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From DestinationSpaVacations Nutrition Lake Austin Spa Resort (Texas) You may have heard of the 100 mile diet, an attempt to eat food grown within a 100 mile radius of your home. The thousands of miles that our produce travels contributes to environmental damage and global warming. Also, food grown in countries outside the US could have been treated with chemicals that are now outlawed here, like DDT. The 100 mile diet may not be feasible for your area, but eating more locally grown food has many advantages. Locally grown food is sure to be fresher than similar food found in supermarkets. When you buy lettuce or tomatoes at a farmer's market it is often picked that day or the day before. Supermarket lettuce may be seven to ten days old or older. The salad mix greens (even the organic ones) are usually washed in a chlorine bath to kill germs. Tomatoes were probably picked green and ripened with gases. Local market farmers will allow tomatoes to ripen on the plant much longer and ripen naturally without chemical treatment. Those tomatoes just taste better. Local farmers grow what tastes best, not what will ship best. You will find heirloom plants grown for their beautiful color and flavor and many more varieties than in the local market. One of our local farms in Austin, Boggy Creek Farms, often grows more than 15 different kinds of lettuce and has a wonderful large green eggplant that was a family heirloom seed from one of their friends. You won't find that particular eggplant in any seed catalog or store. Buying from local markets keeps us eating in season. You won't find lettuce in the summer in Texas gardens, but we can have great cucumber salads and basil and tomato salads. Why buy lettuce from California when you can eat like that? Many varieties of lettuce and greens are easy to grow all winter here. Choose from bok choy, Swiss chard, sorrel, collards, kale, turnip and mustard greens and you will never get bored with the selection and flavor of fresh cooked greens all winter. To find local markets, check out CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and farm stands in your area or for more information on eating locally, you can perform a search on the following web sites: http://www.localharvest.org www.lakeaustin.com © Copyright 2008 |
