It’s official. Local eating in Seattle has gone mainstream. This is evidenced by the current edition of Seattle Metropolitan magazine, The Food Lover’s Guide. The beautiful photo on the cover alone is enough to convince me. But then again, I’ve always been nothing if not a sucker for fresh berries.

Total sidetrack for a moment, please forgive me. When I was a kid my grandparents used to pay us to pick raspberries and strawberries. I can’t remember how much, maybe $0.25 per pint? Anyway, my challenge was always being sure to actually put enough in my boxes and not in my mouth that I could afford to go to the movies or out for ice cream later. Nothing is better than a warm raspberry fresh off the vine and straight into your mouth. Mmmmm.

Anyway, the food lover’s guide is a great, if incomplete, account of eating local in Seattle. There is some great information about why eating local matters, how lucky Seattle is to have the resources we do and a shockingly limited guide to what local foods, farmers and producers are available.

I understand that it’s Seattle focused, and so I don’t expect to see the farmer’s markets in my area (30 miles north) included, or our farmers highlighted. But the edition devoted as much space to local bakeries as it did to local farms and talked almost not at all about sourcing local meats. And, the vendors that were highlighted (bakeries, cheese mongers, ice cream shops and restaurants) were all definitely on the higher end of the $$$ scale. If you didn’t know better, you’d be left with the impression that the resources available to the average resident began and ended with the local farmer’s markets.

There was no mention of the local foods carried year round by local grocers like PCC Markets, Central Market and the Co-ops. There was only a brief mention of CSA’s but no guidelines for how to find one. No attention was paid to sourcing local meats from local farmers or the fact that you can find lists through several local organizations.

But the photography is beautiful. And it’s better than devoting an entire issue to out of season foods from far off lands. It’s better than another rehash of local shopping and restaurants that specialize in imported goods and foods. It’s a start.