special page of recipes which can be made from locally available foods in the winter, as well as a list of where to find local ingredients in the Mad River Valley.
This year, the Winter Localvore Challenge will take place in the Mad River Valley for one week: January 29- February 4, 2007. The challenge is to eat only foods grown, produced, or raised within a 100-mile radius of your home - for a meal, a day, a week - you decide what is a challenge for you.
There is an abundance of food produced here in Vermont, even in the middle of winter. We have access to
root vegetables, wonderful cheeses and other dairy products, humanely raised meat and eggs, whole grains, and much more!
While eating 100% locally for a week is totally possible, we realize that it might be a bit more tasty if we include the option to spice things up a little. Therefore our Challenge will include the Marco Polo Exception for salt and dried spices. In addition, we realize that many of us have certain foods which we just cannot live without (caffeine, anyone?), so each Localvore can choose up to five Wildcards during the week-- specific foods which cannot be obtained locally but we consider critical to our daily existence (common examples include coffee, tea, chocolate, olive oil, etc). We leave the choice up to you, and ask you to consider your Wildcards in advance and plan your meals accordingly.
The Localvore Challenge is not about deprivation, it is a celebration of all the wonderful food that is available
to us here in Vermont! It is an opportunity for us to stretch ourselves, be creative in our food choices, and learn more about where our food comes from.
The Mad River Valley Localvore Project will be hosting events throughout the year to help educate participants about local food resources, and during the week of the Winter Challenge we will help to coordinate potlucks and other events (stay tuned to our Events page).
Wondering where to find local foods for
next week's Challenge?
We've done much of the work
for you, scoping out the
local stores and restaurants
to find out what's
available.
Participating restuarants
include Michael's Good to
Go, The Big Picture Cafe,
Sweet Pea Natural Foods, and
the Three Mountain Cafe.
For a list of winter recipes
check out the Eat Local
Winter 2007 Survival Guide
online at
Carrot and Potato Latkes with Spiced Sour
Cream