DO YOU KNOW?
I don’t mean your local Frugal Hoosier or H.E.B, but it’s true that many of us don’t know the origin of our food beyond the grocery store. That means we are also in the dark on the freshness our food, the conditions that our food is grown oraised in, and if the USDA organic label on it was earned or bought. An easy solution to shed a light on this situation is eating locally!
DISTANCE
On average produce travels 1900 miles to be sold in stores. That is quite the road trip, how do our fruits and veggies endure? Our most natural foods are actually bioengineered. The DNA of our produce is altered to add characteristics that will allow it to last longer. That doesn't sound very appetizing. Transportation accounts for 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions in our food’s carbon footprint. Eating local decreases travel time resulting in less fossil fuels used in transport and less pollutants emitted.
FRESH FARE
Many small farms are able to use organic practices, eliminating harmful pesticides, hormones, and chemicals. Markets and restaurants that buy from local farms have fresher ingredients giving the food a notably improved taste. Variety is the spice of life and local farms allow for seasonal eating, instead of shipping in food when they are out of season in your area the introduce new foods into their menu! Other benefits are that smaller farms allow harvesting to be done using less energy. Buying from local farmers supports the local economy and helps preserve farm land, instead of seeing the latest carbon copy strip mall pop up.
GREEN HOUSE CRAFT FOOD
I visited a local restaurant Green House Craft Food, their entire menu is from local farms! Chefs Rob Snow and Todd Engel have created a menu that will leave your mouth watering after reading through the appetizers. Sweet buns, braised pork butt, house made pickles, house smoked turkey are just a few of the tantalizing menu items you will come across. When it comes to buying locally you normally get more bang for your buck, better quality product for comparable prices. The savings trickle down to us, many options are under $10, the most expensive $16.50.
Green House not only supports local farms but they sell merchandise from other local companies, wine from Austin Winery and jelly from Wild Vine Canning among them.
After painstaking deliberating over the menu, I decided on a Cajun flavored soup with andouille sausage to start, the grass eater black bean burger, and the citrus sangria that was a part of their weekday happy hour. Everything was exceptional, I tried eating local and it worked out great from me, maybe you should try it too! Find more pictures of our visit @Littlemissrecycle on Instagram & Facebook.
A list of all the local farms that source Green House Craft Food Eatery