Work arounds

When I introduced the idea of Locavorism to my boyfriend, Erik, he was excited. We share a love of food and a desire to eat responsibly – plus, he is a good, supportive boyfriend who trusts my eating cooking abilities.

But, when I started to mention items I was buying for him that would stop, he paused and said, “Well, I don’t have to eat only local food, do I?” One of his main worries was a favorite breakfast of yogurt and berries.

Oregon summers produce tons of berries and we always have them in the fridge, unfortunately, come late September there isn’t a berry to be found that wasn’t literally FLOWN here from Mexico or California. There may be some allowances I am willing to give in my eating adventure (coffee roasted in Portland, for example), but flying berries in order to keep them fresh is crossing my local-eating line.

In order to squelch a mutiny, I went to the local co-op and asked if they had any frozen berries that were from Oregon.

I found these from Stalhbush Island Farms, which are delicious and from a sustainable farm in the Willamette Valley.

And the other day, when Erik was late for work, I handed him a yogurt parfait with frozen berries and granola to eat when he got a chance. And this morning? I saw him make the same concoction.

Mutiny averted.