I recently immersed myself in some new foodie reading. I love food memoirs and novellas involving memories of food and the sensual pleasures of the table. I just finished a book called Plenty. In short it is about a couple in Vancouver, B.C. who challenged themselves to eating exclusively from a 100-mile radius food shed for 1 year….here is a more detailed synopsis of their story.

Like many great adventures, the 100-mile diet began with a memorable feast. Stranded in their off-the-grid summer cottage in the Canadian wilderness with unexpected guests, Alisa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon turned to the land around them.

They caught a trout, picked mushrooms, and mulled apples from an abandoned orchard with rose hips in wine. The meal was truly satisfying; every ingredient had a story, a direct line they could trace from the soil to their forks. The experience raised a question: Was it possible to eat this way in their everyday lives?

Back in the city, they began to research the origins of the items that stocked the shelves of their local supermarket. They were shocked to discover that a typical ingredient in a North American meal travels roughly the distance between New York City and Boulder, Colorado, before it reaches the plate.

Like so many people, Smith and MacKinnon were trying to live more lightly on the planet; meanwhile, their “SUV diet” was producing greenhouse gases and smog at an unparalleled rate. So they decided on an experiment: For one year, they would eat only food produced within 100 miles of their home in Vancouver, B.C.

It wouldn’t be easy. Stepping outside the industrial food system, Smith and MacKinnon found themselves relying on World War II–era cookbooks and maverick farmers who refused to play by the rules of a global economy. What began as a struggle slowly transformed into one of the deepest pleasures of their lives. For the first time, they felt connected to the people and the places that sustain them.

For Smith and MacKinnon, the 100-mile diet became a journey whose destination was, simply, home. From the satisfaction of pulling their own crop of garlic out of the earth to pitched battles over canning tomatoes, Plenty is about eating locally and thinking globally.

The authors’ food-focused experiment questions globalization, monoculture, the oil economy, environmental collapse, and the tattering threads of community. Thought-provoking and inspiring, Plenty offers more than a way of eating. In the end, it’s a new way of looking at the world.

Like all modern folks, they too created a BLOG

Check it to learn more about their adventure in local eating and the amazing places and tastes they experienced along the way!

The other book is by a favorite author of mine, Ruth Reichl, American food writer, the editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine.

Titled Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table. I love her books because she very candidly weaves in very personal stories and tales about her evolution as a woman, chef and writer. This is one I will be finished with in just a few days.

And because I love it dearly…….I want to give a shout out to the Nevada County Library…….both of these books can be found there along with many many more…..check it out! It is there for you!

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Uncategorized by Wendy Van Wagner