200-Mile Dinner: A Locavore Challenge

By: Megan Rowe | August 02 2010
Posted in San Francisco Bay Area - Cook It - San Francisco

I like to think I’m a pretty conscientious cook. I try to buy only seasonal produce, I keep an eye out for humanely raised meat, and I try to work meatless meals into the weekly food rotation. But what about eating locally?

The Challenge: Make a complete dinner with only ingredients produced within 200 miles of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Photo: Megan Rowe

I planned to feature local summer produce, plus pasta from the Scotts Valley-based Santa Cruz Pasta Factory, owned by a local couple who has lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains for over a decade.

I hit up the Felton Farmer’s Market, snagging summer squash and a red onion from the Casalengo Family Farm in Soquel and baby gem lettuce and an heirloom tomato came from Happy Boy Farm, near Watsonville. I also bought spicy beef sausage from the Old Creek Ranch in Cayucos.

Then I stopped by the local New Leaf grocery store for fresh yellow corn from Pinnacle Organic Farm in Hollister.

Armed with some heavy cream from Clover Farms in Petaluma and some goat cheese from Laura Chenel's Chevre in Sonoma County, I was ready to make dinner.

The Menu:

Summer salad with heirloom tomatoes, summer peaches, avocadoes, and fresh corn

Zucchini and patty pan squash skillet gratin with sautéed onions and corn

Roasted garlic spaghetti with spicy beef sausage, fresh corn, and goat cheese

Berry lime granita with mascarpone

The Grade: B+

I managed to stay almost exclusively local, with everything coming in under 200 miles except for the Parmesan and mozzarella I used to top the gratin, and the sugar, limes, and mascarpone in the granita.

Photo: Cary Kempston

The Verdict: Eating locally is delicious.

The meal featured some of the best summer produce I’ve had this year. Which makes sense – local food didn’t have to sit in a truck or a plane for hours to get to my kitchen. A particular standout was the corn, which was so fresh, it almost didn’t need cooking.

So am I planning to buy exclusively local ingredients from now on?

Of course not. I love the fact that I can go to a grocery store and buy fresh mangoes and pineapples, and that I can come home and order English mint jelly and German chocolate online. Some things we just can’t get locally – my granita would have been much less delicious without the lime, sugar, and mascarpone.

But is it worth making the effort to buy locally twice a month or once a week?

Definitely. It would be a shame to miss out on beautiful local produce just because the flashy tropical fruit happened to catch my eye, or to go straight to the dried pasta instead of sampling fresh pasta made only a few miles from my house.

Like other aspects of eating conscientiously, eating locally shouldn’t be a hard and fast rule. It’s all about being aware of what you eat.

If you decide that limes from Mexico are the best accompaniment to local strawberries and blueberries, go for it. At the same time, isn’t eating vegetables lovingly raised by the same person you met at the farmer’s market a more wholesome experience than picking up produce at the supermarket?

There’s just something about knowing the story behind your food that makes it so much better. Thanks to the constraints I placed on this meal, I find myself asking where my food comes from, and I’ve got a whole list of local farms I plan to visit, like Harley Farms Goat Dairy in Pescadero and Camp Joy Gardens in Boulder Creek.

In fact, the wild blackberry bushes lining the streets around here are starting to ripen. Excuse me while I go perform some taste tests.

Roasted garlic spaghetti with spicy beef sausage, fresh corn, and goat cheese Recipe.

Zucchini and patty pan squash skillet gratin with sautéed onions and corn Recipe.