It’s a bit of a buzz-term for a lot of things. Really, I think location has to do with pretty much EVERYTHING these days that is pertinent, intelligent and mindful. I am inspired today to NOT change my LOCATION in my quest for food. Project du jour….egg salad.
What does this have to do with anything?? It’s quite simple really. Maintain a LOCAL FIRST policy with all things. How is this accomplished, you ask? It all fits in with my Hippie way of being, and making conscious and intelligent choices when it comes to parting with my money.
First things first: how to make egg salad. Boil up a few eggs, and peel them. Chop them up with a little parsley, chive (or green onion) maybe a little celery and carrot. Blend with a little mayonnaise and ta-da…luncheon is served. Takes all of about 10 minutes and you have a fresh feast at hand. Now, for the tricky part…local first.
Item One: make your own mayo. I do, it’s simple, I’ve written about it before and if you’d like the recipe just ask.
Item Two: Parsley, chives, bunching onions (the little green dudes), celery and carrot are ALL ridiculously easy to grow in your own backyard, patio, windowsill, etc.
Item Three: Local Eggs?? Short of having chickens in your own backyard, this is tough one for a lot of folks. I will eventually have my own chickens, but in the interim…I buy from a local farmer. I find the farm eggs to be FAR better than the factory farmed-serial numbered eggs that you find in the grocery stores. The farm eggs actually TASTE like something. You can even water poach them (anyone who like Eggs Benedict knows what I’m talking about) and NOT end up with a pan full of tasteless foam! I purchase my eggs for $3.00 per 18-pack ($0.65 cheaper than the local grocery store) and the eggs are SSSOOOOO much better.
The best part of this is that I know exactly where the eggs come from, whose farm they are raised on, how the birds are treated, and so forth.
Item Four: The base of all decent sandwiches….BREAD!! Pretty much EVERYWHERE has a little bakery within a decent walking distance. The next time you buy bread, here’s a cool idea – read the label. If it’s on a store shelf…it had to come from somewhere. How many miles are on your toast before you ever see it? Take your daily bread seriously…
Frankly, I don’t really give two hoots about “food safety”. Common sense, although less and less common these days, still rules my decision making processes. To my mind, it just is more intelligent to purchase my food items from someone that I KNOW rather than trust my government to look after me. I do get the occasional odd look over my choices, but here is my rationale:
Would you trust a food source you could neither see or touch? I don’t.
Would you trust a building housing upwards of 200,000 birds to provide you with clean, wholesome eggs? I don’t.
Would you be inclined to eat something that had spend X-number of days sitting in a warehouse? I’m not.
Would you be inclined to eat something that had then spent X-number of days in the back of a reefer truck? Nope.
Well, there you have it. If you are going to stuff it in your face, a little common sense would tell that you should know where it came from and exactly what it is. Remember your Mother yelling at you?? “DON’T PUT THAT IN YOUR MOUTH!!! YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE IT’S BEEN!!”
And for the record…my egg salad had ZERO miles on it, no carbon footprint, no diesel-market ratios or other statistical anomalies, and no other green-washing necessary.
The best part…my location didn’t have to change one bit. 🙂
