There is a movement afoot in favor of local foods. ‘Local’ is usually defined as ‘within one hundred miles’. As you’ve probably read, ‘industrial’ food is generally highly processed, not fresh, often considered neither flavorful nor nourishing, and exorbitantly energy wasteful, coming in from an average of 1500 miles away (out-of-season strawberries from Chile, wholesale food ingredients from China, and all). “Locavore” is the term.
So if you wanted to truly ‘go local’, what could you eat here? Could it be done at all? It certainly used to be so. Puget Sound country was home to the Coast Salish people- Duwamish, Suquamish, and all their relatives- one of the only hunter-gatherer societies known which was also sedentary. The land and sea were so rich and bountiful they could get all they needed without moving their villages, so could build permanent longhouses.
More recently Francis D. Henry wrote a song in 1874 called “The Lay of the Old Settler”. The last two verses go like this:
Find out what's happening in Shoreline-Lake Forest Parkfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“And now that I'm used to the climate
I think that if a man ever found
Find out what's happening in Shoreline-Lake Forest Parkfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
A place to live easy and happy
That Eden is on Puget Sound.
No longer the slave of ambition
I laugh at the world and its shams
As I think of my pleasant condition
Surrounded by acres of clams.”
Granted, there were very few people around here back then, so more to go around, and the landscape was virtually unspoiled, so more productive, but still… what could you eat from around here?
A hundred miles from Shoreline would include tree fruits from Wenatchee, seafood from Willapa Bay and the Salish Sea (including the best mussels, oysters, and clams anywhere!), veggies of all sorts from the various river valleys here, beef from Eastern Washington, excellent grapes and wines from Puget Sound and the Yakima Valley, and cider apples from Western Washington. We have a wide selection of high quality local cheeses. Wheat might be available (Ellensburg area?), but other grains might be a problem. Elk, deer, and other game would add to the total. It seems to me you could have a great diet whether you’re an omnivore, vegan, or whatever. Heck, sounds like a pretty good party, even!
I know from experience that being a member of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) can be great. It’s essentially like buying a subscription, but instead of a magazine you get veggies every week- a share of what the farm produces.
There are Sustainable organizations all over the region, like Sustainable Shoreline and Puget Sound Fresh. Others specific to the “100-Mile Diet” include Localharvest.org, 100mile diet.org, eatlocalchallenge.com, 100miles.com, and 100milediet.blogs.sustainableballard.org A 100-mile experiment in Vancouver BC was the subject of a Food Network Canada show.
More immediately, anyone can start patronizing farmers’ markets. We have a wonderful selection of them in this area. Indeed, the Pike Place Public Market just down the road might have been the national inspiration for the huge resurgence of farmers’ markets. Lake Forest Park has one and soon (2012) we’ll have one in downtown Shoreline in the park next to City hall. Eat well, eat right!