the tastes of Chicago spilled over into LTHForum.com, Chicago’s top culinary discussion site. I spent years as a moderator and administrator of LTHForum, and I continue to participate in discussions there today.
While I was eating, discussing, and writing about Chicago food, I was learning more about myself and what I truly enjoy to eat. Over time, my omnivorous nature refined itself into an excitement for seasonality and small-batch, locally-produced foods. My wife and I made two trips that solidified my love of regional cuisine: a ten-day road trip through New England and a 16-day tour of Italy. Both places are acutely aware of their local agriculture and they celebrate it on their plates. Since returning from these trips, I’ve made a stronger commitment to incorporate more local foods into my diet.
Read my “Why Eat Local” post for more specific thoughts on the benefits of local eating.
I do not like the word “locavore”. It denotes vegetarian-style completeness. You cannot have a slice of bacon and still be a vegetarian. But you can have a banana in Chicago and still eat local. Many books, news stories, and websites would have you believe that you have to make a monastic pledge to local food to be called a locavore, and lesser attempts are invalid.
Our approach is less completist and more practical: Use what’s available and make a sincere effort to find it. I believe that if you make small changes over time, those changes will become habits. We think that maintaining new local eating habits for a lifetime is better than making a pledge to eat local for a year and then slowly go back to the old way of doing things.
We don’t want to preach or bully anyone into seeing things our way. We don’t care if you’re a 100% locavore, someone who’s trying, or just casually interested. We simply want to be a good resource and keep the discussion going. If just one person reads this site and is compelled to skip the Chilean grapes at Jewel this summer for a bag of Michigan peaches from a farmer’s market, we’re happy.
Over time we hope to build a site rich with feature stories, blog entries, maps, guides, and more. It’s going to be a long (but delicious) journey full of bountiful summers and long winters but we hope you’ll join us for the ride.
All the best,
Michael Morowitz
Editor In Chief
