One of my favorite new features of the recent update on Locavore is the addition of the Facebook integration that lets people say what they’re actually finding in their markets.  At the end of this post I’m offering a weird challenge/reward for people who test the feature and post about something they’ve eaten locally recently.

The new "I Ate Local" tab

The thing about this whole local food movement is that it in many ways is about making food social again. In Michael Pollan’s Eater’s Manifesto, two of his points are about the social value of food.

#3 – Do all of your eating at a table.

#5 – Try not to eat alone.

The rest of the points in the Eater’s Manifesto are really good too.

In addition, many of the suggestions for eating local food involve things like getting to know your local farmers’ markets and growing food in a community garden.  Cooking is always more enjoyable when you can share your efforts with friends and family.

I want to add to the social aspects of food enjoyment.  Which is why I’ve added the “I Ate Local” tab which lets you talk about what kinds of food you’re actually finding in your markets.  What’s available changes from year to year, and even from farm to farm, and so knowing what’s available requires that information be shared about what’s actually in markets, and when.

It’s exciting to know when the first strawberries of the season come in.  I’ve really enjoyed @cooklocal’s Twitter stream and farmers’ market reports like this one that tell me what’s just come in from which farms.  Even if I don’t go out and eat the first strawberries of the season, it’s so nice to feel like you are in touch with the produce of the area.  That rich connection with the growing cycles and produce from farms is something that as a lifetime suburbs/city dweller I have never really experienced until now.

My special limited time “I Ate Local” challenge

Right now, to help kick off this new feature, I’d love it if you could try out the feature and post about one thing that you’ve eaten recently that you know was grown locally.

For the next week or so, if you post a local food you’ve recently eaten (even better if you also post it to your Facebook Wall) I’ll draw a picture of what you ate, and post it on this blog. I reserve the right to stop drawing if my arm falls off.

Thanks for helping!

This entry was posted by Buster on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 9:36 pm. It is filed under Locavore. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.