By By MaryClaire Foster
This past weekend I was supposed to attend the Alabama Supper, but unfortunately was unable to go when the tickets sold out faster than expected, but I’m not blaming anyone.
Regardless, I wanted to share with you what I would have experienced because I think it’s a really interesting concept and being close to Thanksgiving and relating to food I found it appropriate.
Two couples, Andy and Rashmi Grace and Joe and Sara Fuller Brown, hosted the Alabama Supper.
The Alabama Supper was a dinner featuring all food grown and raised in Alabama.
For the past 11 months, these two couples have existed almost solely on food grown or raised in Alabama. Andy Grace is a documentary filmmaker who works at the University of Alabama and is documenting their experiences.
They have a Web site, www.eatingalabama.org., where they also blog about their experiences and post pictures, you can also check out the full Alabama Supper menu and find other recipe ideas.
This idea was not their original, but has been gaining momentum all over the country. The term used to describe it is Locavore, which the New Oxford American Dictionary chose as their word of the year in 2007.
On their blog, Grace writes that most locavores use a 100 mile radius as guidelines for what is local, but these two couples decided to incorporate the entire state.
Like I said before, the practice of being a locavore is steadily gaining momentum in the country and for good reason; not only does it support the local folks, but it cuts down on transportation pollution.
I know it’s less than easy to eat completely local, and while I think it’s a cool idea, I won’t be doing it in full anytime soon either; however, I think it is important and I hope to see it gain even more momentum.
If you do a little surfing on the web you can find sites with information about local farmers markets and buy direct farms. And don’t forget the local Atmore Farmer’s market that always has a few trucks, and I know Green Apple offers some local produce along with local corn meal.
After all, a main part of eating is the social and communal aspects of it and if everyone starts buying more locally, not only will it support the community, but will forge more relationships in the community.
Speaking of social and communal aspects of eating, Thanksgiving is here, and I could not be more excited to see my family.
I’ll be heading to Trussville Wednesday evening and waking up Thursday morning to start cooking. Times have definitely changed from when I woke up to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade to wait until the very end to see Santa Claus.
Now I’m in the kitchen with my mom listening to Christmas music with the parade on the t.v. in the background, and just like when I was little, thinking it couldn’t get any better than this.
MaryClaire Foster is news editor for the Atmore Advance. She can be reached at 368-2123 or via email at lifestyles@atmoreadvance.com