Localvore Potluck

Two weekends ago Grounded Design hosted a Localvore Potluck at their studio. What's a localvore you might ask?

Wikipedia says, "The locavore movement is increasingly important in the United States and elsewhere as interest in sustainability and eco-consiousness become more prevalent.^[1] Those who are interested in eating food that is locally produced, not moved long distances to market, are called "locavores," and the word "locavore" is the word of the year for 2007 for the Oxford American Dictionary.^[2] This word was the creation of Jessica Prentice of the San Francisco Bay Area at the time of World Environment Day, 2005.^[3] It is rendered "localvore" by some, depending on regional differences, usually.^[4][5] The food may be grown in home gardens or grown by local commercial groups interested in keeping the environment as clean as possible and selling food close to where it is grown. Some people consider food grown within a 100-mile radius of their location local, while others have other definitions. In general the local food is thought by those in the movement to taste better than food that is shipped long distances.^[1]

Farmers' markets play a role in efforts to eat what is local.^[6] Preserving food for those seasons when it is not available fresh from a local source is one approach some locavores include in their strategies. Living in a mild climate can make eating locally grown products very different from living where the winter is severe or where no rain falls during certain parts of the year.^[7] Those in the movement generally seek to keep use of fossil fuels to a minimum, thereby releasing less carbon dioxide into the air and preventing greater global warming. Keeping energy use down and using food grown in heated greenhouses locally would be in conflict with each other, so there are decisions to be made by those seeking to follow this lifestyle. Many approaches can be developed, and they vary by locale.^[8] Such foods as spices, chocolate, or coffee pose a challenge for some, so there are a variety of ways of adhering to the locavore ethic.^[9]"

So ya, we at Grounded Design Studio decided to become localvores and invited our friends to join us. Guests were asked to bring anything farmed, fermented, produced, foraged, brewed locally. We got a great array of local beer, local wine, peaches, blueberries, peach compote, potato curry salad, blueberry ice cream, blueberry red wine sorbet, pizza with local ingredients, corn/bean/pepper salsa, potato and zucchini chips (who knew there are pink and purple potatoes), tomato/mozzarella/basil salad, mint tea, fudge, and cookies. Yum Yum to my tum tum! It was a great time, and we hope to continue the localvore potlucks in the near future. If you are interested in joining us or would like to host it at your house, let us know! Here are a few pictures of the food from the potluck. We unfortunately got so excited about the food that we forgot to take pictures of the actual people who came. Thanks so much to everyone who came!