Lately there’s been some interesting posts out in blogland about the eat local movement and feminism. Or really, eating local and still having a normal, modern life and what the effect of all the attention on your average American man or woman is, or should be. Liz over at Pocket Farm had some interesting this to say, as did Jennifer Jeffrey here and here. I won’t recap for you but there’s been a lot floating around in my head about this the last week or so. So pardon the disorganized brain dump that follows, hope you can get to the end.
Participating in the One Local Summer challenge has definitely made me more aware of what I’m eating, how I’m cooking it and where it came from. Reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle earlier this spring was the impetus behind my decision to explore my local foodshed options and jump into the challenge. It’s also really easy to get caught up in it and become a bit of an evangelist if you will – luckily my friends and family are used to me being really passionate about whatever I’m just discovering.
Mike and are lucky in that while we both work full-time, demanding jobs, we also don’t have a lot of the commitments and pressures that many of our friends and counterparts have. We’ve got a cheap mortgage, having bought before the real estate craze got really crazy here, this frees us to spend a bit more on food. We don’t have any children, well aside from the four-legged and feathered kinds, so our evenings and weekends are mostly our own. And we like to cook at home, and mostly do, using quality ingredients and exploring new recipes. And I love going to the farmer’s market, seeing it as a relaxing thing to do on either Thursdays or Sundays (we’ve got options around here).
All of this makes it fun and interesting to participate in the OLS challenge, rather than really a challenge if you will. I’m enjoying figuring out where to find meats, talking to the farmer’s at the markets, finally having no excuse not to shop at the bakery even though it means one more stop. I kind of like “sticking it to the man” and supporting my local farmer’s, bakers, pasta makers, cheese mongers and wineries. It feels good to know that I’m having an impact, even if it’s just a small one.
There have been questions posed about whether or not all this canning and freezing and cooking is pushing us (me) back into a traditional role that we’ve worked long and hard to get out of. And I guess it could be if I felt like I had to take on this role, that I wasn’t doing it of my own free will, if I would face censure if I didn’t. But really? I’ve been doing the grocery shopping, cooking and meal planning for us for years. In exchange I don’t have to pick up dog shit, mow the lawn, clean the garage or put out the garbage or recycling. Sure, it’s a pretty stereotypical division of labor, but given the choice I’d rather pit and freeze 5 lbs of cherries than pick up two weeks of dog crap on an 80 degree July day.
I don’t see what’s wrong with traditional roles within a given family, assuming everyone is comfortable with them. What the efforts of past women and the feminist movement have made possible, and my reality, is not that I shouldn’t do those things, that I don’t have to do them at all. But that I have choices. I can choose to work or stay home as best fits my family’s reality. I can choose to make dinner from scratch with all local ingredients, or stop at the deli and grab something to reheat. I can choose to take on a traditional role, or not. I can choose to can my own tomatoes, or buy them from someone else.
I’m not sure that I’m really saying anything here – so bear with this stream of consciousness. I guess where I’m trying to go is that while I’m loving every minute of seeking out local grains and milk and meat, I don’t expect that every woman or man would or should. I like the satisfaction of buying my produce at the farmers’ market and bringing it home and making a meal of it. But not everyone does. I like the challenge, I like making 3 stops on a Sunday afternoon at the farmers’ market, the co-op, the grocery store. It’s like a treasure hunt, but I know a whole hell of a lot of people that would and do think I’m nuts.
Not everyone currently has the time or money required to make eating local a reality. We are in the unique position to be able to make it work. We can afford to buy organic local produce without sacrificing something else. We can afford to shell out the money to buy and fill our freezer with pastured or sustainably raised / harvested local beef, pork, fish and chicken. We have the time to cook it all up into wonderful, nutritious dinners and write about it here. And that is not everyone else’s reality.
Many people out there, men and women, are struggling just to go to work, pay the bills, feed the kids, get some sleep and find a little time to decompress. We should applaud them for what they are doing, not berate them for what they’re not. We should encourage them to make small changes, to do what works for them on a daily basis, not expect them to change their shopping, cooking and eating habits overnight. We should work to support our local farms and foodsheds, and hound our local grocers, so that healthy, local, sustainable foods become real options for those that currently find them out of reach.
My excitement about making this change in my life and talking about it here and to my friends, family and co-workers, is not intended to make them feel guilty in the least. All I hope is that my enthusiasm might make them look at the package or ask their grocer before buying their next tomato or pepper, peach or onion, steak or chicken breast. And hey, if you don’t have time to make four stops to find the ingredients for dinner? That doesn’t make me better than you, and it shouldn’t make you feel guilty. It should make us all more determined to be vocal about pushing our neighborhood grocers and shops to support our local farmers and producers instead of the commercial ag giants.
Alright, there ends my diatribe for the day. See what happens when you put me on a plane for too long with a lap top? I find myself with too much time to think and type uninterrupted by phone, email or life. Hello from somewhere over the prairie between Denver and Cedar Rapids. Hope you’re having a fabulous Monday too.
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Very thought provoking. I live in an area where the role of the “traditional” housewife is alive and well. It’s interesting to note that many of my clients who have this role of child rearing, cooking and taking care of home and hearth whole heartedly enjoy it. Yet I hear them apologize for enjoying it!
I am the sole breadwinner for my family yet I still do all the cooking, bill paying, canning, cheesemaking, breadmaking etc. My darling husband does the laundry, vacuuming, trash duty and we share the bathrooms. He does the lionshare of the gardening right now as I work outside the home. We don’t have children or television which is our explanation of how we get “so much” done.
I find myself as I get older changing my idols from Oprah or Martha to women like Tasha Tudor, Helen Nearing or frankly, bloggers like you.
While I don’t intend to make other’s feel guilty for their choices I won’t apologize for mine and I celebrate all that I do for the joy and satisfaction it brings me.
Hello! Nice post… I just re-found your blog recently and like it!
I fully support the idea of eating local and do often/usually buy local food when I can find it. I shop nearly exclusively at our local co-op, but can’t get the farmer’s market due to work schedules and driving distances.
I have been watching the OLS phenomenon mostly from the outside, and have been trying to figure out why seeing so many posts from people on the subject is actually a bit tiresome for me. I feel like a traitor: I think the idea is wonderful, just am not an enthusiastic participant.
I do work full-time outside the home, and while we don’t have kids either, I often feel overwhelmed with the commute to our rural home, chores, outside committments, etc. I love eating local, but just can’t find the time to really research, prepare lovely meals, and then photograph and document them right now. Perhaps I’m jealous of those who do? I know others don’t want to make me feel guilty, but I do feel a bit wierd for not having the ooomph to join in. Someday?
Hmmm, I should probably take this to my own blog. Thanks for listening!
Thanks AnnaMarie – I’m usually pretty unapologetic about our gender roles too. Although I participate in and often lead our building / remodeling projects, we’re otherwise split pretty traditionally. Thank you for the compliments!
Gina, in the interest of full disclosure I should say that this wouldn’t be so easy or enjoyable if I still had a big commute for work. Right now I work 5 miles from my home and the farmer’s markets (there are 3) are all within 10 miles. Add that to the fact that I’m usually headed out of the office at 5pm and Mike gets home around 4:30 and we’re really pretty spoiled with after work time for this type of thing and the normal chores. Wow, run-on sentence anyone?
All that to say – last summer I might have been able to do this, but the summer before, no way. I could barely make dinner after my hour and half commute, and definitely couldn’t have made it to the farmers market after work.