Just over two weeks in to the new diet......

Two weeks  into a new way of eating....and although the range of foods I'm eating are somewhat restricted at this time of year, I'm really enjoying my grub!

I have to say I'm eating a lot of kale at the moment though! At one of the allotments, I've got curly kale and cavalero nero growing. I like it steamed , but the other day , I slathered the curly kale in a cheese sauce (Sparkenhoe Red leicester before you ask) , threw some breadcrumbs (from a Hambleton Hall loaf) on top, and baked in the oven ...absolutely delicious.

Leeks are also featuring quite heavily on the menu. Leek and  potato soup, a leek tart, you name it, a leek will be involved somewhere at least twice or three times a week!

Last night, I felt like Old Mother Hubbard...the cupboard was bare.  I only had two leeks and 3 potatoes in the vegetable basket.So, necessity being the mother of invention,  I steamed the leeks over the potatoes while they were parboiling. Sliced the potatoes and put them in a gratin dish with the leeks.Added milk and some cream, salted and peppered them and baked in the oven for 25 minutes.

A delicious take on potatoes dauphinoise....and one that I will definitely make again.

So I'm enjoying this food challenge....and I've been encouraged by Mike and Karen Small from Scotland. They're real pioneers who devised the Fife Diet.That's not about purely or exclusively sourcing their food just from the Fife area. Although they did do that for a year!

No, they say it's all about aiming for about 80 per cent of the food sourced from the area they live in leaving 20 per cent for the produce they couldn't get locally. That 20 per cent covers things like tea, coffee , sugar, wine, bananas -all from fair trade sources.They've been eating like this for a number of years now.

At the moment , about a third of the emissions that contribute to climate change come from the way we produce, transport  and consume our food. Mike and Karen now have over 3,000 followers of the Fife Diet. -and they've seen saw their carbon 'foodprint' drop to 27 per cent below the national average.Collectively what a huge, impressive difference they're making.

I urge you to go to their website and find out more....

www.fifediet.co.uk


They produce a number of recipe books devised to help with seasonal eating too..which are very good....

I spoke to Mike a couple of weeks ago as part of a radio feature on my food challenge...please have a listen....and find out what inspired him to change the way he and his family ate. One decsion that's having a big impact.

http://soundcloud.com/localfoodrules/bridget-food-edit-pkg-bf-02-02

More news soon...and you'll be able to find out why local food rules mean unfortuantely I'm having to change the habit of a lifetime.......

So, it's the third day of my challenge...and already it's very interesting.

On day one, I started off with boiled eggs and soldiers.The free range eggs were from a friend's farm about  four miles away, and the bread was from Jessica, a local artisan baker who uses flour milled in Leicestershire. So a good start to the day....

For supper, I took out of the freezer a pasta sauce I made in the autumn using my homegrown tomatoes
(you can read the recipe on my other blog at www. thinkingofthedays.blogspot.com).

Now usually I would of course accompany this with some dried pasta, but that 's not an option now  so I had a jacket potato and some of  last year's homegrown peas which were also in the freezer. Unfortunately there's not many of those left so I'm going to have to start sowing peas earlier this year!


I completely forgot  to preplan what I would have for lunch though. Luckily, a hunk of the same bread  and some excellent Sparkenhoe Red Leicester cheese ( made in Market Bosworth and made from unpasteurised milk from their farm) did the trick.

So day one of the challenge was successful...at least eighty per cent of what I ate was  grown or made locally. I did have two cups of coffee though and there was a  third of a cup of red wine in the pasta sauce.Oh and I drank alot of tap water....

I was more prepared yesterday --and  luckily as it was the first Thursday of the month..I popped down to the Farmers Market in Market Harborough.

I couldn't resist some Gloucester old spot sausages from March House farm in Great Dalby. Boy, did they hit the spot last night with mashed potatoes...and a lovely crisp  January King cabbage, which I steamed and drizzled with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar on top.

And yes I know, the balsamic vinegar isn't from Leicestershire....but that's why I 'm trying the eighty per cent local  food challenge and not a one hundred per cent one! Day two a success and I felt I simply had to celebrate with a glass of merlot...from France.

Cheers  my dears! But don't worry -this  isn't going to be a day in, day out diary of exactly what I've eaten.. Coming up will be reasons why we should all be eating more local food....and  I'll be telling you about a remarkable man from Fife who 's inspired thousands of people to really think about local food challenges.

Hello !

A sunny but freezing start today  to a new challenge where local food rules!

I love food. I adore growing some of my food, cooking is always a pleasure.(if not an adventure for those who I force to eat my culinary efforts) and as for eating....well, it's what I'm good at. Throw it at me and I'll eat it - apart from shellfish. ....

So apart from the stuff I grow myself, where do I get my food from? Well, I like to shop locally if I can - using a local butcher and the nearest  farm shop, but about once a fortnight I do a supermarket shop for the essentials.

Those "essentials" mount up ...and although I do try to buy foods in season....it's so easy to get sidetracked, and at Christmas I found myself buying green beans from China and clementines from Morocco amongst other things.

I resent the fact that some of the fruit and veg I'm eating have travelled further than I have in the last twelve months! It's also a fact that eighty per cent of the food we eat in this country is imported. Eighty per cent! Yes, I know, I had to sit down and fan myself when I found that out.

So, the challenge is...cue the roll of drums - to turn that statistic on its head. I'm going to make sure that eighty per cent of what I eat has been grown, made or produced here in Leicestershire and Rutland.

The other twenty per cent will take care of food and drinks such as bananas, coffee, red wine and the occasional treat .

As well as writing about this challenge here on this blog, I'll be covering it on air on BBC Radio Leicester. Why not?It's what I do for a living...but usually I'm featuring other people's stories!
Here's the very beginning...do have a listen...

http://soundcloud.com/localfoodrules/bridgets-challenge


I'm looking forward to seeing what food I can buy locally , how much I can grow on my two allotments and I can't wait to meet lots of independent growers and producers around here in the coming months.

The challenge means a new way of thinking, eating and living....so bring it on!