Sunday 1 February 2009

Going local

... oh no, now she's on the local trip, too! Hey, it's the only New Year's resolution I made for 2009!
I think it's funny how definitions of local vary... when someone from the US says they're only buying from their state and the surroundings, that easily covers an amount of land that could swallow Europe. At least some of it.

Let's face it: living in northwest Europe, eating only local food would restrict me to roots and tubers for pretty much all the time except the summer months.
Anyway, I found a farm in Neuss that delivers to Düsseldorf (since I would never be home in Krefeld when a delivery guy came) and subcribed to their "Single" organic veg and fruit box scheme. Actually, the main reason I started this was not as much the local aspect but the fact that when I finally have time to go grocery shopping at the end of the day, both supermarkets and Bioläden (organic grocery stores) only have the icky fruit and veg left.
So for 12-15 euro a week, I might for example get:
Grühnkohl, a giant kohlrabi, jerusalem artichokes, chicory, parsnips, ginger, oranges, apples, bananas, the smallest pears in the world and the most gigantic lemon ever!

This week box held all of this:
beetroot, salsify (I've never cooked with it, any suggestions?), an eggplant, swiss chard, onions, 2 kiwi fruit, apples, pears and oranges again and a small, orange and un-irish sharon :)

Most produce is from Germany and the Netherlands, though there are some things that are from Italy or Spain, or even farther away.
I like that I can preview what's going to be in the box every Friday and change my order online and plan around what's in the box (which is brought every Wednesday).

Another local thing are these sweet German vegan blogs that I recently discovered:
Vegan Macht Glücklich
Schlemmen ohne "Muh" und "Mäh"

10 comments:

Charly said...

Hallo Steffi
Schön, dass du unseren Blog bei dir verlinkt hast
Das freut uns.
Wir sind auch immer wieder auf der Suche nach Gleichgesinnten
Gruß Charly

Hase said...

I totally agree with Charly (which is something I do most of the time ;-) )

Ich hab jetzt mal eine Frage an dich. Du hast da am Blogrand diesen Feed-Burner, mit dessen Hilfe man deinen Blog abonnieren kann, sehe ich das richtig? Das finde ich toll. Kannst du mir sagen, wie ich das auch in unseren Blog reinkriege? Ich hab mir diese Feed-Burner-Seite schon ausführlich angeschaut, aber das ist alles so neu für mich und irgendwie verstehe ich nur Bahnhof... könntest du einem Feed-Burner-Neuling eine kleine Hilfestellung geben?
Thanks a million!!

Unknown said...

Good luck with it. I started with one too this year. But it's not that big and cheaper: 8 euro. Mine is without fruit. I think it's a nice challenge every week, because you really have to do something with all these vegetable. And like this you don't buy the same vegetables every time.

Alicia said...

Thanks for the links! I like both blogs a lot! And I know what it is to get the worst looking veggies in the supermarket. And if it's saturday evening you don't even get that!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on going local and thanks for the links. I'll add them to my blogroll!

Frau Mohr said...

Thank you for visiting and promoting my blog ;)
I like yours, too...I've just checked the net to find a "local vegetable-box" - I like the idea!

(And..uuuhm...I fear I have to polish my english up if I would like to read here furthermore...)

Catherine Weber said...

Oranges and lemons in a sharebox?? I'm jealous! (Are they from Spain or Italy?)

Liz Ranger (Bubble Tea for Dinner) said...

that's lucky that local gets you bananas, actually! not a bad spread, really... I might consider doing local in montreal, but only in the warmer months... and isn't it funny how kiwis aren't tropical? When I first found out I was so surprised!

Anonymous said...

I love fresh local produce! Looks like you found a great supplier!

Erin said...

I'm glad you signed up for a box! And I hope you continue to like it. It looks like a great variety, especially for this time of year. I wish we had local bananas!