From Both Sides Now

My mom is going to love the soundtrack to today’s post.

Screw local food. You know what I just ate? A tangerine. In upstate New York. At the end of January.
And I loved it.

You know what else I love? Coffee. That doesn’t grow here. Neither does chocolate. Nor the olives for my olive oil. For the past month we’ve eaten more rice than I ever thought imaginable, and I don’t know if it’s even possible to cultivate the grain in New York. If Little Miss Fussy had to give up her mango lassi habit, I fear she wouldn’t have the will to get out of bed for a month.

Sure, if one were enterprising, I imagine there is a way of producing a local salt. But pepper is out of the question. We have great local cheeses, but none of them is Parmigiano-Reggiano. If necessary, I could be content with local wine, beer and spirits. However I’m not giving up on the amazing variety of foodstuffs that, while they may come from far away, help to create a global village.

Now that you know I’m no ideologue, I have to tell you something about local food.

Some of it is amazing. There are some who will have you believe that local food is better just because it is grown by your friends and neighbors. That’s a really loose interpretation of better if you ask me. Perhaps you could make an argument that it’s better for the environment without all the added transportation costs, or better for the community since the money supports local business.

These are fine reasons to buy local foods. But they are not why I do it. I buy local foods because they taste better. Now that is a tenuous argument too, because not all locally grown foods taste better than those raised elsewhere. Think about milk. We have large industrialized milk facilities locally, which are just like those used all over the country to produce a consistent product state to state. Pretty much all milk that isn’t ultra-pasteurized is local as a matter of logistical necessity.

Let me say that again. Milk does not taste better because it’s local.

The local milk that does taste better does so not because it’s local. No, the good local milk is delicious because of the production practices used by a small operator who cares deeply about the product.

Some local fruits and vegetables taste better because they can be bred for flavor and not shelf life or transportation durability. Also, because they have less distance to travel, they can be picked later, closer to their peak ripeness, without as much risk of damage in transit. This short time from field-to-market is also critical for things like corn, where every day after it’s been picked sugar converts into starch.

Personally, I find that eating local gives me a much better sense and appreciation for the region and the natural cycles of the season. I know it’s spring, when the fiddleheads and ramps arrive. Summer officially starts before the first tomatoes come in, but it wouldn’t be summer for me without a no-cook panzanella of farm fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and red peppers.

I mention all of this now, because local farms are gearing up to prepare for the planting season. And that means those who operate under a Community Supported Agriculture model are starting to line up subscribers.

For the last two years, I have been a member of the Roxbury CSA. Last year was brutal. The year before was magnificent. So it goes. But even in the bad year, when hail ruined crops before the first harvest and the farm was decimated by two major floods, I still loved it.

Don’t be like me. I blew my chance at a Roxbury membership my first two years in the region. There aren’t many openings and they fill up quickly. That’s why I’m writing you now.

Open registration begins on Wednesday, February 1. That’s six days away. On that date, the forms and lists of open slots will be available on Roxbury’s website. Mark your calendars now. Plan to get online, and write a big check. You’ll need an envelope and a stamp too.

Then you’ll just have to cross your fingers and hope for great growing conditions.

And don’t worry. If you cannot get into the Roxbury CSA there are plenty of other local farms that run CSAs too. We are very lucky here in the Capital Region to have so many local farms that do good work. But I can tell you this now, when my local tomatoes come in, I’m dressing them with extra virgin olive oil and aged sherry vinegar from Spain.