Jena Performing Local

Gilfeather and Parsnip Soup!

2011-02-07T15:23:00.000-08:00

So i found a gilfeather (top round vegetable) at the farmers market last weekend and decided to buy it because i didn't know what it was. Doing a little research I found the gilfeather to be a root vegetable indigenous to vermont! (it must have been fate) It was named for John Gilfeather of Wardsboro - a town on the southern border of Vermont who grew the rutabaga (although he called it a turnip) in the early 1900's. Each frost it undergoes in the ground only increases the sweet yet mild flavor, which makes this root veggie particularly well suited to grow in vermont. In fact it is one of the few vegetable actually indigenous to vermont and is a heirloom variety.

So inspired by the creamy turnip soup that the chef at my restaurant makes I did a little improvising and made a spicy gilfeather and parsnip soup. I started by sauteing a diced onion in butter, then adding vegetable broth and the root vegetables (i threw in 1 random potato for texture) and simmering for about 45 minutes, or until soft. Next adding in some heavy cream and blending it with my handheld kitchen aid (which since my butter making incident I am very careful with). Once everything is pureed, I simmered a few dried chili pepper in the soup for about ten minutes. This adds a nice smokey flavor. Overall I couldn't believe the sweet flavor of the gilfeather, balanced with the parsnip unique flavor. I loved the creamy texture with the smokey flavor too. Watch the video I took when i made my roommates taste it!

Franklin Cafe, South End Buttery, Central Kitchen and Green Street Cafe

2011-02-07T11:44:00.000-08:00

Some other places I've checked out lately:

I stopped in to Franklin Cafe for a bite of eat after going to a Bordeaux tasting at the Boston Harbor hotel. I had a tasty Seared Tuna with scallion potatoes and a small side salad - $17. It was perfect, and to go with I had a Cucumber Gin martini. I liked Franklin Cafe, located on Shawmut in the South End, just down the street from my favorite, Formaggio's. It's a dark little restaurant know as an industry hang out of the area as they serve dessert until 1:30am. The only downfall was they don't serve dessert. From a business stand point this makes sense in a way, you don't make a lot of profit from dessert and its going to keep the customers there another 20 minutes when you could be turning the table and getting more people in and out. Never the less, I live for dessert and was a little put off.

It did however give me the opportunity to walk a block down to the South End Buttery. From first appearance it looks just like a bakery, but a few years ago they opened up a restaurant and bar in the back and it was super cute. Downstairs is a restaurant and upstairs a tiny little bar. I had a hot chai cocktail and creme brulee and a little limoncello. Fun little place, I'd recommend!

Another night I started out at Central Kitchen in Central Square with a cocktail and Mussels. It was a dark, rustic decor. Yummy bread from Iggy's (does anyone bake their own bread anymore?) served on a little cutting board. Small menu, but I liked what they had going on their. Unfortunately the couple next me at the bar was being obnoxious so I left after that. Also they have really little wine glasses (fail). I headed over to green street grill to meet friends. we had some cocktails, and enjoyed a tasty Mac n Cheese with tomato. For dessert we shared a rosemary ice cream and pumpkin ice cream. While it looks from the outside like a dive bar, the inside is clean and sleek without being pretentious. I'd check it out!

Bergamot!

2011-02-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

So I've been doing a bit of wining and dining the last few weeks! I've been rather into going out to eat solo. I've found eating at the bar is a fun way to check out a lot of the restaurants around town, and i usually end up chatting with rather interesting people. Who says you need someone else to go with you to go have a fabulous meal! So here's some of the places I've checked out Recently.

One of my new favorites is Bergamot on the edge of somerville and cambridge. I've probably driven past it a ton of time and never noticed it, but its on the corner its on the corner of Beacon and Washington Street sort of behind Inman Square. Its super cute. I liked the atmosphere of the bar (casual, fun, classy) and found the dining room (while cute and slick) a little stuffy. The kitchen is open to the dining room and you can see the chef's cooking. I got to chatting and it turned out the old general manager and bartender from my restaurant Pigalle worked there and so I ended up with soo much food. All the staff was very kind :-)

They had a very decently price Bar Menu around 10-12$ and even the dinner menu was decently priced with entrees around 20-25$.

I started with a momisette sour to start which has Genever, Pastis (french anis flavored liquor), Orgeat (syrup made from almond, sugar and rosewater), and Classic Eggwhite sour. I had never heard of Genever, but Paul the bartender explained to me if gin and whiskey had a baby, this is what it would be. Its the herbs and flavors of gin, but its distilled like whiskey and is actually what gin evolved from. It was absolutely delicious. Its interesting, I've been seeing a trend around the city of bringing back classic prohibition era inspired cocktails. Very interesting....

They sent out a little amuse from the chef but i forgot to take a picture (with my crappy iphone camera) and I can't really remember what it was but it was yummy :)

Next I had fried oysters crusted with potato napa cabbage slaw,

carrot-raisin emulsion and fried capers. $11

Grilled Griggstown Quail chickpea-manchego puree, chorizo dust, napa cabbage, piquillo pepper vinaigrette. I went CRAZY for the chickpea manchego, sooo good. I can't wait to try making it. I've definitely been in love with beans lately. $12

The best of the night was the lobster melt. Cheese and seafood are usually such a culinary fopaux, but this was the most amazing thing I've ever had. Lobster grilled cheese. At 11$ its so worth going for. The bartender said before he worked there, he worked at craige on main, and came every monday on his day off for the lobster melt. I will definitely be back for that!

They were kind enough to send out a side of brussels sprouts tossed with ham and roasted. So delicious. My favorite veggie find of the winter for sure. I had never really had it until it showed up on the crispy duck dish on the menu at my restaurant. What and under valued vegetable! I don't really understand why its always had such a bad rap i my mind, but they were definitely super tasty. I guess its a generational thing about how its cooked and if you've never had any how would you know!

Next I was fed some sort of small almond tart as a dessert amuse. yum!

White Chocolate Lime Mousse dark chocolate teardrop, lime filaments, white chocolate powder. This was heaven. $10

Stop in for a bite at the bar at Bergamot!

Recover Green Roofs!

2011-01-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

I had a great experience yesterday meeting the very cool dudes of Recover Green Roofs. I heard about co-founders Mark Winterer and Brandon Shea via a video a friend posted on my facebook of a project they worked on in Dorchester, building a rooftop garden for the restaurant The Ledge.

Recover Green Roofs from Paper Fortress on Vimeo.

I went to check out Recover Green Roofs yesterday in their office based in olive square in somerville. For those of you who haven't had a chance to make it over to The Fringe Movement, you should really check it out. Its an artist collective of workspaces tucked right behind union square. There were so many cool things going on in addition to Recover, I was struck by amazing energy. Check out a little of what's going on.

Fringe from Paper Fortress on Vimeo.

Mark showed me some of the project they have worked on and the process they go through to build and design the gardens.

They told me about a potential upcoming project. They are having discussions with downtown tapas restaurant Toro about a food roof, but it is still in the preliminary stages. Its super exciting to think about a premiere downtown restaurant having a rooftop garden to grow its vegetables! So you know I will be following this project and photographing the building of the garden! Mark and Brandon were really excited about having the project documented as well.

Mark showed me a company they grows designs in plants starting in a green house and then eventually can be hung vertically on a wall!

Plus they had some really cool terrariums. Have I just found the coolest thing going on in Somerville? I think maybe.....

Wine Expo Food Demo

2011-01-23T20:01:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure to assist Chef Marc Orfaly of Pigalle at a food demo at the Boston Wine Expo. I've been thinking about the passing of knowledge and food traditions (or the lack there of!) Gone are the days of passing knowledge generation to generation and chef's are celebrities. The knowledge of a chef seems to be more a novelty than a tradition. I watched a couple other chefs demonstrate dishes from their prestigious restaurants in Boston, and it got me thinking. Cooking is very much about prestige. The prestige of one person cooking food to present to another. I realize I do it myself when cooking dinner for friends. There are so many dynamics when it comes to people and food. I was watching a NASA show about space missions to Mars tonight and they were discussing the space packaged dehydrated food that astronauts would have to eat for up to three years on a mission. More interestingly they talked about how important it was to the astronauts to share meals together even though they were coming from little dehydrated packages and how this social dynamic plays such a large role in how humans relate together. So what is it exactly that bonds us together over food when its not communal preparation or lusciously tasty food? What are the factors? What is it about people and food that creates such a dynamic relationship past sustenance. The astronauts said the control of pleaure....something to think about....

Vegetable Butcher!!!!

2011-01-20T08:15:00.000-08:00

Jennifer Rubell - An Artist Who Uses Food as Her Canvas from Gestalten on Vimeo.

Check this artist out Im so obsessed with it!!!

From her Bio on her website

"Jennifer Rubell creates participatory artwork that is a hybrid of performance art, installation, and happenings. The pieces are often staggering in scale and sensually arresting, frequently employing food and drink as media: one ton of ribs with honey dripping on them from the ceiling; 2,000 hard-boiled eggs with a pile of latex gloves nearby to pick them up; 1,521 doughnuts hanging on a free-standing wall; a room-sized cell padded with 1,800 cones of pink cotton candy.

Viewers are encouraged to partake in the work, violating the traditional boundaries of art institutions and engaging senses usually forbidden in or absent from museum and gallery contexts. Rubell’s work explores the intersection of the monumental and the ephemeral, and serves as a counterpoint to the virtual nature of much of contemporary life.

Some of Rubell’s notable previous projects include Old-Fashioned, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The de Pury Diptych at the Saatchi Gallery, London; Icons, at the Brooklyn Museum; Creation, for Performa, the New York performance-art festival; and, since 2001, a yearly breakfast project in the courtyard of the Rubell Family Collection in Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach.

Rubell, 40, received a B.A. from Harvard University in Fine Arts, and subsequently attended the Culinary Institute of America. She wrote about food for over a decade prior to beginning her artistic practice, including columns in the Miami Herald and Domino magazine, and the book Real Life Entertaining (Harper Collins). Rubell lives in New York City. "

She sorta annoys me when we she says shes not into performance art after she talks about marina abromovic, but the pieces look reall amazing. There's something there.....

The performing continues even when I don't realize...

2011-01-19T18:32:00.000-08:00

So my strictly local eating experiment of a senior thesis ended last spring but its effects have not been lost. In fact my whole life pretty much revolves around food. I manage (and mostly feed my self) a french restaurant, make work about food, eat food, search for local food, visit farmers markets, purvey the top restaurants in town, host dinner parties and feed others, and read about food. It all has to fit in, the performing really couldn't have ended...I think I constantly perform my food choices, perhaps its just a bit more fluid.

I've been doing a lot of thinking of how to proceed after my local eating challenge. So much about that project was about informing my perspective and experience. And so I've learned so much, and realized the complications and complexity of local eating, its not so cut and dry. While i still champion a nutritious and locally grown piece of food, I find myself thinking less about activism and more about knowledge.

Yes I want you to want to eat local food, and everything has come so far to help you do that, but I also realize its a whole cultural phenomena working against that impulse. Its a food system that is working against you. First of all its not very accessible but i think more interestingly its a lack of knowledge.

Our food system has evolved in a way that we have lost most of our food traditions that are tied to seasonal eating and eating for our climate. You don't have to know how to cook food to eat it and you don't need to know whats in season. In fact most of us would probably just equate being in season as when something tastes better. I never even knew asparagus is only meant to be eaten for two week in the spring. How would you when its in the grocery store year round. I remember seeing a long stalk of brussels sprouts at the farmers market this summer and being shocked by its form. And then finding it so ironic we don't know what most of our food looks like when its in growing form. I mean kind of hilarious?

(funny looking right?)

Which brings me to my next thought. One of the biggest gain of my local project? I tried root vegetables and discovered they aren't disgusting, if not sorta yummy. Too bad I didn't try them until the end or know what to do with them.

Like I mentioned, I work at a french restaurant. All you really need to know about french food is that everything is doused in butter and its delicious no matter what. While I'm not entire sure if its a seasonal thing or a gourmet thing (maybe both..) the chef (marc orfaly) uses a lot of what I would say kinda out there vegetables. Really they aren't out there vegetables at all merely ones the everyday person doesn't encounter. Needless to say I've gotten to try and fall in love with a ton of new vegetables. Go figure, its all in how you cook them ;-) Here we are back to the knowledge thing, knowing how to cook them! I've had an amazing opportunity to taste and learn how to cook a lot of new dishes from one of the most knowledge Chefs in the city.

So after being dumbfounded at the stalks of brussels sprouts this summer, I was very curious to try them when I saw them go onto the menu. The dish is crispy duck confit over bacony brussel sprouts and potato puree topped with a cherry glaze. How could it not be good right!?!

My ultimate favorite I've discovered is braised purple Cabbage. I had tried some cabbage in a soup i made during my local project and thought it was just alright. I had never had cabbage cooked like this though. Diced cabbage slow cooked in butter, then honey, sugar, and balsamic vinegar until it all sort of carmelizes. AMAZING. I fell in love with it on the pork weinershcnitzel. I got so obsessed with it that I would make every time anymore came over for dinner to the point where my friends now ask me, are you making that awesome cabbage?!?! (a small step for cabbage propaganda!) I even made it for my roommate, who made it for his dad, who then wanted to learn how to make it!

So I keep coming back to this idea of knowledge and the passing of knowledge. I guess I have conflicting feelings. I mourn the loss of tradition that makes food knowledge so important. I also realize it probably means a lot to have such a food security that we don't need it. But at the same time I want to honor those who practice a knowledge and craft. I don't need to know how to butcher a cow to eat a steak, but i really appreciate those who do. It may seem obvious but I never considered that each cow comes with a small number of each cut of meat. After reading and article in the new york times food issue about buying into a cow, i looked at the stacks of meat in shaws much differently. I'm looking to make a trip to savenors in cambridge or catch a butchering demonstration at the butcher shop.

So I suppose you could say I'm on a search to meet and find the people of knowledge. To engage a more primal understand of how my food is made and how to make it myself. Stay tuned... cheese cave.....mushroom growers....chefs....

Farmers Market Calender

2010-07-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

So I sorta jotted down the schedule of some of the farmers markets i had check out, but boston localvore did it much better and made an app. just click on the different views of the calender. Theres soo many going on daily that if you're able to travel a little, you could shop at the farmers markets almost like going to the grocery store. Or at least sometimes.

http://bostonlocalvores.org/2010-farmers-market-calendar

Anatomy of a local Meal via boston localvore

2010-07-11T18:00:00.001-07:00

Oh so very cool

http://bostonlocalvores.org/archives/2016

In the real world....

2010-06-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

I'm getting back to my beloved blog! Its been a couple months since I last wrote, and my life has shifted in a different way of living. My eating local project started as my senior thesis project and has really impacted how I eat and the choices I make. I've finished school, and found myself in a radical new adventure of the real world has taken center stage. I had been thinking the next step would involve getting out into the world and advocating what I've learned, but I feel I'm still learning myself. Its a daily task to navigate my food choices and figuring out how to live my beliefs all on my own. No structure, no one to report to. But its also a really exciting time. Local food is coming out in all its glory. Most of the farmers markets in the city are up and running with amazing produce and options since I was going to the winter farmers market outside of the city. Its becoming quite easy to shop locally with a farmers market almost every day. After 60 days of local food ended, I went so far in the opposite direction of eating (no local food at at all) that i was having a hard time navigating how to integrate local eating into everyday life. But I finally have been figuring it out. I would say I've actually been eating a large bulk of my diet in local food. I think the key to getting these foods into my diet is figuring out what to do with them. Working on local recipes was my answer to this issue, but I myself am still figuring out how to cook everything. Its still learning. But as I learn to cook in new ways, I do get to share them with the people around me, when my friends are willing :-) So I'd say its a process, one I want to share!

Here are the markets I have been going to!

Mondays: Central square 12-6 on Bishop Richard Allen Drive (parallel to mass ave)

Tuesdays and Fridays: Copley Square 11-6 both days

Thursdays: Prudential Center on Boylston 11-6

Some upcoming markets i haven't checked out yet:

Fridays: Allston Market!! Starts tomorrow! at the intersection of North Harvard and Western Ave 3-7

Mondays and Wednesdays: City Hall Market - City Hall Plaza along Cambridge Street: 11-6

Tuesdays and thursdays: South station. Across the street from south station: 11:30 - 6

Sundays: South End/SOWA open market: Open Market on Harrison Ave 10 -4

Wednesdays: Cambridge Center, Main Street, near MBTA: 11-6

Sundays: Cambridge Charles Square Plaza: 11-3

Tuesdays: Harvard Market at the intersections of Oxford and Kirkland in Cambridge 12:30-6

Thursdays: Kendall Square - 500 Kendall St - 11-2:30

more info at http://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/

mountain of kale

local kale mountain cooked in red wine sauce with onions, bread from the farmers market and couscous

chicken with a rhubarb and mushroom glaze! Made with my own rhubarb i grew!

Am I the only localvore out there?

2010-04-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

One thing I've been thinking about for a while is the importance of support and community on the part of local eating. Most of the people that I have read about (No Impact Man, Barbara Kingsolver) all do their local eating together with their families. I've met some of my farmers, and I've plowed through the social norms of eating, but I feel I'm lacking the connection to others that are as passionate about their beliefs. I can't imagine I'm the only one in boston interested in local food. I bet even some of the people around me would like to eat some local food, but haven't made the steps or don't know where to begin. While my 60 days of local eating was extreme, it can even be little steps and small choices, it doesn't have to be an all or nothing. So I want to invite anyone interested in learning how to find local food, cook it, or even just eat it to join forces and come together. Call me! Email me! jduncan802@gmail.com I don't know if anyone still reads this, but I know its hard to do it on your own, so why not do it together! Let me know!

Post-Local

2010-04-22T05:53:00.000-07:00

Its been about three weeks since my 60 days of strict local eating has ended. I've been having quite the love affair with non-local food, and i think its time to really think about what this means. In the reality of real life where I'm not bound by a set of rules, how do my beliefs and morals really play out? Well so far, not very well. I pretty much haven't eaten any local food since my 60 days ended. I have been regularly eating tortilla chips made in needham, because they are so good and easily found at various stores, but where the ingredients come from I don't know. I've switched back to organic milk that comes from wisconsin because it taste better to me, and i don't have to buy such a big container, and thus don't have to drink as much milk so fast because milk often gives me a stomach ache. But shouldn't local milk taste better? Perhaps organic local milk would taste the best. I don't know what it is but the crescent ridge milk i get at whole foods doesn't taste very great to me. Perhaps it has to do with that the milk is sourced from all around new england. Turns out its not that easy to find out exactly where your milk is coming from even if there is a location on the bottle, which is usually where its bottled. The best tasting local milk I have had comes from shaw dairy which is sold at the dairy bar in somerville. Honestly though I haven't been motivated to drive all the way to somerville for milk, when i can walk two block to whole foods. I think this also raises an interesting point of transportation of food on both end: farm to store, and consumer to store. the milk from whole foods traveled 1, 158 miles to the store and i walked two blocks to buy it. the milk from the dairy bar traveled 39 miles and i had to drive 8 miles round trip to buy it. Its clear that the consumer takes on extra energy costs (gas), time, and carbon emissions to be able to support a local business/farmer, and get a quality product. It seems that the biggest issue for the local movement is not a matter of convincing people its a good idea but making it accessible. If after going so extreme to as to eat local for 60 days, I won't even drive to somerville for milk, how could expect the average person would? Organic has caught on at most large shopping conglomerates, which is a start. Its true that organic is better than not, but while organic original signified the values of local - safeguarding
the ecological integrity of local bioregions; creating social justice and
equality for both growers and eaters; and cultivating whole, healthful
foods.- it now often usually points to industrial organic farming. Large scale organic doesn't use chemicals (at least not much), but it still grows large monocultures of single crops which drains the land of resources, is transported high distances, usually from central or south america as more of food is being imported for a cheaper price, where labor can be paid for less, and rhe food is picked unripe and ripened in a truck, and threatens to put local farmers who can't compete in scale out out of business. With organic being the 'big thing' these days many large businesses are jumping to put the cachet on their product. But is more the idea of organic that they are actually selling? Let think whole foods for a minute who really markets the whole idea of organic and local. But to actually distribute on such a high scale of whole foods, how could they buy produce from a small farmer? Real, "whole" foods cannot be shipped around the country. Michael Pollan makes a good point that how our food is grow is inseparable from how we distribute it, which is inseparable to how we eat it. Its a toss up, who 'should' bear the responsibility, the system or the consumer? I think at this point, the system leave it all up to the consumer. Its hard, and expensive, and time consuming to eat your beliefs, but in the end we are a consumer of our food.

normal eating?

2010-04-08T16:15:00.000-07:00

Its been a week now since my two months of local eating has ended. I've had my indulgence, still enjoying it a bit, but I'm left wondering how to resolve going back to a "normal" eating. I've learned so much doing this project and really valued this experience, but as a busy college kid with still injured fingers, franticly trying to get ready for my senior show, I don't have the time or energy to put in to finding and preparing all my food the way i have been. Part of it is the time of year, winter farmers markets have ended, and the spring ones will start soon - access is hard right now. I really appreciate the option to be able to buy food while i'm out, particularly when i'm at school and hungry, I can buy a snack now. so thats really great. I appreciate fruit!!! besides apples i didn't have any fruit. a diversity of vegetables. its funny though, i bought corn on the cobb for our bbq last night well knowing that corn is not in season and that it was from florida, and let me just say it was a sad piece of corn. limp, scrawny, flavorless. sort of similarly, i had my favorite ben and jerry flavor (magic brownies) and i'll be honest it didn't taste as good as i remembered, which was shocking because ben and jerry's is my thing. I had a burger and shake from u burger and felt terribly sick. I don't think I can drink milkshakes anymore, also shocking as its one of my favorite treats. Such intense dairy and sugar don't seem to agree with me anymore. I've also noticed i get full much more easily since doing my project. I'm satisfied by smaller portions than i used to. I find when i get a sandwich i can eat only half, and then the other half a few hours later. Its probably a good thing. I think its interesting to think about the over eating of americans, how it just feels normal and how its possible for your body to adjust to healthier portions instead of feeling deprived. Back to my original question, how do i reconcile my beliefs and my eating now in more real life situation without the extreme rules? The project certainly has changed me. Not in an eating disorder way, but i think about everything i eat, in terms of where its come from, how its grown or eaten. Do i want chicken in my pad thai if i can probably guess that it was raised with no room to move, its beak cut off, never seen the light of day, and pumped growth hormones to the point that its breasts were so big? or do i want to support the genetic modification of soy and gene patenting that is allowing large seed companies like monsanto to sue farmers who's crops have been pollinated by their geneticly modified seeds when there's no way to control pollination if i order tofu? like plato's cave, you can't go back to ignorance. i can't help but think about everything i eat, which can be overwhelming sometimes but ultimately part of the experience i wanted to gain from my project. one may think that one person can't make a difference but really we are the consumers of our food and we make the choice everytime we buy and then eat food. the food system is an economy, and every dollar goes somewhere. vote with your fork, eat your values. think about it. what you buy and eat is a direct action that has the potential to be farm more effect than talk or preaching ever will. If you don't like the system, don't participate in it. of course its easier said than done, but even small actions or changing part of your diet is profound. it doesn't have to an all or nothing kind of thing, but i think it really empowering to be able to have such direct choice and control over the issue of food that when thats not the case in many other political issues such as education or health care. the more people support local agriculture economy, the more it will respond with access and options. personal action really is how our food system will change. just think about it. :-)

p.s. my aesthetic manifestation of the project will be going up as an exhibition on sunday at 601 newbury, with an opening reception friday april 16th 6-8!

2010-04-07T06:31:00.000-07:00

So i've been living the non-local life pretty well now, eating out every meal and indulging in every way. the result? gained 3 pounds in 4 days, and i feel like crap. I went with friends to Uburger, and while it was all tasty and good i felt terrible after. i couldn't even make it through more than a 1/4 of my shake, and i LOVE shakes. my stomach hurt after, i felt really lathergic for hours, and grouchy.

basically its time to for me get back to more whole foods and veggies. I even feel sick the morning after. I gotta get back to healthy eating before i get used to feeling like crap again! i haven't run since i hurt my fingers two weeks, so its off for a jog and a tasty salad for me today!

2010-04-05T09:32:00.001-07:00

popping champagne from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

3 days post local

2010-04-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

So its a bit late but i thought i would let you know how life has been since my local eating challenge ended on thursday and ive been assimilating back into food culture. let me just say its ben great. it feels so freeing, and eating has become so fun! i haven't cooked anything, which has been relaxing. Every meal feels like a spontaneous adventure. I haven't had to worry about planning out my meals which has been nice. and COFFEE!! i may have not been perfect about the 100 miles but i didn't drink any coffee for the whole 60 days, not even a sip. so naturally ive been indulging in lots of coffee, and getting all sorts of buzzed in a way i never used to. sort of annoying actually! not a great feeling to have become so sensitive to coffee. my stomach hasn't loved much of what i've been eating (particularly ice cream?) but i haven't exactly eased in. here's what i've been eating the last few days :-)

lots of iced coffee with cream (i usually do milk or soy milk, but livin' life) donuts, lobster roll, milkshake, crackers, cheeseburger, asparagus (out of season and hard but AWESOME), fries, ben and jerry's (even being my favorite flavor, it didn't taste as good as i remembered...) pretzels, hot dog, pizza, eggs benedict with smoked salmon and spinach, mussels, emack and bolios ice cream, and a few bites of mac n cheese.

so yeah its been good. even though i've been eating sort of indulgently, i really can't eat as much as i used to (in general, not just treats) and i definitely eat smaller (healthy) sized portions now. my body is craving veggies. ive been having stomach aches. i need to go grocery shopping and get back to normal(ish) eating.

I have videos over due to show, and some recipes from a cook book i'm making, along with a map to share. The work I am making about this experience will be on exhibition at 601 newbury st. april 12-17th with and opening reception on april 16th 6-8. it will be fabulous. come share free champagne and wine with us. you might even get to see me making cheese and sample some if you're lucky!

best

Food Wrap Up!!

2010-04-02T07:47:00.000-07:00

Thursday-

Brunch: Omelette with salsa (Concord, MA - 21.4 miles) and cheese (Providence, RI - 49.6 miles) (eggs -Elizaville, NY - 165 miles)

Dinner: Tempeh (Somerville, MA - 5 miles) with melted cheese (Providence, RI - 49.6 miles)

Late night: Bravo Pizza (after midnight so totally legit!)

Drinks: Narragansett (Providence, RI - 49.6 miles) and champagne at midnight!

Wednesday-

Breakfast: Eggs (Elizaville, NY - 165 miles)

Snack: tortilla chips (Needham Heights, MA - 5.6 miles)

Dinner: Tempeh (Somerville, MA - 5 miles) Potatoes (Starksboro, VT - 13.5 miles from Bristol, VT 228 from boston) and Parsnips from Burlington, Vt - 22.1 miles from bristol, VT 223 from boston

Drinks: UFO White

Last day, (yesterday!)

2010-04-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

Last Day! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Today!

2010-03-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

Here is what i ate today:

Breakfast - Plain Yogurt (Stonyfield in Londonderry, NH - 51.5 miles) with Maple Syrup (North Brookfield, MA - 59.6 miles)

Snack - Carrots (Hadley, MA - 101 miles)

Lunch - Salad (HOME GROWN GREENS!!! 0 miles), potatoes (Lewis creek farm in Starksboro, VT - 13.5 miles from Bristol, VT 228 from boston) and onions (Warwick, NY - 185 miles from south deerfield, 228 miles from boston)

Dinner- Nachos : Chips (Needham Heights - 5.6 miles) Salsa (Concord, MA - 21.4 miles) cheese (Providence, RI - 49.6 miles) Potatoes (potatoes (Lewis creek farm in Starksboro, VT - 13.5 miles from Bristol, VT 228 from boston) Parsnips ( Burlington, Vt - 22.1 miles from bristol, VT 223 from boston)

Update

2010-03-30T09:13:00.001-07:00

I've gotten behind, as usual, because its been really hard to type. i've upgraded to bandaids on my fingers now and will get my stitches out in a few days, but it still hurts a bit. Anyway. Its' been really hard to feed myself local food without the use of my left hand. not to literally put food in my mouth, but to get food, and to prepare it (chopping, cooking, ect.) So i've had to make some compromises. The week kid of blurred together, but i've been eating a lot of the same things, so i'll make a list of the local and not local food i ate in the last week:

non local-

bagel Turkery sandwhich from bruggers, darwins, sandwhich, bravo pizza x 2, spinach salad, tuna sandwich, fries, wings

local-

spinach x3, oatmeal x 3, chorizo sausage x 3, pasta with sauce and cheese, eggs, potatoes, cabbage onion soup x 2, tortilla chips, crackers, home fries

so really not good on the illegal foods as i like to call them, but i haven't really had any food, so its been pretty tough, but my wonderful friend james drove me to sherman market in somerville on friday to stock up on some food which was really awesome. also i'm eating a salad for lunch today all with greens ive grown myself! its a rather small salad....

anyway sunday and yesterday i did good with all local food and will keep it up through thursday which is my last day!!! i don't know what i will have cause i have cheated with most of the things ive wanted. perhaps a really lovely glass of wine....

Video Archive

2010-03-29T14:37:00.000-07:00

how the plants are looking from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

New Bread from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

lobster adventure from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

what to eat? from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

dinner from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

tortillas from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

root veggies from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

tasting of the roots from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

aero garden from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

sprouts! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

plants update from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Ice cream update from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Straining Ice Cream from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Ice Cream Success!!!!!!!!!!!!!! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Failed Ice Cream #2 from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

no burgers for us tonight.... from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

GARLIC!!! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

ice cream attempt #1 from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Day 3!! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

my roommate said i could have a cookie if i was willing to eat wet cat food... from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

day 1!! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

2010-03-25T17:22:00.000-07:00

http://www.slowmoneyalliance.org/

check this out!!

butter mishap

2010-03-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

i gashed my hand up pretty bad on tuesday when i was scraping out the butter from the hand held blender, which was off, and some how got turned on. yeah, it really sucked. 17 stitches later.

swollen hand after ladacaine injection

so not only am i having a hard time doing things with my left hand but also making local food. i burned the crap out of the beans i was making for dinner cause my hand hurt so bad i went to lay down and the fire department barged in with their fire axes. i was a hot mess and had nothing to eat. anna saved the day and brought home take out from grasshopper. its hard to type a lot but lets just say its going to get interesting to say the least figuring out how to feed myself on my low supply of local food requiring lots of cooking.....

p.s. video in er to come

Current Realities

2010-03-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

So if you saw my last post of what i ate last week, you'll see i started making more exception with the culmination of sunday eating entirely zero local food. What's up with that right? Well I have been feeling the project coming to a close and I've felt like I've gleaned what I need to from this experiment and feel anxious to not be bound my these rules. I look forward to when eating local food is a daily decision rather than a constraints. i am making the decision for the constraint but it doesn't feel like real life, it feels like a project. and so i started being bad here and there and finally yesterday I really indulged. After breakfast I felt like shit (physically felt terrible) pizza was damn good though. Even though I was indulging, the whole time i was eating i felt really conscious of that fact that the bacon and eggs were most definitely coming from factory farmed animals - pigs in close confinement, chickens in cages. I usually have no problem telling people about my project and pushing acceptable social boundaries, but i just felt like going with it. So yeah a lot of the decision was based on wanting to participate in social situations. Social situation have been the number one thing I've felt alienated from during this project. Other people who i have read about that have done this sort of experiment (Barbara Kingsolver, No Impact Man) all have done it with their family. I feel like this would be a lot easier, since the people you eat with on a regular basis are doing the project too, versus me who I'm on my own with two roommates and all my friends not doing it. I feel like as a household decision it would be a lot easier, I'm constantly surrounded my food I can't eat and people eating it. I've learned to live with it, and meditate to zen place :-) its also funny though that people are constantly apologizing to me for eating in front of me, but its like what is that apology really doing? relieving you from feeling guilty, not really thinking about why I am choosing to make the statement of not the food you are. Ever think about why I'm not eating that cheeseburger in your hand? Its been really interesting how such a simple act on me not eating something affect the people around me. All these social protocols attached to food is sort of strange when you become aware of them.....

Anyway. I failed in a big (interesting?) way yesterday in terms of food, but I'm getting back in it today and going to finish out strong for the rest of the project. I thought i have one week left, as i was counting weeks (8 weeks = 2 months = 60 days) but when I counted out the days, April 1st will be day 60 so i have 10 days left (after today). hurray! People have been asking me what my first meal is going to be. It was going to be pizza, but since i've had pizza I think it's going to be a darwin's sandwich with turkey, hummus, apple, avocado, cheese, carrots, sprout, tomatoes, mayo and mustard, with and orange and a LARGE soy latte. yes please. Despite the cheating, there isn' really a lot of food i miss. Citrus and coffee are really the only big ones. I've been able to make a lot of things I want. And the things I can't, I don't really want to be putting so many chemical and high fructose corn syrup in my body.

and this week i gained .5 pounds to bring me to -.5 from my starting weight. honestly not bad if you look at everything I ate (i guess you don't get to see the quantities, but usually when i say ice cream, i mean the whole pint and when i say chocolate i mean one the big fancy chocolate bars) I bet i would lose a lot of weight if i didn't drink too. local beer has a lot of calories ha.

Food Rewind

2010-03-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

Tuesday-

Breakfast: toast (homemade) with butter (homemade)

Lunch: Arugula salad (Sheffield, MA - 139 miles)

Dinner: Quesadilla with home made corn tortilla (Corn Meal From Hadley, MA - 101 miles, Wheat flour from Norwich, VT - 139 miles) Turkey from New Haven, VT - 3 miles from Bristol, VT (where i was when i bought it) 219 miles from boston, Cheddar Cheese from Cabot, VT - 70 miles from bristol, vt, 198 from boston

Wednesday-

Breakfast: Toast (homemade) with butter (homemade)

Snack: Apple

Lunch: French Onion (whately, MA - 108 miles) Soup with Cabbage (South Deerfield, MA - 109 miles)

Dinner: Soup again, Chips (Needham, MA - 9 miles) and Salsa (concord, MA - 20.6 miles)

Dessert: Chocolate

Drinks: Narragansett (providence, RI - 49.6 miles) guiness (i only had one and it was st patrick's day)

Late Night: Bravo Pizza (illegal food)

Thursday-

Breakfast: French Toast with homemade bread and eggs from Grand Isle, VT - 44 miles from bristol, 246 from boston

Snack: Arugula Salad with home made dressing (oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup)

Snack: Tortilla Chips, Chocolate

Late Lunch: French Onion and Cabbage Soup

Dessert: Gaga Ice Cream from Warwick, RI - 65.8 miles

Drinks: Sam Adams

Late night: chicken tacos (illegal food -these tasted really bad, bland, and i felt like shit after and regreted it)

Friday-

Breakfast: Eggs (Grand Isle, VT - 44 miles from bristol, 246 from boston)

Lunch: Arugula Salad (Sheffield, MA - 139 miles) with smoked gouda (Winchendon, MA - 65.8 miles) and wheat berries (Northfield, MA - 88.9 miles), home made dressing

Snack: Chips (Needham, MA - 9 miles) and Salsa (concord, MA - 20.6 miles)

Snack: Ice Cream from Richardson's in Middleton, MA - 28.1 miles

Dinner: Pasta (somerville- 4.9 miles) Pasta Sauce - (Woonsocket, RI - 42.8 miles) Smoked Gouda (Winchendon, MA - 65.8 miles)

Drinks: Beer from Harpoon (boston, MA - 7.7 miles)

Saturday-

Breakfast: Eggs (Grand Isle, VT - 44 miles from bristol, 246 from boston)

Snack: Chocolate milk (Thatcher Diary in Milton, MA - 15 miles) Chips (Needham, MA - 9 miles) and Salsa (concord, MA - 20.6 miles)

Dinner: LAMB STEAK!!! on the grill (Stillman's Farm in Hardwick, MA - 77.4 miles) and Arugula Salad (Sheffield, MA - 139 miles) with Smoked Gouda (Winchendon, MA - 65.8 miles) and home made dressing

Drinks: Harpoon (boston, MA 7.7 miles)

Sunday- (Disclaimer: I failed in a big way on this day, see accompanying post)

Brunch: Eggs, toast, bacon, belgian waffle with strawberries and whip cream, home fries, mamosa with cranberry juice

Dinner: Cheese pizza, buffalo chicken pizza

Plantz

2010-03-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

how the plants are looking from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Soup!

2010-03-16T20:55:00.001-07:00

I made a delicious french onion soup also with purple cabbage. Sounds gross maybe but reallly good. I saw cabbage today and cringed, and bought it. I had never cooked cabbage before. So i sliced it up for my soup and started munching on some raw cabbage. BIG SURPRISE to me. I love cabbage, and had to stop munching before there wasn't any left! I'm constantly amazed at how much i like the food that have always seemed gross to me. I was listening to a thing today that was talking about how we developed the defense mechanism of being disgusted to keep us from eating things that could kill us, but i fail to see how being grossed out by beets and cabbage was designed to keep me from dying when they are actually very tasty. and look really cool. The cabbage gave my soup a great deep purple/red broth.

NYC

2010-03-15T20:24:00.000-07:00

So i spent the weekend in nyc for a trip for my art in context class packing in some full days going to different galleries and museums. It was a rainy weekend for sure. What i wasn't counting on was over stimulation of food desires. Even before I got off the bus I was watching all the restaurants and advertisements drive by. I wanted EVERYTHING. It was sort of rough. In the cold rainy weather with everyone else wanting it, I too really wanted coffee. I almost got some on a few occasions, but I held strong. So what did i eat? I ended up compromising a little. I brought some food and went to a farmers market in the terribly wind and rain, and gave in a little too. By the end of the day, I was soaking wet and exhausted so I picked my battles

Friday:

Breakfast - Eggs and Pancakes (ate at home)

Snack- carrots (precut and part of the two giant bags i brought)

Lunch- Turkey sandwiches with home made bread, misty knoll turkey from when i was in vt, Annie's Mustard from vt, goat cheese from mass

Snack- more carrots

Dinner - white pizza (locally made, probably not local ingredients)

Drinks- Blue Point Beer, gin and tonic (the bar ran out of beer glasses so i gave in and had a cocktail, a lame excuse i admit but it was so tasty, I've gotten rather sick of beer)

Saturday:

Breakfast- Apple Maple Smoothie from the farmers market

Grazing throughout the day- bread from farmers market, juice from farmers market

Early Dinner: Garlic Bread, Hot Chocolate, pizza (locally made but probably not local ingredients)

Snack: the turkey from my uneaten turkey sandwhich

Sunday:

Breakfast- Toast (homemade) with strawberry rhubarb jam

Late Brunch: Tomato Eggs, Homefries, bacon, salad, toast

Snack: Carrots

Dinner: Vermont Fresh pasta (from when i was home) tomato sauce, pesto

Dessert: French Vanilla Ice cream (Made in Cambridge)

Today:

Breakfast: Apple, Cheddar, goat cheese omelette

Lunch: Pasta with tomato sauce

Dinner: Pasta with tomato sauce and beef, cheese quesadilla with home made corn tortillas and cabot cheddar (from when i was home)

Dessert: Butterworks yogurt with maple syrup

what to eat? from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Epic Lobster Adventure with my Mom

2010-03-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

lobster adventure from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

My body

2010-03-15T08:40:00.001-07:00

So a lot of people have been asking me how its affecting my body. I started on the first day recording my weight weekly to try to see how the food would affect my weight (a REALLY general measure of how healthy i am eating) Here's what's been going on:

Starting weight: 150.5

After Week 1: 151.5 (+1 lbs)

Week 2: 150 (-1.5 lbs)

Week 3: 149.5 (-.5 lbs)

Week 4: 149.5 (0 lbs)

Week 5: 150.5 (+1 lbs)

Week 6 : 149.5 (-1 lbs)

Total Weigh loss: 1lbs

Ok so on initial thought, losing 1 pound isn't very impressive from not eating any processed foods. But lets look at the bigger picture right now. Its the middle of winter. Not a lot of fresh veggies are in season. The winter months are typically a time to eat ones winter stores and conserve energy. The whole meat and potatoes thing, pretty true if you through in some chicken and breads and diary too. So considering I'm eating a diet with pretty high fat, a lot of meat, few greens, and to be honest copious amounts of chocolate, I think I'm doing pretty good. I can't speak for everyone but in the winter we typically pack on the pounds. So if i lose a few pounds or even break even in the winter that sounds pretty good to me considering I eat a lot of chocolate and ice cream, whole milk yogurt, whole milk, a lot of bread, meat. I imagine in the spring and summer months when there are veggies galore will be a time to see more of an impact, but non the less I have dropped a pants size.

But interestingly enough I've been learning more about the nutrition of pastured meat and diary. It makes sense, but never occurred to me that what the animals eat highly determines their own nutrition and thus our nutrition. Cows and chickens naturally eat grass. Grass fed meat has high levels of beta carotene, vitamin e, and folic acid. In general, it has less fat than cows raised on corn feed

and living in a confined area because pastured cows get exercise and don't eat only carbohydrates.

In terms of the fat that grass fed beef does have they have more of the good for us polyunstaturated

fats than the unhealthy saturated fats found in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO's)

Less Saturated fat, and less total fat than grain fed animals.

Grass fed beef and chicken also have higher levels of omega-3's an essential fatty acid found in the

cells of green plants and indispensable to human healthy particularly in the development of

neurons (brain cells).

Another important fatty acid omega-6 found in the seeds of green plants while omega-3 in the

leaves. Studies have shown that it is the balance of these two fatty acids, rather than the actual

amounts that play a critical role. A ratio above 4:1 tends to be problematic in health. An imbalance

in ratio may account for many diseases of civilization such as cardiac, diabetes, obesity,

learning behavior in children, and depression in adults.

Factory and thus corn fed meat has a ratio 10:1 whereas grass fed beef has the

recommended ratio of 3:1

Its a similar story with chickens and eggs. Eggs from chickens that were allowed a rich diet of

grass and insects, fruits and veggies, and little corn have much more omega-3's and thus a healthy

ratio of 1.5 to 1 of fatty acids while a "supermarket egg" has a ratio of over 20:1.

Fish has traditionally been seen as the Mecca of omega 3's but since over half of the US burns coal to generate electricty and 80,000 pounds of mercury is dumped into the oceans every year as a result. Nearly all fish are contaminated with mercury. If you get farm raised fish, they are usually fed corn and then you have the same problems of low omega-3.

Grass-fed beef is loaded with other natural minerals and vitamins, plus it's a great source of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) a fat that reduces the risk of cancer, obesity, diabetes, and a number of immune disorders.

glorious day in vermont

2010-03-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

Most beautiful day ever.

Breakfast: organic yogurt (butterworks diary in Westfield, VT - 85.9 miles) with maple syrup (Bristol, VT - 2 miles), french toast

Lunch: left over pasta with home made pesto, spinach with home made maple citrus dressing, homemade refried beans

snack: monument farms milk (Weybridge, VT - 13 miles)

Dinner: Quesadillas with home made corn tortillas (Corn meal from Winter Moon Farm in Hadley, MA - 101 miles, Whole Wheat Flour from King Arthur Flour in Norwhich, VT - 139 miles, homemade butter), Bread (Red Hen Bread in Middlesex, VT - 35 miles)

I also had some home made chocolate chip cookies. I don't know where the ingredients are from. Since chocolate is my exception i figure they are half ok. they were gluten free. that has nothing to do with local. but they were so good and so worth it i don't regret it at all. but i figured i should tell you.

I'll be meeting some friends for some local brew tonight. Boy have I missed vermont beer. A lot of bars and restaurants around here serve almost all local beers, which is awesome! They restaurant in town (the only one) even exclusive serves their own homebrews. super sweet. My favorite vt beer is switchback made in burlington, they don't even bottle, just sold on tap, but can be found in almost every restaurant and bar in the state. Happy brews :-)

The experience

2010-03-10T08:10:00.000-08:00

The whole point really of doing this project has really been to experience local eating. What's it like? How does it affect those around me? What is it like for these beliefs to become more tangible?

This is new kind of thought for me, What does it feel like to eat locally in different places? I haven't been in vermont for 24 hours yet, but I just realized it feel so natural here (no pun intended). If I had to describe how it feels in boston, I would say desperate. Desperate to find food, to resist the temptations. Perhaps it feels more natural here because I can look out the window and I see farm land that grows food instead of apartment buildings and restaurants. Its an interesting thought....the way my choice to eat local feels so different here.

This also has made me do some more thinking about what it would be like to do the project in a rural area. Vermont makes tons of its own food, but being so rural it has much farther to travel to get to the various health food stores. Which also brings up how much driving I would have to do. As far as I know there aren't any winter farmers markets here, and the general public has to drive on average a fair amount to get to local health food stores. So in this regard procuring your food in rural areas becomes much less efficient (unless involved with a csa perharps) than the city. The thing that cities have going for it (like nyc) is a preexistent infrastructure to serve a lot of people in a small area. I'm going to new york in a few days and I'm exciting to check out the local eating scene. Doing a little research new york boast probably close to 50 farmers markets around the metropolitan area, with at least 10 open in the winter. the sheer volume amazed me. With such a concentration of people, it becomes much more efficient to have farmers markets than say in the summer in my town population 2,000 the farmers markets maybe sees 2o-30 people in an afternoon. It becomes ironic that the cities have the potential to more efficiently feed its people than the sprawled out rural areas. US cities right now consume 70% of our resources. US cities could adopt a little more self reliance and take advantages of the spaces that do exist to grow food, like many european countries have done in the threat of food security to produce up to 80% of a cities own food. how spectacular!

Battle of the Diets

2010-03-09T21:34:00.001-08:00

So when I met my dad today to grocery shop and eat lunch at our lovely local independent health food store we found ourselves with a little of a situation. My father had decided to return to a past vegan diet about 5 days ago. Great! In reality our diets don't mesh well in the winter. He's not eating meat, diary or wheat. The three things I can pretty much count on to not need a growing season, and that are involved with a lot of my food. Not only did we have to deal with the practicality of choosing food, but conflicting ideas about what was best to eat. This is an interesting point that I started to learn about today listening to Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma while driving to vermont: Our nation's eating disorder. With diets coming and going, what is bad for us continuously becoming good or vice versa, and array of experts, its becomes rather overwhelming and confusing for the consumer to figure out what to eat and where to get it. I feel this is especially hard when trying to figure out the healthiest food for your body and the planet. I think local eating gets at the general picture of how we should be eating: real food that isn't processed and from real people. But I'm also understanding that its also a quite nuanced issue.

In real life, practicality mostly wins. After food shopping we checked out the deli section for lunch. Nothing was entirely local and thus there was nothing I could eat. I wasn't terribly surprised. While the health food store had a decent selection of healthy food, not a terribly not of fresh produce is in season in vermont right now, and us americans, while we want healthy food, we don't want to have to sacrifice our oranges and bananas.

So we sucked it up and went to another place in town that my dad's friend had suggested for some local food. We walked in and explained the situation: 1 vegan, 1 locavore. Turns out, much easier to feed the vegan. While they had a fair amount of options that had local food IN it, not really much entirely local. So i compromised and got soup with local carrots that also had coconut milk in it (my dad said, that's not local? no dad, coconuts don't grow on this continent.....), with local greens, slice of local roast beef, salad dressing, and local bread. I'm hoping eating out locally will get easier as it has for vegans.

I couldn't help but feel like we looked overly self-rightous in that deli. But the great thing is that while it may have been a pain for the girl helping us out, it was totally fine and the chef was happy to talk to us about what was in each meal. At the end of the day, as frustrating as our shopping and lunch was, I felt fortunate that I was discussing local vs vegan with my dad than real food vs mc donalds, and that I have a father that is concerned with his health enough to plunge into an intensely vegan dad. I feel like while "going green" is so popular, sticking to your convictions even when its inconvenient or not cool is not always part of the green attitude. So rock on those who do.

2010-03-09T20:59:00.000-08:00

So it's been busy!

I've now made Fresh Mozzarella twice! and shared with friends who (i won't try to be humble) said it was AMAZING. it really tasted real. its exciting. I've been on a quest for goats milk to make goat cheese and I met a woman at a farmers market on sunday who was selling goats milk soap and in a month when her babies are weened will be hooking me up with some goats milk that legally "won't be used for consumption" when i buy it. I've been learning how hard the regulations are for small farmers to be able to sell their milk and thus cheese.

Another interesting twist is I have traveled home last minute for car repairs to Vermont. Let me just say the food terrain is a whole new territory. I met my dad in Burlington at City Market to food shop for dinner and grab a bite to eat. The most exciting find? MUSHROOMS!! So exciting, I've been missing them big time. I heard the guy who grooms them is super awesome and has just big rooms of mushrooms growing. I want to try growing some myself.....and meet him......and have rooms of mushrooms....... I was also happy to get some local 7 grain flour. What else did i notice in a local independent, yet decently sized health food store in Vermont? Much more selection. Vermont makes a ton more food than Mass. I found several locally made tomato sauces, many yogurts and milks, several varieties of tomatoes (but at $5.99 per lb i passed), parsnips, potatoes, tons of beers and wines, and too many cheeses to choose from! I didn't even have time to look at everything. I did however notice where foods were from were not labeled as well as places around boston. they has some local signs, but not all local products were pointed out and the signs were rather plain. I wonder if the local phenomenon is not as obsessive as mass or perhaps the people who shop at the co-op know their product and know whats local already... interesting to think about. City Feed and Sherman Market in the boston area are lovely, but i wish there was a bigger local market that could really compete with the big supermarkets. I would say the two independent health food stores in burlington are the same size if not bigger than the whole foods down the street from my house in brighton. This raises a local issue to vermont is whole food moving into burlington. With two existing decently sized independent health food stores in burlington many are concerned with how much business can the queen city sustain? (no pun intended) People can only eat so much, and there is only so much business to be had in the little city of about 30,000, and thus wholefoods with take away business from the local markets. Most people reading this aren't from around vermont so I won't go on, but if you are interested check out this article: http://www.7dvt.com/2009big-fish

This also brings up a discussion on whole foods in general. I'm starting to learn more about the food system and what would be helpful to remedy it, so I will meditate on it all some more before discussing it. I do know that at this time of year I can buy very little from a store that boasts such abundance.

Local Things I have been able to find at whole foods in the last 5 1/2 weeks:

-milk, eggs, yogurt (once), pasta (once), Tomato Sauce and Pesto (once), apples, cider, flour, tomatoes, fair trade chocolate.

Ok that list doesn't look super meager but really besides the milk and eggs, I'm unable to get the bulk of my food Whole Foods. That question has been popping up a lot when i tell people about my project, "Where do you get your food?" These days I mostly go to a farmers market once a week. This has turned out to far superior to driving all over the city to different specialty stores. I get better prices that go directly to the farmer, who I can directly meet and create a relationship with, better and wider selection of food, and I only need to go to one place which reduces my traveling.

dinner from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Food

2010-03-09T20:31:00.000-08:00

What I ate:

Saturday-

Breakfast/Lunch (I slept in): Toast (home made) with Jam, yogurt with Maple Syrup

Snack: Fresh Mozzarella (while making it!)

Dinner: Fresh Pasta (Somerville, MA), Pasta Sauce, Pesto Sauce, home made mozzarella, cider (Harvard, MA), Kale with Onions

Dessert: Fair Trade Chocolate

Drinks: Shipyard Brown Ale, Harpoon IPA

Sunday-

Breakfast: Pasta with Sauce (I was sick of breakfast foods)

Snack: Kettle Corn (from the farmers market)

Late Afternoon Grazing: Goat Cheese, Homemade Mozzarella (Crescent Ridge Milk Sharon MA - 22 miles and Shaw Dairy in Dracut, MA - 42 miles), Smoked Gouda (Smith's Farmstead Cheese Winchendon, MA - 66.3 miles), more Kettle Corn, left over pasta with sauce

Late evening grazing: Home made Mozzarella, home made tortilla chips, smoked gouda (see above), Fair trade Chocolate, UFO white, Shipyard Brown Ale

Monday -

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with refried beans and cilantro

Snack: Leftover Meatball

Snack: Leftover Kettle Corn

Dinner: Salad with green and red lettuce, carrots, goat cheese, pesto, oil, apple vinegar, also sauteed chard with onion.

Dessert: Apple with maple butter

Tuesday-

Breakfast: Apple Pancakes

Snack: Carrots, left over pancakes, beans

**Arrive in Vermont**

Lunch: Local mixed greens with Maple balsamic vingarette, few slices of local roast beef, bread (Red Hen Bakery), Coconut Carrot Soup (with local carrots, had to compromise on the coconut)

Dinner: Local Pasta, home made pesto, sauteed local mushrooms and tomatoes, garlic bread (local bread, home made butter, generic garlic), Wine (Snow Farm Vineyard in Grand Isle, VT - 43 miles)

Dessert: Entirely Organic Mint Ice Cream (Strafford Diary in Strafford, VT - 94 miles

The foods I lusted after today 3/4/10

2010-03-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

-Cheeseburger while adam was eating one next to me in class
-Some sort of processes snack when chris asked us on our break if we were going to the store
-Coffee when anna said she was going to starbucks
-Grilled cheese while we were sitting in brueggers while carlie ate hers
- Spaghetti and Tomato Sauce during a lecture in class, also again when I ate plain meatballs for dinner
-An orange while Gabby ate one during class, also again later looking at the peels sitting on her desk
-Indian food while anna talked about going out with justin after class for indian food
-Popcorn while thinking about going to the silhouette which serves free popcorn
-crackers and cookies while in the library where there was food for a reception
-Grapes when the left over food from the reception was put at the front desk that I walked by on my break from class

So all except for one time, I only craved food when I saw other people eating it, talking about it, or saw the food itself. This was not always the case. I used to crave foods all the time. I think I'm becoming more adjusted to my diet for sure. The things i miss the most are fruit and tomato sauce/pasta. I'm living alright without the processed foods. I'm almost done week 5 here and I've been thinking more about what it will be like when my 60 days end. I think I will try to keep eating locally as much as possible but without the complete off limits of everything else. One thing I really feel I will change is local meat. The terrible conditions the animals are kept in basically packed into barns so close they can't move, living in their own excrement, and never seeing sunshine or grass their whole life. Also something interesting is that grass fed animals are actually healthier meat. When they are grass fed, instead of grain fed which has never been natural to their diet, the Cholesterol is actually the kind that is good for you instead of bad. I thought that was wildly interesting, and make a lot of sense if you think about how what we eat affect our health, that it would affect the animals health by what they eat.

I've learned a lot in general from reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbra Kingsolver, which I highly recommend.

Despite all the awesomeness I still get pissed I can eat free food. I used to be the queen of taking advantage of free food: free pizza at school for lunch, wine at openings, snacks at receptions!

Food Update

2010-03-05T13:13:00.001-08:00

What I ate:

Thursday-
Breakfast: Toast with jelly
Lunch: 2 small sandwiches with home made bread, home roasted chicken from owen's poultry farm, lettuce from red fire farm, and smoked gouda cheese from smith's farmstead.
Snack: home made apple muffins
Dinner: Home made meatballs
Snack: Ice cream (from Crescent Ridge Dairy, which is where I get my milk. I discovered that it has corn syrup in it, a big no no of local eating! but i ate it anyway because i had already been eating it the last few days and it was so good, and it is gone now so i won't get it again) , cheese, muffin (not all together! just bites)

Today-
Breakfast: Toast with jelly
Lunch: Lunch: 2 small sandwiches with home made bread, home roasted chicken from owen's poultry farm, lettuce from red fire farm, and smoked gouda cheese from smith's farmstead.

Dinner: Kale! with onions, black beans with onions

Drinks: Harpoon Celtic Ale, UFO White

2010-03-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

hey so i know i've been really bad about keeping up. here's what I have been eating

friday -

breakfast: eggs, homefries

lunch: beef stew

dinner: lobster, corn bread, and harpoon beer

saturday-

brunch: eggs, homefries, pancakes with maple syrup

snack: apples with maple butter, left over pancakes

dinner: pizza

dessert: chocolate

sunday-

Breakfast: eggs and pancakes

snack: apples with maple butter

Lunch - salad and left over pizza

dinner - I can't remember (thats what i get for slacking on blogging)

monday -

breakfast: toast with jelly

lunch: left over pizza and salad

dinner: roast chicken, bread, salad, pico de gallo with local chips

dessert: home made apple pie with crescent ridge ice cream

tuesday -

breakfast: toast with jam, yogurt with apples and maple syrup

lunch: sandwich with chicken, smoked gouda and lettuce

snack: apple muffins

dinner: left over chicken, ice cream and beer

today-

breakfast: eggs and left over pancakes

lunch: chicken sandwich

snack: apple, apple muffins

dinner: home made meatballs

dessert ice cream (too much!)

2010-03-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

tortillas from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

new food

2010-03-02T08:40:00.000-08:00

root veggies from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

tasting of the roots from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

herbs and salads home grown?

2010-03-02T08:27:00.001-08:00

aero garden from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Calazones

2010-02-24T17:44:00.001-08:00

5 hungry people (myself and my two roommates, and their respective boyfriends) and three kitties making calazones in my tiny kitchen amounts to people freaking out and stressing. So while mine is in the oven, I decided to take a little break from the chaos to check in with the blog.

For dinner last night I had left over sweet potato and black bean burrito.

Breakfast today- toast with jam and yogurt with honey

snack - carrots, apple

Lunch- potatoes with butter and cheese

snack - toast with jam, yogurt with honey, chocolate, cider

dinner - calzone with tomato, onion, garlic, and cheddar

I am in the process of making beef stew with veggies, but running in to the problem of not having enough flavor in the broth.

I also had my first panic of not having anything to bring for lunch. I was getting ready for school today and realized i didn't have anything to bring. and i was already hungry, and late. So i quickly boiled some potatoes and threw on some cheddar and butter. Unfortunately it didn't satisfy for very long and i was hungry by 2:30 with class for another two hours. So i sucked it up and bought some chocolate at the store :-)

I'm not sure if I've really talked about this much, but eating locally has been rigorous in terms of food preparation. I pretty much have to prepare and cook everything I eat, and cook ahead to have things to bring to school all week. I enjoy cooking and will be making a cookbook of images and recipies in alt pro as one of my pieces, but it all get rather exhausting. Especially when im trying to document and make photographs of it. Sometimes the documentation falls to the wayside as it adds much more time to an already lengthy process. I also think I really try to do a lot in one day. This project could be a full time job, all day everyday, and I feel I could do so much more if I could devote all of my time to this. In a perfect world ha!

Look forward to seeing some sweet maps and lightbulb terrariums, once I photograph them.

And the fire alarm is going off.....better go check on the mayhem.....

Butter

2010-02-23T19:56:00.000-08:00

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

hurray for butter!

I also made refried beans last night. yum!

2010-02-23T16:03:00.000-08:00

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

sprouts! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

What I have been eating

Sunday -

Brunch: Eggs, Bacon, Toast with jam, homefries
Snack: Donut
Snack: Toast with Jam and a glass of milk
Dinner: Twice baked potato with butter and cheese
Snack: Popcorn

Monday-

Breakfast: Locally distributed Raisin bran with milk
Lunch: Salad with mixed greens, onion, tomato, carrots, tofu
Dinner: Burrito with home made tortillas, sweet potato, black beans and cheese

Tuesday-
Breakfast: Toast with Jam
Snack: Yogurt with honey
Snack: tortilla crackers (stale tortilla) and cheese
Late Lunch: Salad with mixed greens, carrots, onion, tomato

Northampton and updates!

2010-02-21T07:40:00.000-08:00

Life has been busy! I need to get back on top of updating.

I went home with Prouty for the weekend to Northampton, which has been really great. I was able to buy a ton of food at their local farmers market, on saturday. She took me to a new burger place in town called LOCAL BURGER that serves three kinds of local burgers, local fries and shakes with local ice cream! It was SO EXCITING!!! Unfortunately they didn't have any local cheese or condiments or bread so I did end up eating a plain piece of meat on a plate haha but I was content as I sipped my uber tasty shake and my fries. I conceded some ketchup since i was eating a plain burger. I have discovered I can't live without ketchup, so i decided I will get some natural ketchup (without corn syrup which is in Hein's) to carry around with me. Ironically, about 20 minutes later my body was really not happy with me. Without going into details, somethings didn't agree. Its interesting how sensitive my body has gotten in three weeks.

Saturday night we went to rachel's cousin's for a big family gathering. It was great, everyone was drinking beer and eating pizza, watching the olympics and i was making myself a salad and baked potato.

This morning Rachel and her mom made brunch for everyone with all local stuff!! Eggs, bacon, home fries! I did have to pass on the bagels and orange juice, but I had my own toast and jam. Its interesting that local ingredients are much easier to come by here in northampton. They have a whole campaign of "Be a Local Hero! Buy Local!" So all the stores have local hero tags on their local food.

Speaking of, Check this link out!

http://maps.ers.usda.gov/FoodAtlas/foodenv5.aspx

Its an interactive food atlas (zoomed into mass right now, but you can choose any state or the whole country) where you can see different stats about growing food and other health related stats. Very cool! I have been thinking about trying to figure out where the best and worst place to eat locally would be, and how my project would be different depending on where I was living. I hope to explore this as I trek to various places throughout the next 5 weeks. I will be going to nyc in a few weeks so that should be interesting!

Wednesday:

breakfast-toast with butter

Lunch - Sandwich with chicken, formage blanc cheese, tomato, spinach, home made bread

Dinner - Left over ravioli with sweet potato and formage blanc cheese

drinks (sharing tastes of ipswitch oatmeal stout - 37.8 mils , smuttynose brown ale - 60.5 miles, rapscillion honey (can't remember where this is from but its local and delicious - check back) , Narragansett - 50 miles

Thursday:

Breakfast - toast with butter, eggs, home fries

lunch- Sandwich with chicken, formage blanc cheese, tomato, spinach, home made bread

snack - popcorn

dinner - chicken soup

snacks - popcorn, ice cream

friday:

breakfast - toast with butter, eggs, home fries, cider

lunch - Sandwich with chicken, formage blanc cheese, tomato, spinach, home made bread

snack - toast with jam, glass of milk

dinner - burger (from Easthampton, MA - 8.5 miles from northampton, 94 miles from boston) fries (from Hadley MA - 6.3 miles from northampton, 101 miles from boston), milkshake (Ice cream made y Bart's Ice Cream in Amherst, MA - 10.7 miles from northampton, 90.3 miles from boston) ALL LOCAL!!!

saturday:

breakfast - toast with jam

lunch- grilled cheese with tomato

-cheese - Smith's Farmstead in Winchendon, MA - 63 miles from northampton, 65.8 miles from boston)

-Tomatoes from American Hydroponics in Hopkington, MA - 27.9 miles

-bread made at home [yogurt from Sidehill Farm Ashfield, MA -16.5 miles from northampton, 115 miles from boston, Flour from King Arthur Flour in Norwich, VT - 139 miles, honey from Shelburne, MA - 26.3 miles from northampton, 101 mils from boston]

-left over fries from dinner

snack - cider donuts (Elm Farm Bakery in South Deerfield, MA - 13.1 miles from northampton, 110 miles from boston)

dinner - salad

- mixed greens (Atlas Farm in South Deerfield, MA - 12.8 miles from northampton, 109 miles from boston)

-carrots (Winter Moon Farm in Hadley, MA - 6.3 miles from northampton and 101 miles from boston)

-onions (Atlas Farm in South Deerfield, MA - 12.8 miles from northampton, 109 miles from boston)

-tomato (Hydroponic Tomatoes from American Hydroponics in Hopkington, MA - 27.9 miles)

-oil and lime (i forgot my dressing and was forced to improvise)

-baked sweet potato fries (Red Fire Farm in Granby, MA - 80.9 miles)

dreams?

2010-02-19T06:36:00.000-08:00

Is it sad that i just woke up from dreaming about finding local food? I was really pumped cause i found a 1 pound bag of oats for $.99 and was going to have oatmeal for breakfast but then i remembered that it didn't happen in real life and then got disappointed haha. cool..

2010-02-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

plants update from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Ketchup (can i make my own?)

2010-02-16T20:23:00.000-08:00

So I'm a bit behind on updating. The weekend had some great moments and some epic fails on my part. Videos to come soon, I've been filming with real cameras instead of photobooth ha. So once they are edited and lovely I will post them.

So part of what I think could be the more interesting side of the project is the failings (not a reason to say slipping up is okay) but I feel if I'm not honest about things, this will all kind of unravel.

So saturday night at Hannah's she ordered chinese food late night. I couldn't resist, she got sesame chicken, beef teriyaki, crab rangoons and shrimp fried rice. So indulged and it was delicious. I have no excuse, but I feel rather guilty. To make matters worse, in the morning my stomach hurt so bad I felt like I was hungover, even though I hadn't drank.

Sunday Hannah came with me to Methuen to drop my kitties off to get neutered (happy valentines day to my fav. boys) and we went to her house nearby where her parents took us out to breakfast. This was became complicated as I didn't feel like I could not eat despite the restaurant not having local food. But at the same time I was starving and 45 minutes from my house. So I had eggs benedict with chocolate milk, as not to be offensive to her parents. But then I started thinking, what IF? What if I defied social norms to make a statement and people got uncomfortable? I think this could be something really interesting to explore. So while I was again guilty for eating non local food (Other localvores have made the rule that if someone invites you, its okay), I also became excited for the possibilities of pushing people out of their comfort zone, maybe i get a lipstick camera or something?! (this would mean i would have to wear lipstick so i dunno about that one....)

Anyway, later that same night I had valentines day cookies that hannah made and fundip. I was willing to let the cookies slide because she made them and it was valentines day but the fundip was bad. really bad. like maybe the worst. but i guess not as bad as the chinese food. Anyway I spent the rest of the night feeling terribly for doing it.

On the subject of guilt I've come to the conclusion that its shitty that I slipped up but its also part of the project to see the human failings of someone trying to resist the consumerism of food. That said, I will try really hard to not let it happen again.

BUT I didn't make my own ravioli on sunday with the fabulous help of sarah joy! it took about three hours but we ended up with tasty whole wheat sweet potato and formage blanc cheese ravioli with a home made tomato sauce and salad.

I also made popcorn. yuuuummmmmmy

Monday -

Breakfast- left over popcorn

lunch- roasted chicken with left over salad

snack - carrots. also sourdough bread!!! that I baked myself from my sourdough starter! Really tasty real legit looking bread!

dinner - left over ravioli in a sweet potato sauce.

dessert- apple muffins! The sourdough starter is great for baking almost anything!!

Today

Breakfast - toast with butter and homemade apple muffin

snacks - muffins

lunch- salad with tomato, onion, and chicken

dinner- home made chicken soup with onions and potatoes

dessert- muffins.

I don't know if you can tell, but im really into the muffins. Its sort of an issue, I have no self control over tasty baked goods these days (or ever really)

Best

Wayland Farmers Market!

2010-02-13T17:18:00.000-08:00

I got up early today to go to the Wayland Farmers Market, and man was it worth it! Its located in a garden supply store, so all the stands are in the greenhouses! Besides it feeling like you are food shopping in a tropical paradise, its beautiful light for making pictures! Horray! I had a great time buying food and making pictures and talking to tons of curious people about my camera and project. I was able to connect with Mark from Red Fire Farm, where Zach gets his CSA, to go visit the farm and photograph! There was even a local tea stand, but i was out of cash by that point, so another time. They will be there a couple more saturdays. I'm not sure why it doesn't keep going. Most of the venders were selling greens grown in greenhouses, root veggies from storage, hand crafted foods, and breads.

I happily bought red potatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach, garlic, carrots, red kernel pop corn, formage blanc cheese, and haddock. (See Reference page for where everything is from)

Additionally from the garden supply store I got Alfalfa and Chickapee seeds to grow sprouts! Hurray!

On another adventure, Anna and I went to get me a chicken from Owen's Poultry Farm in Needham! I also got eggs, and blackberry Jam.

I have a lot of food to work with now that is awesome, I stocked up on the potatoes!! (which i have been in search of...) Tomorrow I'm going to roast the chicken which I can use for sandwiches, soup, ect. My dear friend Sarah is coming for lunch and I'm going to try making sweet potato ravioli! I'm also considering trying to make tortillas at some point.....

Today I ate:

Breakfast - 1 egg (Lally Farms in Hanover, MA - 26 miles) with toast (homemade bread) and butter (High Lawn Farm in Lee, MA - 121 miles)

Lunch - Sweet potato (Red Fire Farm in Granby, MA - 80.9 miles) with butter (High Lawn Farm in Lee, MA - 121 miles) and salt (Maine Salt Company in Marshfield, ME - 326 miles)

Dinner- Haddock (Globe Fish Co. in Boston, MA - 7.8 miles) with Garlic Bread (Homemade Bread, butter from High Lawn Farm in Lee, MA - 121 miles, Garlic from Red Fire Farm in Granby, MA - 80.9 miles) and Mulled Cider (Carlson Orchards in Harvard, MA - 45 miles)

Chicken!

2010-02-13T12:02:00.000-08:00

Me and Anna are going to Owen's Poultry Farm in Needham to get a chicken! So pumped! I can roast the chicken for dinner, make sandwiches this week (i've been dying for one), make soup from the bones!

Cookies and Ice Cream, oh my!

2010-02-11T19:39:00.000-08:00

So i've been happily eating treats today. I;ve had anna, carlie, and justin taste test the ice cream in the vote is in. ITS AMAZING. its like real ice cream. I wish I had made more, but maybe good I didn't. I'm going to try to make it last but it probably won't make it more than a few more days. I wouldn't want it to get freezer burn anyway ;-)

What I ate today:

Breakfast- Toast (bread from brookline, MA - 2 miles) with butter (from High Lawn Farm in Lee, MA - 121 miles)

I'm thinking when i run out of butter in trying to make my own. Although it seems to be harder to find local cream.....

Snack - Apple (Lunenburg, MA - 43.7 miles)

Lunch- Salad (Red Lettuce from Enterprise Farm in South Deerfield, MA - 109 miles, Tomato from Hopkinton, MA - 27.9 miles, Onion from Whately, MA - 107 miles, fresh mozzarella from Somerville, MA - 5 miles, bread made at home!)

Cookies - Homemade!

Dinner - Left over Bean soup Beans from Baer's Best in South Hamilton, MA - 22.8 miles, Beef from Hardwick Beef in Hardwick, MA - 71 miles (but its shipped to vt for slaughter), left over mushrooms, onion from Whately, MA - 107 miles)

yessss ice cream!

2010-02-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

So third time is charm! Check out the videos!

Ice cream update from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

So we ended up using a tea ball to strain haha. Kate was lovely enough to help.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Ice Cream Success!!!!!!!!!!!!!! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

I'm pretty pumped. Thanks so much to kate for helping me and shane for his ice cream maker! I also made oatmeal cookies!! I used all local ingredients (flour, oatmeal, butter, eggs, salt) except the sugar because I forgot I left my maple syrup at Kate's.

Also I made sour dough starter which will take a week to make but will not need any yeast from mexico! Instead of using a packet of yeast to make the bread rise, adding flour and water daily will mix in the yeast that naturally exists in the air! The interesting thing about this is that is taste different if you make in different places! Thanks Margaret for helping me out with this!

So with bread, cookies and ice cream under my belt (literally, my tummy hurts a bit after all the sweets today!) im feeling more optimistic about making things! I plan to try making ravioli!!

So today i ate:

Breakfast - Two eggs (from Lally Farms in Hanover, MA - 30 miles), toast (made at Clear Flour Bakery in Brookline, MA - 1.5 miles), butter ( from High Lawn Farm in Lee, MA - 121 miles)

Cookies for lunch (Flour from King Arthur Flour in Norwich, VT - 139 miles, Oats from Aurora Mill and Farm in Linneus, ME - 368 miles, Butter from High Lawn Farm in Lee, MA - 121 miles, Eggs from Lally Farms in Hanover, MA - 30 miles, Salt from Maine Salt Company in Marshfield, ME - 326 miles, baking soda not local, white and brown sugar not local)

Left over Bean Soup (Beans from Baer's Best in South Hamilton, MA - 22.8 miles, Beef from Hardwick Beef in Hardwick, MA - 71 miles (but its shipped to vt for slaughter), left over mushrooms, onion from Whately, MA - 107 miles)

A few bites of ice cream (Milk from Thatcher Diary in Milton, MA - 15 miles [Diary actually comes from four hours away in new hampshire], Heavy Cream from Hatchland Farms in North Haverhill, NH - 158 miles, Eggs from Lally Farms in Hanover, MA - 30 miles, pinch of salt, Maple Syrup from Bristol, VT - 208 miles)

I had a great conversation with Ben Sloat's Sophomore Concepts Class about the project, thanks for having me and asking great questions!

Bread!!!

2010-02-09T22:06:00.000-08:00

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

So yay for bread!!! i forgot to mention that the yeast I used wasn't local. I don't know where to find that or if such a thing exists? if you know anything about that let me know! Also I burned my hand on the rack taking the bread out, so first battle wound of the project (body as a sculpture?) BUT i was able for the first time to put my trusty aloe plant to use and soothe the burn. Its pretty small so i think I will survive!

All in all, the bread success has boosted my spirit! Time to read and snuggle with the 3 kitties in my bed! (I'm reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbra Kingsolver right now which has been recommended by many a people!)

Update

2010-02-09T14:43:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

So just a general kind of update (I do need to catch up on logging what I have been eating)

I;ve been going a bit crazy without any sort of treats. From my research, a lot of people that do a challenge like this pick on thing they get to have, so I'm officially picking chocolate: in moderation, and produced in the best means possible (ie fair trade, locally made). So I'm polishing off a fat bar of Equal Exchange Chocolate right now feeling a million times better. I thought it was made in Bridgewater, MA but upon further examination is actually made in Switzerland and distributed in mass, so I will be finding different chocolate in the future. Taza chocolate is made in cambridge or champlain chocolates in vermont.

This leads me to making a draft of rules for my manifesto:

-My limit of how far my food will come from will be upped to 200 miles to makes everything is covered, but I will try to get the bulk of food from within 100 miles.

-Chocolate is my 1 luxury item - I'm willing to go with coffee if I can have chocolate

-Since I found flour from vermont today (139 miles away) I will try to make my own bread, but this will call for the allowance of yeast (unless anyone has any idea is local yeast exists? I asked at city feed they other day and they looked at me like I was crazy)

-Olive Oil: I don't know how I can make salad dressing without oil.

-Spices I already have are ok - I don't think not using spices I already have will make any impact (I am using salt from maine though!)

-I will use Maple Syrup as my sugar. I currently have a large jug that is from home in vermont (just over 200 miles) but i brought it back with me so no extra travel occurred and Maple Syrup is so expensive, it would be crazy to buy more before finishing what i have.

I think that pretty much covers everything I have been eating and give me a few more options, except some oatmeal that is from maine (300ish miles away) which I will finish up and seek an alternative.

Pretty much all the food I have gotten far has been from small grocers, has been a bit limiting and expensive so I'm going to try to buy direct in bulk from the farm Zach gets his CSA from. Hopefully that will give me some new options. I'm dying for some sweet potatoes and cheese!!

In other news, my garlic is coming along miraculously!! A second shoot appeared yesterday and the first shoot in about two inches! More progress in the last 4 or 5 days then all my other plants! I also planted some beans!

quick update of what i have been eating

Sunday:

Oatmeal with milk

Toast with butter and honey

burger with fresh Mozzarella

Monday:

Toast and butter

Apple

Salad with Tomatoes

Spicy Bean Soup with Mushrooms, Onions, Beef

Today:

Toast with butter

Salad with tomato and onion

Left over Bean Soup

1 large Bar of Chocolate

1 week down, 7 more to go!

2010-02-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

Yay! 1 week down. It feels like its been longer, but I'm getting used to going without things and trying to stay focused and zen like. I survived a Superbowl bbq last night by bring my own beef to make burgers and resisting tasty bean dips and fried food.

To start the new week I weighed myself again and i weighed 152 pounds, gained 1 pound from last week. I found this interesting since I was expecting to lose weight, but I had a pretty high fat diet this week and also had a few beer a few nights. So I'll try to moderate that more this week and see how it goes.

I don't know if I've mentioned that I run daily during the week, but my friend Steve suggested I do this 5k race on st patty's day as sort of a simultaneous fitness goal. Its mid march, so not quite the end of the local eating but towards the end. SO I'm gonna go time myself on my 5k loop around the reservoir and see how my time is since i've been running inside.

Gotta go bundle up now!

2010-02-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

Failed Ice Cream #2 from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

So i messed up the ice cream. I had to first boil milk and then stir in eggs/maple syrup until it thickens. The recipe i was looking at didn't say how long that was but found out that you're only supposed to thicken it for like 1 or 2 minutes. I kept cooking it for 5 to 10 minutes and in result cooked the egg into a lumpy goo. I was going to proceed anyway but it just didn't look good. And since i double the recipe i had no more eggs to start over. so bummer. I'm going to try again. maybe third times a charm?

Reference List of Food

2010-02-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

-Eggs from Elizaville, NY - 165 miles

-Plain Yogurt by Stonyfield in Londonderry, NH - 51.5 miles

-Lewis creek farm in Starksboro, VT - 13.5 miles from Bristol, VT 228 from boston

-Number 9 Salsa - Concord, MA - 21.4 miles

-Narragansett Creamery Atwell's Gold Cheese in Providence, RI - 49.6 miles

-Arugula from Equinox Farm in Sheffield, MA - 139 miles

-Cabbage from Enterprise Farm in South Deerfield, MA - 109 miles

-Wheat Berries from North Star Farms Inc, in Northfield, MA - 88.9 miles

-Onions from Long Plain Farm in Whately, MA - 108 miles

-Pinot Blanc from Snow Farm Vineyard in South Hero, VT - 40.6 miles from bristol, VT, 242 miles from boston

-Number 9 black bean and corn salsa from Paino Organics in Concord, MA - 20.6 miles

-Homemade Mozzarella from Milk from Monument Farms in Weybridge, VT - 16.2 miles from Bristol, VT, 215 miles from boston

-Homemade Mozzarella from Milk from Shaw Diary in Dracut, MA - 40.9 miles and Milk from Crescent Ridge Diary in Sharon, MA - 23.6 miles

-Ice Cream from Crescent Ridge Diary in Sharon, MA - 23.6 miles

-Toscanini Ice Cream from Cambridge, MA - 3.7 miles

-GaGa Ice Cream Sorbet from Warwick, RI - 65.8 miles

-Smoked Gouda from Smith's Farmstead in Winchendon, MA - 65.8 miles

-Vermont Fresh Pasta from Cavendish, VT -78.5 miles from Bristol, VT, 168 miles from boston

-Organic Fertile Eggs from Hens Free Roamin' on Pasture on Blue Heron Farm in Grand Isle, VT - 44.1 miles from Bristol, VT, 246 from Boston

-Organic Whole Plain Yogurt from Butterworks Diary in Westfield, VT - 85.9 Miles from Bristol, VT, 230 miles from Boston

-Organic Honey Mustard from Annie's Naturals in North Calais, VT - 66.5 miles from Bristol, VT (where i was for part of spring break), 202 miles from boston

-Sunrise Lebany Premium Plain Yogurt from Sunrise Farms in Exeter, NH - 57.8 miles

-Tomato Sauce from Sauces 'n Love in Somerville, MA - 5 miles

-Pesto Sauce from Sauces 'n Love in Somerville, MA - 5 miles

-Fresh Pasta from Capone Foods in Somerville, MA - 4.9 miles

-Swiss Chard from E & T Farms in West Barnstable, MA - 70.4 miles

-Maple Syrup from The Warren Farm & Sugarhouse in North Brookfield, MA - 59.6 miles

-Maple Cream from The Warren Farm & Sugarhouse in North Brookfield, MA - 59.6 miles

- Greens from Atlas Farm in South Deerfield, MA - 12.8 miles from northampton, 109 miles from boston

-Carrots from Winter Moon Farm in Hadley, MA - 6.3 miles from northampton, 101 miles from boston

- A Beet from Winter Moon Farm in Hadley, MA - 101 miles from boston

- A Celeriac from Winter Moon Farm in Hadley, MA - 101 miles from boston

-A Parsnip from Winter Moon Farm in Hadley, MA - 101 miles from boston

-A golden beat from Winter Moon Farm in Hadley, MA - 101 miles from boston

-Honey from The Shelburne Honey Company in Shelburne, MA - 26.3 miles from northampton, 101 mils from boston

-Apples from - The Shelburne Honey Company in Shelburne, MA - 26.3 miles from northampton, 101 mils from boston

-Cider Vinegar from The Shelburne Honey Company in Shelburne, MA - 26.3 miles from northampton, 101 mils from boston

-Black Beans from Spiral, Steel, and Spoon Farm in Amherst, MA - 10.7 miles from northampton, 90.3 miles from boston

-Red Onions from Atlas Farm in in South Deerfield, MA - 12.8 miles from northampton, 109 miles from boston

-Mixed Greens Atlas Farm in South Deerfield, MA - 12.8 miles from northampton, 109 miles from boston

-Carrots from Winter Moon Farm in Hadley, MA - 6.3 miles from northampton and 101 miles from boston

-Cornmeal from Winter Moon Farm in Hadley, MA - 6.3 miles from northampton and 101 miles from boston

-Eggs from Winter Moon Farm in Hadley, MA - 6.3 miles from northampton and 101 miles from boston

-Beef from Chicoine Family Farm in East Hampton, MA - 7 miles from Easthampton, 96.9 miles from boston

-Jalepeno Yogurt Cheese From Healthy Delight in Lynn, MA - 118 miles from northampton, 17.9 miles from boston

-Potatoes Szawlowski Potato Farms in Hatfield, MA - 6.9 miles from Northampton, 104 miles from boston

-Donuts from Elm Farm Bakery in South Deerfield, MA - 13.1 miles from northampton, 110 miles from boston

-Heavy Cream from Mapleline Farm in Hadley, MA - 6.3 miles from northampton and 101 miles from boston

-Cheese from Smith's Farmstead in Winchendon, MA - 63 miles from northampton, 65.8 miles from boston

-Cider from Carlson Orchards in Harvard, MA - 45 miles

-Apples from Ashfield, MA - 115 miles

-Sweet Potatoes from Red Fire Farm in Granby, MA - 80.9 miles

-Red Potatoes from Red Fire Farm in Granby, MA - 80.9 miles

- Spinach from Red Fire Farm in Granby, MA - 80.9 miles

-Garlic from Red Fire Farm in Granby, MA - 80.9 miles

-Red and Green Lettuce from Red Fire Farm in Granby, MA - 80.9 miles

-Cilantro from Red Fire Farm in Granby, MA - 80.9 miles

-Kale from Red Fire Farm in Granby, MA - 80.9 miles

-Haddock from Globe Fish Co. in Boston, MA - 7.8 miles

-Formage Blanc Cheese from Foxboro Cheese Co. in Foxboro, MA - 31.2 miles

-Whole Chicken from Owen's Poultry Farm in Needham, MA - 10 miles

-Eggs from Owen's Poultry Farm in Needham, MA - 10 miales

-Blackberry Jam from Cape Cod Traveler in Falmouth, MA - 77 miles

-Organic Ruby Pop Corn Kernels Red Farm from Winter Moon Farm in Hadley, MA - 101 miles

-Carrots from Winter Moon Farm in Hadley, MA - 101 miles

-Eggs from Lally Farms in Hanover, MA - 26 miles

-Red Lettuce from Enterprise Farm in South Deerfield, MA - 109 miles

-Hardwick Beef distributed from Hardwick, MA - 77 miles away but the beef comes from vermont, new hampshire, maine and new york.

-Bread Flour from King Arthur Flour in Norwich, VT - 139 miles

-Red Star Yeast Product of Mexico, distributed from Mikwaukee, WI - 851 miles

Chocolate organic and fairly made in switzerland for Equal Exchange Chocolates in Bridgewater, MA - 37.4 miles

-Stoned Wheat Crackers from Hingham, MA- 21 miles

-Flour!!!! from Aurora Mills and farms in Linneus, ME - 368 miles (I was desperate for flour but should have known better)

-Oats from Aurora Mill and Farm in Linneus, ME - 368 miles

-Butter!! from High Lawn Farm in Lee, MA - 121 miles (DAMN i was so pumped on this)

-Mesclun Greens from Red Tire Farms in Granby, MA - 84 miles

-Apples from Lunenburg, MA - 43.7 miles

-Smoked Sea Salt from Maine Salt Company in Marshfield, ME - 326 miles (I figured salt from maine was better than salt from god knows where)

-Baguette of bread from Brookline, MA - 2 miles

-Beans from Baer's Best in South Hamilton, MA - 22.8 miles

- carrots - I forgot to write down where these were from but the guy looked it up for me.

-Whole Wheat Bread from Nashoba Slow Rise Breads in Concord, MA - 20 miles.

Milk Crescent Ridge Farm in Sharon, MA - 22 miles (I'm actually drinking a glass right now!)

Hydroponic Tomatoes from American Hydroponics in Hopkington, MA - 27.9 miles

1 turnip from Enterpise Farm in South Deefield, MA - 109 miles

- 1 organic butternut squash from Joe Czajkowski Farms Hadley, MA - 107 miles (I didn't actually know where Haldey was, so my bad)

- Apple Cider from Box Mill Farms Stow, MA - 23.7 miles

-Eggs from The Country Hen Hubbardston, MA - 63.9 miles

- Tofu from 21st Century Foods Inc. in Jamaica Plain, MA - 4.2 miles

onions from Long Plain Farm in Whately, MA - 107 miles (oops)

Ground beef from River Rock Farm in Brimfield, MA - 60.9 miles

-Plain Low fat yogurt from grass fed cows in Sidehill Farm Ashfield, MA - 115 miles (better learn my geography)

3 Apples from Clark Brothers Orchard in Ashfield, MA - 115 miles (it was MA right? guess not close enough)

catch up

2010-02-06T15:56:00.000-08:00

Day 6 here! I've gotten a little behind on my blogging.... oops!

So yesterday I ate:

Late Breakfast- French Toast (bread -Nashoba Slow Rise Breads in Concord, MA - 20 miles and eggs from The Country Hen Hubbardston, MA - 63.9 miles, leftover cinnamon)

-Snacked on an apple (Lunenburg, MA - 43.7 miles), lots of cheese (Cabot, VT - 198 mils) and crackers (Hingham, MA- 21 miles)

Dinner- More left over butternut squash soup (squash from Joe Czajkowski Farms Hadley, MA - 115 miles, Apple Cider from Box Mill Farms Stow, MA - 23.7 miles, onion from Long Plain Farm in Whately, MA - 107 miles, Apple from Clark Brothers Orchard in Ashfield, MA - 115 miles, left over milk, Vermont Maple Syrup) and toast (Nashoba Slow Rise Breads in Concord, MA - 20 miles)

Harpoon Beer (Boston, Ma 7.5 miles and Winsor, Vt 147 miles)

Svedka - Google Map: We could not calculate directions between Boston and sweden.

Grilled Cheese - (bread -Nashoba Slow Rise Breads in Concord, MA - 20 miles, Cheese, Cabot, VT - 198 mils)

Today:

Breakfast and Lunch - Oatmeal (Aurora Mill and Farm in Linneus, ME - 368 miles) with milk x 2

Dinner - Salad (Greens from Red Tire Farms in Granby, MA - 84 miles, Tomato from American Hydroponics in Hopkington, MA - 27.9 miles, Apples from Lunenburg, MA - 43.7 miles)

Glass of milk from Milton, MA 14 miles)

New home!

2010-02-06T15:55:00.000-08:00

The blog has a new home! Thank you so much kate!!

A whiny blog?

2010-02-06T15:22:00.000-08:00

So I don't mean to make this a whiny blog but its been a whiny week. I knew this would be a test of will and self restraint but I guess I tend to do what i want most of the time! Its been a bit of an adjustment, not just in what I eat but how I interacts with other people (who also eat). So while its frustrating, its also really interesting to see how complicated our relationship to food is. Not even considering the environmental and political choices of food that mainly fuel my project (no pun intended hehe), food is really part of our consumerism. Obviously we want food that taste good, but food is marketed to us just the way Ipods and movies. Besides something tasty, certain foods, from certain places promises a certain experience in our heads. I haven't read a ton on the psychology of food, but I know enough to realize all this frustration and whining i've been experiencing is not simply my body missing foods. I think its become more apparent that I'm missing the idea and the experience of a darwin's sandwich more than the actual sandwich. I'm totally part of gratifications seeking world we live in and its amazing how imbedded that desire is when it comes to food. Realizing it helps but doesn't dismiss these desires. Its still going to suck when my friends get to eat the stuff I can't, but I'm gonna try and approach it from a more humbled approach and realize it probably pretty good for me to challenge these desires.

No Burgers for Us Toninght.

2010-02-06T15:21:00.000-08:00

Garlic!!

2010-02-06T15:18:00.000-08:00

SO yesterday was busy and I didn't get to update, here I am now, blogging you my day before class.

I'm eating french toast right now which I also had yesterday. For lunch I had a salad with tofu, the same as the previous night. I heavily snacked on local crackers! and cabot cheese. I also had an apple. I got raisin bran that comes from needham! (actually its distributed from there but still) which i had for dinner. Followed by some harpoon beer! (which is made in boston and windsor vermont - 150 miles, average the two and its less that 100, since i have no way of knowing which place it came from)

We went to an artist talk and opening at the list center for class, and for the first time i had the opportunity to drink during class i couldn't, since the wine and beer were not local. My roommates (the same ones that saved me from the cookie) thought i could have some wine since it wasn't food, but im sticking to my morals. But really it sucked standing around while everyone was drinking and snacking. but i made it through! Better get strong when i go to first friday openings tonight!

I might be late for class now so i better go.....

Ice cream fail :(

2010-02-06T15:13:00.001-08:00

Day 3

2010-02-06T15:10:00.000-08:00

Day three has come and almost finished. I wasn't feeling so hot today, really low energy and pretty hungry, even when I ate. I was missing greens and grains in a big way. I was in class this afternoon and started feeling light headed so i had to each my emergency Kashi granola bar (not local) but I felt it necessary to make through 3 more hours of class. I need to figure out my snack situation.

So after class I went on my second foraging expedition! I found a lot of great food today and I am feeling a bit more optimistic!

Zach turned me on to Sherman Market (22 Union Sq, Somerville, MA) which was so great! The guy who was working was very helpful and whipped out his laptop to help me look up how far away places were. I even got to try a couple cheese samples!

What I got-

- Stoned Wheat Crackers from Hingham, MA- 21 miles

-Flour!!!! from Aurora Mills and farms in Linneus, ME - 368 miles (I was desperate for flour but should have known better)

-Oats from Aurora Mill and Farm in Linneus, ME - 368 miles

-Butter!! from High Lawn Farm in Lee, MA - 121 miles (DAMN i was so pumped on this)

-Mesclun Greens from Red Tire Farms in Granby, MA - 84 miles

-Apples from Lunenburg, MA - 43.7 miles

-Onion from Whately, MA - 107 miles

-Smoked Sea Salt from Maine Salt Company in Marshfield, ME - 326 miles (I figured salt from maine was better than salt from god knows where)

-Baguette of bread from Brookline, MA - 2 miles

-BEANS!!! from Baer's Best in South Hamilton, MA - 22.8 miles

- carrots - I forgot to write down where these were from but the guy looked it up for me.

-Whole Wheat Bread from Nashoba Slow Rise Breads in Concord, MA - 20 miles.

I was surprised at how small the store was at first but everything was local and I found so many good things! That brings me to what I have been thinking about with "local". I think I need to do some more research and thinking into what local is. The guy I was talking to asked me why the arbitrary number on 100 miles? I didn't have a great answer. While 100 miles seems like a lot, it is rather limiting as a lot of "local" food I have found is from vermont and maine. So does it make sense to switch it to 200 to reflect what is actually available, or eat rather restrictively to 100. Does it make sense to buy maine products like oats and sea salt that i haven't found within 100 miles yet instead of really far away products? Also while my bread and chocolate were made locally their ingredients didn't necessarily come locally (no cocoa in MA!) Perhaps bread and chocolate will be my exception? I need to figure this all out and write my manifesto by the end of this week.

I went to the Centre street location of City Feed and Supply on 672 Centre Street, JP

-Chocolate milk from Thatcher Farm in Milton, MA - 14.8 miles

-Mint Chocolate from Equal Exchange Chocolates in West Bridgewater, MA - 35.3

So a lot of good food, which I feel saved me haha. But there was also local food I decided not to buy. I would have loved to get the local Bacon or Gelato I found but at 9 dollars and 8 respectively I decided it was a bit too pricy. A lot of people have been asking me if doing this project is expensive. The answer is YES. I was thinking not going out to eat would equal out the more expensive food, and it might, but I am also dealing with the question of privilege. It is expensive and not everyone could afford to eat this way. I'm not sure how much I can afford it myself. I have to make choices for sure. I had a conversation with the guy at Sherman Market about it. I commented on the prices and asked his opinion. It seems to be a complicated thing, two part situation perhaps. Part is that it cost more to produce good local food of quality that isn't being subsidized by the government. Part is the market. Until there is a change in the main system of mass produced commercial food , local organic won't be able to compete in prices (According to the guy I was talking to) I think this is something I have a general idea about this but it would be worth doing some more research about.

What I ate today:

Breakfast - Yogurt from grass fed cows in Ashfield, MA -115 miles and Vermont Maple syrup from Bristol, Vermont - 208 miles (this is so ironic because I'm from bristol so this would have come from 0 miles away!!!) Also had eggs from Hubbardston, MA - 63.9 miles

Lunch - Left over Beef Tomato Stew thing (Beef from River Rock Farm in Brimfield, MA - 60.9 miles, Onions from Long Plain Farm in Whately, MA - 107 miles, Hydroponic Tomatoes from American Hydroponics in Hopkington, MA - 27.9 miles, also some left over garlic and oregano)

Snack - Kashi TLC Granola bar - La Jolla, CA - 3,019 miles (only ate it in order to not faint in class, but it just goes to show how far our food travels. 300 mils in maine doesn't sound so bag now....)

Dinner - Salad! (Mesclun Greens from Granby, MA - 84 miles, hydroponic tomatoes from Hopkington, MA - 27.9 miles, Tofu from Jamaica Plain 4.2 miles, fried in butter from Lee, MA - 125 miles and flour from Linneus, ME - 368 miles. Also Balsamic Vinaigrette I made myself. Baguette of bread from Brookline MA - 2 miles)

Dessert -Mint Chocolate from West Bridgewater, MA - 35.3

any suggestions or opinions on my manifesto?

If you'll eat wet cat food...

2010-02-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

Day 2

2010-02-06T15:07:00.000-08:00

Day two is almost done. My body is missing grains and greens.... I need to forage again soon. The great thing so far though is that everyone wants to help me find food! I've gotten a lot of good suggestions of places to go and had some good conversation. Thanks to the blog a lot of people are finding out about and asking me how the project is going, yay!

I decided to move the blog over to blogspot so people can comment. I would really love to hear what people have to say and I think making it more interactive and a conversation could be integral to the project.

Today I got local milk from whole foods which comes from Crescent Ridge Farm in Sharon, MA - 22 miles (I'm actually drinking a glass right now!)

Also got some more Hydroponic Tomatoes from American Hydroponics in Hopkington, MA - 27.9 miles

Today I ate:

Breakfast- finished off my non local yogurt, also had local eggs from The Country Hen Hubbardston, MA - 63.9 miles.

Snack - Apple from Clark Brothers Orchard in Ashfield, MA - 115 miles

Lunch- left over butternut squash soup (squash from Joe Czajkowski Farms Hadley, MA - 115 miles, Apple Cider from Box Mill Farms Stow, MA - 23.7 miles, onion from Long Plain Farm in Whately, MA - 107 miles, Apple from Clark Brothers Orchard in Ashfield, MA - 115 miles, left over milk, Vermont Maple Syrup)

Dinner- Beef and tomatoey stew thing (Beef from River Rock Farm in Brimfield, MA - 60.9 miles, Onions from Long Plain Farm in Whately, MA - 107 miles, Hydroponic Tomatoes from American Hydroponics in Hopkington, MA - 27.9 miles, also some left over garlic and oregano)

Glass of milk from Crescent Ridge Farm in Sharon, MA - 22 miles (Also drank some milk in the car while looking for a parking space on the way home because I was really hungry)

Other than that I am DYING for chocolate chip cookies.....and my tummy hurts from drinking too much milk.

any thoughts?

Day 1!

2010-02-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

So day 1 is almost over, and going good so far!

I started out with cherrios for breakfast in efforts to use up the milk i still have. I think in order to not be wasteful I will eat the remaining perishable items I have but I don't have a ton since I haven't gone grocery shopping in about a week. I have left some milk, yogurt, and cheese.

Lunch- See video

Dinner - Butternut Squash Soup with local apples, local onions, local butternut squash, left over milk, and oil (bah! will be making my own butter once i find local cream!)

Here is what I got on my foraging adventure today:

1. City Feed and Supply - 66 Boylston St. Jamaica Plain

- 1 turnip from Enterpise Farm in South Deefield, MA - 97.5 miles

- 1 organic butternut squash from Joe Czajkowski Farms Hadley, MA - 107 miles (I didn't actually know where Haldey was, so my bad)

- Apple Cider from Box Mill Farms Stow, MA - 23.7 miles

-Eggs from The Country Hen Hubbardston, MA - 63.9 miles

- Tofu from 21st Century Foods Inc. in Jamaica Plain, MA - 4.2 miles

2. Don Ottos's (formerly Lionette's) 577 Tremont St. Boston MA

-3 onions from Long Plain Farm in Whately, MA - 107 miles (oops)

-2 pounds ground beef from River Rock Farm in Brimfield, MA - 60.9 miles

3. Foodie's Urban Market- 1421 Washington St. Boston MA

-I went in search of Greathill Diary but alas found none.

4. South and Formaggio's

-Plain Low fat yogurt from grass fed cows in Sidehill Farm Ashfield, MA - 115 miles (better learn my geography)

5. Whole Foods - Brighton MA

3 Apples from Clark Brothers Orchard in Ashfield, MA - 115 miles (it was MA right? guess not close enough)

2 Hydroponic Tomatoes from American Hydroponics in Hopkinton, MA -27.9 miles

So some thoughts about today: I don't know where or how far places are in Mass. I asked and some people were helpful while others were not. They were really great at Don Ottos. In fact I ended up having a great conversation with Erin who's fiance just bought the store last week. When I was inquiring about how far away places are she asked if I was doing a 100 mile diet, so I explained my project. She suggest I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbra Kingsolver (which i started last night in fact!) and when she found out I had been photographing on local farms she told me they really need art for the store and for advertising and wants to hire me! Good fortune already!

Also- I've never to my knowledge eaten a turnip. Or have any clue how to cook one. But I will try and figure it out! Stay tuned...I feel like I'm on Iron Chef and turnip is my mystery ingredient haha. I wanted to gather more food today but I got really hungry so I had to come home to make some food, and didn't make it out for another round. I have a busy week of school so that should be interesting. But i have a TON of beef to eat :) I also got lost several times. JP and the south end are not my friend yet, but they will be! I hope to improve my navigational skills during this experiment as well.

You might have noticed I have titled the blog (and the project) Performing Local. I have become rather influenced and interested in performance art as of late and I am thinking of this project as partly performative. I really like the ideas of performance art to make art more experiential and employing the body as a site. For me this project is very much about the experiential and will affecting by body in a big way - emotionally and physically. I am interested in the body as a sculptural element. How will the food I eat change my body? So I will be weighing myself weekly on mondays and noting how I am feeling.

So today I started with weighing myself : 151 pounds on day 1 February 1st.

Also I must have been anxious on some level because i bit all my nails off without even realizing it (not a habit I usually have)

About an hour ago I had my first social implication when my roommates went to Darwin's for sandwhiches, which sounded reaaaaly tasty, but I stayed home to cook my butternut squash soup for dinner.

The night before local eating starts!!

2010-02-06T15:03:00.000-08:00

So its the night before I start my local food challenge. As part of my senior thesis project I will be eating only food within 100 miles of boston. I've been working on a project exploring local food production since august and now I'm taking a plunge into my subject matter. Instead of merely observing and photographing others I am myself participating in my subject matter. Other than walking the talk, I am very interested in translating the experience into aesthetic objects. I hope to explore and challenge the possibility and popularity of eating local in the middle of winter in a state that is not a huge producer of local food.

I have purposely not done a ton of practical research as to make the challenge and search of the food part of the experience. But I am picturing myself being deliriously hungry when i wake up trying to figure out where in the world to get food. So i did a little research tonight of some stores around boston to go to and how far some of the local farms are so when i go to get food I know what is local (not being a mass native I'm not entirely familiar with all towns in a 100 mile radius)

I think it might be sort of hard at first but I think i will be able to find, grow, or make a lot of things (ICE CREAM?!?) I think i have subconsciously been indulging in preparation (this week: christopher's twice, pizza, anna's taqueria, zaftig's, the friendly toast), but i anticipate that while local food may be a little bit pricer, I will save a lot of money not eating and buying coffee. Its getting late and I have a big day tomorrow! I excited and terrified!

Check back tomorrow!