Living La Vida Loca

Could you stand only cooking and eating food that was grown or raised within a 100-mile radius of your house? It's more than a provocative idea for members of the growing “locavore'' movement - the term for people who are pushing this concept to support foods produced by local farmers and to reduce environmental concerns associated with shipping foods cross-country or cross-hemisphere. Makes sense, but a kitchen restricted to locally produced food is obviously a huge challenge for any foodie. Locavores must strike several items from their shopping lists including sugar, chocolate, olive oil, flour, coffee, and tea.

Still interested? If so, we pulled together some suggestions and local resources for our friends in Washington, DC while national information can be found at eatlocalchallenge.com. There is also a good book on the topic Home Grown: The Case for Local Food in a Global Market.

Be aware. It's a complicated issue. Some environmental justice groups worry that the locavore approach could hurt developing countries that are dependent on farm exports. Others say, ``Give up chocolate? You have to be loco to be a locavore.''

SEE OUR LOCAVORE MENU