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Challenge Yourself to Eat Local!

Get ready to eat local! Eat Local Week returns to Utah on September 6 and runs through September 13.

Eat Local Week celebrates the regional harvest, promotes local agriculture and the preservation of Utah’s agricultural heritage, and bringing people together.

Take the Pledge

The Challenge is simple — eat as local as you can! There are three levels to choose from:

Hardcore: This level will be a challenge-eating only food grown, produced or caught within 250 miles from where you live. This means cutting out some vices that might seem difficult to most. You may have to leave behind your coffee, chocolate, olive oil, booze and fine French cheeses, and you will have to do a little more label reading and research. But finding a deeper connection with your local food resources will make it all worth the effort.

Easy-Does-It: This challenge suggests selecting three vices – maybe coffee, chocolate, and olive oil (or French cheese, Spanish cheese and Vermont cheese), whatever it is you feel you can’t live without, but isn’t produced locally. We also suggest giving yourself a break at this level. We suggest three not-totally-local meal allowances in the week. Maybe you are out with friends or have a business lunch that you can’t skip, allow yourself a little more leniency so you can remain successful.

DIY: For newbies we suggest trying to eat one entirely local meal a day, or consider trying to use one or more local ingredient in every meal you eat for the week. Find something you eat a lot, maybe milk or tomatoes or a grain like wheat and replace your usual brand with a locally made product. Even small changes in your habits can have a huge impact on the producer, environment, economy, flavor, nutrients and you.

Take the pledge now!

Share

Update us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using the #eatlocalutah hashtag.

Find an Event

There are a lot of great events taking place during Eat Local Week. Here are a few highlights:

• Taste Local Utah – Utah State Fair: Join Utah’s Own in celebration of more than 30 locally grown, processed and manufactured products, Sept. 4, noon to 8 p.m., in the Specialty Events Tent at the Utah State Fair.
• 21st Annual Tomato Sandwich Party: Help us kick-off Eat Local Week, and start you Eat Local Challenge off right at the Tomato Sandwich Party. Enjoy an afternoon at the Grateful Tomato Garden with friends and neighbors and sample our amazing heirloom tomato harvest. We will be serving unique varieties of heirloom tomatoes grown in our Youth Gardens, with pesto made from our homegrown basil, and fresh locally made bread. There will also be live music and fun activities for kids, so bring the whole family. Sept. 6, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Eating Alabama @ Brewvies: In search of a simpler life, a young couple returns home to Alabama where they set out to eat the way their grandparents did – locally and seasonally. But as they navigate the agro-industrial gastronomical complex, they soon realize that nearly everything about the food system has changed since farmers once populated their family histories. A thoughtful and often funny essay on community, the South and sustainability. Sept. 8, 7 p.m.
• Quickle (Quick Pickle) at the Tuesday Harvest Market. Come make a quick batch of pickles that will taste like summer in a jar! Refrigerator pickles are a fast and easy way to preserve some of the abundant harvest to enjoy in the weeks ahead. We’ll help you make your creation at our booth after you’ve chosen your ingredients from the market. Jars and supplies provided.

Explore all events during Eat Local Week.

Sponsors

Eat Local Week is hosted by Slow Food Utah, Downtown Farmers Market, Utah’s Own, and Wasatch Community Gardens. Learn more at EatLocalWeek.org.