Over the past few weeks, I've been reading Babara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which is an excellent story/editorial/handbook on just why eating locally and supporting local growers/farmers is so important. Her lessons and ideas are spot-on, and exceedingly possible to follow here in Portland.

In AVM, Kingsolver asserts that we've become detached from our food; it's made of whatever, pumped full of chemicals, and comes from wherever. But it's cheap and plentiful, so we go right ahead and indulge. For her, that's damaging. Fuel costs, chemicals, low nutritional value, disconnect from our neighbors and local food culture- it's all part of a price being paid for convenience and "more affordable" food.

But, for her, that's the problem: as we pay mega-conglomerates to ship food from everywhere and produce food of questionable quality with atrocious practices, we sacrifice a whole lot.

But that' one reason why I'm happy to be back here in Portland. Here, living locally is both possible and delicious. Beer is a given and is easy, considering the embarrassment of local breweries we possess. But how about the rest of our food?

Yesterday I indulged in a fun, life-changing experiment: I went down to my local co-op and tried to assemble a shopping list based on almost purely Oregon (and some Washington) food products. The result? We have amazing, local choices right at our fingertips. Here's what I acquired from local sources:

Beets, eggs, beer, milk, three types of potatoes, bread, tofu, grain cereal, cabbages, apples, walnuts, onions, chard, pears, and kiwi

The only item I purchased from outside of the Northwest? Freshly-ground peanut butter. And that doesn't count cheeses, meats, and other items I decided against purchasing then and there. Sure, I paid a little more, but the food is all fresh, delicious, free of nasty chemicals, and supports the local economy. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, and am planning on joining up to the local co-op to show my support. Hell, the even have a yearly farmers' market on Wednesdays. Sounds fun and is tasty: I made home fries with a chard/egg scramble when I got home. Best damn breakfast-for-dinner I've ever made.

And, of course, today for lunch I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from local bread, the above peanut butter, and fresh jelly my mother-in-law made in Hawaii. Combine that with an apple, carrot, and a few whole-wheat crackers and I'm ready to rock-and-roll.

So, what's the lesson here? We all know that eating locally is good: for health, for farmers, for local economy. But it's surprisingly-easy to do, and not nearly as expensive when you purchase mostly basic ingredients (produce, etc) to cook yourself from scratch.

Having a good life is all about making responsible choices. Not everyone can do it all the time, but getting a little produce from the farmers' market or support local growers as often as possible will do wonders. For me, it was time to put my money and my mouth where my idealism is.

If you want to learn more, check out the Portland Farmers' Market website or learn about where I did my shopping: the People's Coop.