January 10, 2007

More White Stuff, or What is this? Minnesnowta?




I must apologize. I have been away and my blog has been suffering from lack of posts. But I have a few good reasons...ok, Dad, yes they are just excuses. 1) Week long suffering without power. 2) The holidays (doesn't everyone use this one?). 3)Visiting family in Minnesota. 4) Left digital camera in Minnesota. 5) Looking for/finding new job in an editing department. 6) Engaged! To Mitch. 7)And, thus, Wedding Planning!

So, here I am, back in Seattle and it is snowing again. And quite considerably. Who ever thought that Seattle could be a winter wonderland so many times in one year? Tonight, as I don't have my camera, I thought would be a good time to look over my parents pictures from Italy and dream of balconies overlooking the Mediterranean...



Mountains to climb in my daily jaunt...








The local shopping mall...

And, being a "locavore"-- a word first brought to my attention by the Feb 2007 issue of Food and Wine and, I believe, coined by the San Fransisco group Locavores.
As a side note, what do you think about the term locavore (a person who only eats food that comes from a 100 mile radius of where it was produced)? I wonder if it will cause stress to the hostess and host whose discriminating dinner guest may be a "locavore"? Eating closer to home is a fabulous way to discover regional foods, reduce pollution created in transporting foods, and support communities. But I can't help but think about how privileged we are to be able to eat this way, when so many struggle to have enough food. What would it take to enable all people, regardless of income, to eat healthy, delicious food, while promoting the ideals of the locavore?
One of my favorite things my mom told me about Italy was the way people grocery shop. Every day they walk to the produce stand, the small grocer. They buy a carrot, a stick of celery, a half of a cabbage and go home to make dinner. What a wonderful way to cook and keep a clean refrigerator! If only we had that lifestyle here...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Locavore!?! Mes amis-c'est possible! But, is it plausible that the San Franscian group is really borrowing the term or at least the concept from the slow food movement origninating in Italy???

What would you think about having this as a goal for your upcoming wedding reception?

Bekah said...

I think that a lot of groups around the world are building off of each other. This past weekend on The Splendid Table Lynn Rosetta Casper talked to an author who wrote a book about how the gourmet food culture started in the 30's with James Beard and how food, gourmet food, has become less intimidating to American's as a result. The author also talked about how the '60s movement begat Alice Waters' local, organic cooking in San Fran. It is interesting to think about how a lot of different groups around the world, who have the same goals and ambitions, rise to the surface around the same time. As if the time to think about sustainability has come.