I have mentioned the May Eat Local Challenge in several posts, but thought I would post something official which summarizes the challenge and what you should do if you'd like to join. I am working in association with the Locavores to host the May Eat Local Challenge. Participants agree to focus on eating food grown and produced in their area during the month of May. How stringent or loose you decide to make your personal challenge is up to you.
In designing your personal challenge, you should answer the following questions:
1. What's your definition of local for this challenge?
The Locavores are using a 100-mile radius around their home to define local foods. I will be doing the same. You could define local as anything from within your county to within the state or the United States.
2. What exemptions will you claim?
There are some things that are a part of your everyday life that will be impossible to source locally. Will you be drinking coffee during this month? What will you do about spices? In many areas, local grains are hard to find. What will you do if you can't find them?
3. What is your personal goal for the month?
You don't have to set your goal at eating every meal locally -- while that is the ideal, we want to be realistic here. You could set a goal of having each dinner with local products, having one family meal a week, or even hosting one weekend picnic with local foods during the month.
So you're ready to take the challenge ... now what?
* Go sign up on the Locavores site. This is a good way to be counted in the challenge, and to receive updates during the month.
* If you are a blogger, post about the above questions and send me a link to the post by Sunday, April 30. During the first week of the challenge, I will be posting a summary of blogs to watch on the new website dedicated to eating locally year-round (launching this week).
* If you are not a blogger and would like to write about your experiences for the world, please contact me via email.
Would you like more information? If you would like a better sense of the Eat Local Challenge, you can view the links above, on the right, which are associated with the August 2005 challenge in which over 600 people and 60 bloggers participated. Also, read the Locavores' site, and keep an eye on this site in the coming weeks for further information.
