In the weeks ahead, you may start seeing a different side of local food, one that might include the innovative, the overlooked or underutilized, and even the invasive.
It could turn up on a foraging field trip for wild edible plants in urban parks, or at a so-called “trash fish” happy hour to sample Gulf seafood that doesn’t usually make it to the dock. It could even be at a rooftop dinner in Central City with a menu of wild boar, nutria, lionfish and kudzu.
These events are all part of the annual Eat Local Challenge. Held each June, it’s a free-form happening and collection of special events intended to get people in the New Orleans area eating more local more often.
It’s called a challenge because people who register for it pledge to eat foods produced within a 200-mile radius of the city for the whole month. Now, that can mean eating local exclusively, or picking a less stringent level, more to try things out.
Beyond the challenge, there are plenty one-off Eat Local events in June, ranging from cocktail parties and bicycle tours of urban farms to hands-on demos for making your own rice noodles, your own baby food or your own beer.
And some of these events delve quite a bit deeper, challenging ideas not just for how we define local but also how we define food.
Get details on the Eat Local Challenge and its events at nolalocavore.org.
