Eating Local: Day 5

On my last day of eating sustainable, I didn’t get to eat in any new places, but I tried asking around many different places to see if they served local food. I first went to the Pavilion, but no knew whether the food that they served was local. My experience with Newcomb was similar to Michaels, with no one really sure about what constituted as local food and whether or not they served it. Since I didn’t have a meal plan, I decided not to go into Runk, but I found out that they served local fruit and tried to make at least one Local meal a week. I think Newcomb should implement some of the practices that the other Dining halls have, especially in terms of sustainable eating.
For food today, I had locally raised beef that I had made the night before. I also had this with bread that was made by Albermarle Baking Company that I had found and gotten at Whole Foods. The picture of this beef is shown above. Since this is the end of my school week eating only local food, I have come to the conclusion that eating local food in the Charlottesville area is a definite possibility for students, even those on a low budget. Even with the meat and bread that I had today, the meal probably averaged to $6-7 per meal. Furthermore, even if eggs are the only local product that you buy, you can get cartons for around $3-5.
With all the food that I bought and ate this week, I found that it was probably the most sustainable food that I have ever had. All of my food came from within 100 miles, versus food that oculd be shipped in from California and from abroad. Though my meals may have cost 1-2$ extra, I think that in the long run, in terms of health and environmental sustainability, it will be worth it. I will still be updating my blog on the local food that I eat, though I may not eat local food for every meal. One change that I hope to implement with my peers along with myself is trying to eat at Revolutionary Soup more often. Instead of eating non local food that may not be as healthy at other restaurants, I can eat healthy food made from local products at Revolutionary Soup. Hopefully, I will have a less expensive diet compared to this week, but still a healthy and sustainable diet.