Janie Boschma

Do you know how far 100 miles is? From Eau Claire, it takes you past Minneapolis one way, past Rochester another, to Mauston another way, through Hayward another and through Stevens Point another.

Why do I know this? Because for the next month I will only eat food grown, raised and produced within 100 miles of Eau Claire.

I decided to join the movement in honor of the Chippewa Valley’s first-ever Local Food Challenge, created by local farmers, co-ops, restaurants and stores. The challenge asks people to eat foods grown and produced within 100 miles of Eau Claire for the whole month of September.

The only guideline is to try to work some local food into your diet. My co-editors decided that it would be much more entertaining if I tried to go 100 percent. After speaking to a few people about The Valley’s Eat Local Challenge, I realized that that wasn’t going to happen. I did, however, decide to go as local as I felt I could, setting my own guidelines.

I will track my progress in a blog on The Spectator Web site. An occasional update will also run in the Showcase section. I’ll be doing a bit of comparison pricing, writing a few recipes, as well as watching my eight roommates eat Jeff and Jim’s pizza on Saturday nights while I try to eat my “local stuff.”

Just Local Food
A few days before The Valley’s Local Food Challenge began, I visited Just Local Food, 772 First Ave., a food cooperative and sponsor of the challenge.

The idea behind the challenge is raising awareness of where food comes from, said co-owner Jen Tschernach. Often, she said, produce that could be grown in Wisconsin are shipped in from other states, adding unnecessary food miles. Food miles are the distance it takes for produce to travel to its final destination from its origin, Tschernach said.

For challenge participants, Just Local Food is putting a sign next to produce they carry that are in the 100-mile area.

“Our store is going to make it easy,” she said.

Participant
On Sept. 1, at the Stone Soup kickoff event at Demmler Park, I asked Aaron Ellringer, co-owner of Just Local Food and a participant in The Valley’s Local Food Challenge, about his efforts to eat local. It isn’t an extreme diet change for him, though he said he will be making a few extra changes and suggested using butter instead of olive oil.

People will define the challenge in different ways, Ellringer said. For example, chicken that is raised within 10 miles of Eau Claire but must be sent to Iowa to be processed may not be counted as local by some because though some people do not count processing miles, others do.

There are also no local growers of cocoa or coffee beans, so those could potentially be out of some diets, Ellringer said.

“It depends on how far you want to go with it,” he said.

Native Bay
On the afternoon of Day Three, I visited chef and owner Nathan Berg at his restaurant, Native Bay Restaurant and Lounge, in Chippewa Falls. We sat on the deck overlooking Lake Wissota, sipping wild grape juice made with local grapes and a touch of cream during our chat. Berg is one of the five people who met in late spring last year to help plan The Valley’s Eat Local Challenge.

Berg, a participant himself, plans on featuring items on the restaurant’s menu with only local ingredients, with the exception of oils, vinegars, salt, pepper and wild rice.

This is a bit of a challenge for Berg, since many of his items only have two or three ingredients that aren’t local to the area or region. One problem is finding a local grower for wheat.

“It’s tough to make something filling without being able to use bread or pasta,” he said.

Berg feels a large part of The Valley’s Eat Local Challenge is connecting with the people who grow your food. At his restaurant, Berg tries to foster the connection by printing a map of Wisconsin on the back of his menu, showing where his suppliers are located.

“It makes eating a more intimate thing,” he said.

Eating locally has other benefits, Berg said. Often, local produce is fresher, healthier and better-tasting.

However, varying your diet is important. Berg explained that eating bacon cheeseburgers made with local ingredients every day isn’t healthy; making sure your body is getting a decent variety of fruits and vegetables is.

Berg suggests taking the challenge on a personal level and participating as much as possible.

“If it’s a little uncomfortable, that’s a good thing,” he said.

Foodlums
For dinner on Day Three of The Valley’s Eat Local Challenge, I dined at a potluck with the UW-Eau Claire student food club, Foodlums. Over a bowl of gazpacho and a hunk of cornbread (both local, of course), I learned who the Foodlums are, what they do and why the challenge is important to them.

The Foodlums want to increase awareness of where food comes from and promote the consumption of local food, said senior Dylan Thomas, the president of Foodlums. They plan to sponsor demonstrations and speakers this semester to promote local-food awareness. The group was founded last semester and is open to all students and community members.

Thomas and a few other students decided to start the group after taking the class Geography 369, “The Geography of Food,” taught by associate professor Paul Kaldjian. Thomas said the class focused on where foods come from and how it affects systems.

The group sponsors The Valley’s Local Food Challenge. Thomas said the group wants to serve as the campus go-to for the monthlong event, as well as informing students about local food year-round.

Many of the members of Foodlums are participating in the challenge. Each person has their own set of guidelines. Most said they were doing pretty well so far, since it was only the third day. I did, however, hear a few grumbles over the void of coffee and tea.

Foodlums operates the university student garden, located in the L.E. Phillips Hall courtyard, Thomas said.

The group began preparing the garden for planting last spring. A small group of people tended the garden over the summer, watering, weeding and harvesting the produce.

The garden produces a variety of fruits and vegetables, including heirloom pumpkins, tomatoes and carrots.

Foodlums members do a variety of things with their garden bounty. Some has been eaten by people who work in the garden, some has been preserved for later use and some was sold to a local restaurant. Thomas said the group also plans to donate some of the produce to Community Table, a nonprofit organization that serves meals to people who need food.

“The idea is to keep contributing,” he said.

For more information on The Valley’s Local Food Challenge, visit the event blog at www.asecondopinionmag.com.