How can you be a part of Local Foods Week?

Local Matters’ 2nd annual Local Foods Week is upon us in Central Ohio and this is a great reminder of what the benefits are to eating local, no matter if you are celebrating with us in Columbus or not.  “This year we wanted to use Local Foods Week to ask the community to step up their commitment to eating more local food,” says Local Matters Executive Director, chef Michael Jones.  While the main objective of Local Matters is to fight against childhood obesity and diabetes epidemics, eating locally grown foods can not only help increase the amount of fresh foods in your diet, but also drive your local economy… which is obviously something every state needs right now.

So how can you be a part of the movement.  Here are a few ways that I would suggest:

Eat Local!

It’s not rocket science.  Local Foods Week is all about spotlighting the businesses in the area that are selling locally grown food to benefit our diets and economy.  So check out the farmers market around the corner.  Or eat at that cute little place that prepares your meals with locally grown food.  Do the research and give it a shot.  Your taste buds will thank you for it and you’ll feel good about the cause you are contributing to.  For those of you in Central Ohio, Local Matters has a great page on their website called Fresh Connect and it will point you in the direction of some great local restaurants, farmers markets, food festivals, etc. so you can have a little help to get your started.

Subscribe to Edible Communities

Edible Communities is a publisher whose goal is to teach the story of local foods.  “We believe that every person has the right to affordable, fresh, healthful food on a daily basis and that knowing where our food comes from is a powerful thing.” (See About Us page.)  As many of you already know, one of my clients is Edible Columbus, a member of this community. They are not only succeeding in engaging the community to learn more about the local foods movement, but a portion of their paid subscriptions goes directly to Local Matters, which is a great way for you to be able to contribute to the cause.  So if you would like to not only receive an amazing, educational, beautiful publication while also giving to Local Matters, you can subscribe to Edible Columbus.  If you are not in Columbus, be sure to check out the Edible Communities website to find one of their magazines near you.

Take the pledge

Local Matters is making it really easy to be a part of Local Foods Week by presenting us with the Eat Local Challenge.  On this pledge card, you are asked to check three different ways that you can advocate for eating local this month.  A couple examples include: try an Ohio grown food, visit a farmers market, attend a Local Foods Week events (more on that in the next section), and share a recipe featuring local foods.  Check out the pledge card, even if you’re not from Ohio, see what you can do to contribute and take the pledge!  Those in Columbus have the opportunity to win some prizes, so why not at least try?

Attend an event hosted by Local Foods Week

The festivities kicked off this weekend with the third annual Market to Market, which is a cross-city local foods-centric bike ride beginning at either The Hills Market or North Market and ending at the other one.  There are a whole slew of events in addition to this ride in celebration of Local Foods Week and you can find a list of them here.  Take a tour of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream kitchen.  Check out Ingredients, a documentary about the local food movement playing at the Gateway Film Center.  Attend the first annual Harvest Ball being held at Station 67 in Downtown Columbus.  And the list doesn’t stop there.  With so many things on the calendar, how can you to ignore Local Foods Week?  Get your education on and join in on the fun!

Now that you know how you can get involved, get to it!  If there is anything that you think I left out or maybe there is something specific that you would like to share from your neck-of-the-woods, please leave a comment!

Happy eating!

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