The New Orleans Eat Local Challenge begins on Wednesday June 1, 2011 and ends Thursday June 30th. Participants who think they could only last one or two weeks are still encouraged to enter the contest. Any conscious effort to use local products will have a positive effect on your awareness of your food's origins, the local economy, and the environment.
We are going to divide the challenge into three levels: the Ultrastrict, the Bienville, and the Wild Card.
The Ultrastrict Rule is the most strict; participants in this category are limited to cosuming products that can be grown or caught within two hundred miles. Ultrastrict locavores avoid all ingredients that have not been grown and produced locally. Bread would have to be made from locally grown grains and spices (salt, pepper, etc.) must also be locally grown/ harvested. Though much like the hunter/gatherers of pre Columbian days, the ultrastrict followers of this contest will find it much easier to gather local produce and meat and in greater variety.
The Bienville Rule is the next level down. Bienville rule followers incorporate dried spices into their diet -- items sailors could carry along while at sea -- but keep all other ingredients local. Imagine how the early colonists in the 1700's lived in Nouvelle Orleans. These colonists would have had limited access to spices and products that were not locally produced. Coffee and flour would be acceptable but on a limited basis. Wine from Pontchartrain Vineyards of the northshore would be acceptable, as they grow their own grapes, but not Abita Beer.
Wild Card locavores are less restrictive. They bend their foodshed to include coffee, sugar, chocolate or any ingredients they feel they just can't live without. The wild card locavore diet is the movement's most accessible. Some locavores rationalize their coffee fix by purchasing only beans that have been certified fair trade.
Bending the rules is to be expected. All are encouraged to keep records of the foods that are harder to go without. Post on the blog and you another challenger may have found a local substitute. If you find a good substitution for a hard to give up food item, post it to help others to stay within the locavore boundaries.
The blog site and all postings will be available to the public until the day before the contest begins. At that point the full list of locally produced products guide and recipes will be loaded onto the blog and only those that have signed up will have access. Two or more challengers can sign up together but only one email address will be given access to the blog.
