Christmas Is All Around Us

A few years ago I was a very typical college student, cruising to the grocery store every two weeks or so to stock up on Ramen noodles and soda. Back then you could get 10 cans of SpaghettiO’s for $10, and I would do just that. My diet consisted almost entirely of a mixture of canned processed foods, supplemented with McDonald’s and Taco Bell when I couldn’t find a microwave. I didn’t have the time, the money, or the inclination to eat any healthier. Eating was a chore, and if a grab bag of Cheez-Its and a 20oz. Mountain Dew could get me through another art history lecture, then that was good enough for me. Every so often I would be particularly ambitious and cook—e.g., Tuna Helper or a microwave mac n’ cheese.

Since then, my nutritional evolution has been a slow, natural process. I was clueless about food, but started out by eating more fruits and veggies of the canned variety. It was a start. When those handy microwaveable steamed bags of vegetables came out I got hooked, and upgraded a bit. Eventually (and only recently, I have to admit), I started hanging out a little more in the produce section of the grocery store. I stopped buying meat, and things got interesting. My curiosity had been piqued, and I started finding more interesting ways to eat. Unnaturally flat squares of lunch meat were replaced with beans and rice in my shopping basket. Chips and cookies were (mostly) replaced with fruits and old-fashioned popping corn. Even my canned soup staples fell by the wayside as I became more interested in sweet peppers and baby carrots.

Little did I know that I had hardly scratched the surface of becoming a food-conscious consumer.

When I decided, earlier this spring, that I would put my vet school plans on hold indefinitely, I needed something else to occupy my thoughts and plans for the future. I took to gardening as my rebound obsession. I got involved with a group at IUPUI that was planning an “urban garden” on campus. I volunteered at the Indy Winter Farmers’ Market. The more I got involved, the more intrigued I became. There was so much to find out about. And it all looked pretty tasty.

I still feel pretty clueless, but I’m learning by the bushelful every day. Right now I’m knee-deep into a book by Barbara Kingsolver called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. In truly riveting Kingsolver fashion, the book is a non-fictional account of the author’s pledge, with her family, to subsist for one year only on what they could grow on their farm or could get from other farmers in their county. It might not sound like an enthralling read, but the book is enlightening, to say the least.

Barbara Kingsolver’s book focuses on one pivotal action that is inescapably married to the local food movement: seasonal eating. Again, I feel a little silly to admit, but this concept is pretty foreign to me. I mean, I know that you can only buy pumpkins during autumn, and that pomegranates usually show up at the grocery store around Christmas time, but….when is it normal to be eating asparagus? When would anyone not living in California expect to see a carrot or an apple or a zucchini appear on their dinner plate? Take away everything that gets shipped in from distant lands, and just what would be left on the shelves in mid-May?? I had no idea. But through all my reading and researching and getting my hands dirty in my own little vegetable plot, I’m starting to catch on.

And like any new discovery, now that I’ve found out about local foods I’m starting to notice it everywhere. Unbeknownst to me, Indy actually has a flourishing local foods scene. It’s practically becoming a style around here. There are farmers’ markets cropping up on every side of the city. You can buy shares in farmers’ crops that are delivered into the city for pickup. There is even a service that will deliver bags of farm-fresh groceries to your front door, year round. It’s amazing what you can find when you know what to look for.

My next step in my personal (Local) Foods Movement is, well, to buy some local foods. Now that I’m a working girl I actually have a bit of surplus income to make that possible. Yes, good food is more expensive than what comes in a can on a shelf at Kroger. But it’s worth it. Yesterday Jeff and I stopped in at a place called Locally Grown Gardens, just a mile’s walk from our house. I was surprised at all they had available, especially this early in the season. There were little potatoes, tons of redolent tomatoes, asparagus, cabbage, onions, loaves and loaves of bread, and some really tasty looking pies. The shelves were fully stocked with edible goods from all around the state. It was beautiful. Everything smelled amazing. Unfortunately we were on foot at the time and unwilling to lug home bags of groceries from such a distance, so we promised ourselves we would come back very soon.

I may be gastronomically challenged, but I can follow a recipe, and those veggies have a date with my crock pot.

Stay Tuned…