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Trial
Blog - Rita
100 mile
trial EXTREME challenge .... at least that’s the way I felt at the
time….
By Rita Alvaro
I entered the week of the challenge, feeling a little
unprepared, yet determined to give it a go. After all, I knew about this
upcoming challenge for a while, had discouraged any potentially tempting
eating out occasions for the week, and told a fair few people I was doing
it - I wasn’t going to give up now. Yes, this week was going to
be my ‘kick start’ into a much more committed locavore lifestyle.
Preparation
I had started reading ‘Animal, Vegetable, Miracle’. Inspiring,
entertaining, quite romanticised. I liked it. Maybe didn’t give
me too many clues on what to source from Victoria, when it wasn’t
a local story and when my vegie growing intention is still in pre-contemplation
stage. But, it got me thinking.
I did get to one very important meeting with ‘ethically eating’
100 Mile Triallers though. This was such a crucial meeting, finding out
about foods to look out for and what I could link in to ‘bulk buy’.
The main task set for me was to search for bread. With bread being one
of my staples, this was an important feat. With a lead from another I
discovered the spelt/rye bread from Loafers Organic Bakery, North Fitzroy.
For these breads, they source flour from Powlett Hill Biodynamic Farm
– but who knows for how much longer…
Saturday shopping at CERES (labelling of food miles is wonderful) and
a little from Dom’s Fruit Loop next to Loafers. Mid-week shopping
at Pompello’s, Seddon and Plump, Yarraville.
So
what did I eat and drink?
* Loafers rye/spelt bread with honey (sourced from Violet Creek from Yarraville
Market – thanks Neesh!)
* Cheese,
tomato, rocket lettuce spelt/rye sandwiches (Lucky Janet told me True
Organics Gouda is OK)
* A
few veg and egg recipes – eg vegie scrambled eggs, veg frittata,
veg stew, baked potatoes. Cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms, basil, spring
onions were in seasion. Eggs from Powlett Hill were a great bulk buy.
* Greek
salad (I got told Meredith feta is OK, and I wasn’t going to further
investigate to find it perhaps wasn’t) and roast baby beetroot,
potato and baby spinach salad (olive oil from the monthly Slow Food Market
at Abbortsford Convent came in handy)
* Apples,
pears, strawberries and…cherries! (Plump had sourced some)
* Yoghurt
(Initial discussion suggested Gippsland/Jalna may be OK, later determined
they were not – but already had some, and really needed something
sweet).
* Spelt
muffins with pear (easily modifiable recipe from Tony Chiodo’s Eating
Well. A thoughtful workmate gave me some flour amongst other things)
* Water
* Hot
water with honey (when you miss hot drinks, the best alternative –
well, until I got some Southern Lights spearmint tea mid-week)
Highlights
1. The launch to the week – A yummy breakfast provided by a wonderful
group of people. On offer was eggs, potato rosti, pikelets with passionfruit
and peppermint tea – all local & lovingly prepared. Little did
I know the variety in my diet was soon to dwindle…until…
2. The 100 Mile Café feast – A few of us met for dinner here
mid-week, and yes, I was looking forward to it! I liked the group decision
making processes at the table. Firstly, the principle behind The Café
is that they will source ingredients from within 100 miles where possible
– a few things may not be within 100 miles. We would not ‘beat
ourselves up’ about this. Secondly, we would share, therefore we
could try more foods. I savoured every morsel of pumpkin & goat’s
cheese pizza, gnocchi, falafel, brulee and other desserts on offer. I
don’t think food ever tasted this good. Sadly, 100 Mile Café
has closed.
Top 7 biggest challenges
1. I am vegetarian – I like my tofu, my soy milk,
noodles, rice and pasta. Didn’t realise just how much until this
week. And, I usually don’t like to eat that many eggs!
2. Carbohydrate and caffeine withdrawal – Maybe didn’t buy
enough bread, didn’t bake my own like others. Did find it hard to
have no coffee or chocolate (even Fairtrade being out this week).
3. The psychological aspect of being on a restrictive diet – even
if it was one of ambundance compared to many, ‘not being able to
have something’ plays with your mind.
4. Breaking habits – I like eating sweet things after savoury, it’s
nice to grab a cup of coffee at work and a cup of tea at night.
5. Time of the year - There just wasn’t a large variety of local
fruits available. Helpful Fruit and Veg retailers kept telling me that
in another month there would be a lot more.
6. Being new to Victoria and not really aware of locations & what
fits into the 100 mile radius and what does not (OK, maybe used this excuse
a little too often).
7. Three work functions in a week – I don’t normally have
this many, it just happened to be this week! I was strong but starved
for the first. Tempted a little at the second. Surrendered with a glass
of wine at the end of week staff Christmas party.
Learnings
It is hard, but possible to eat locally. My particular diet for the week
probably wasn’t as exciting as it could have been if I had more
time to prepare, research and bake. Besides the determination of mostly
sticking to it, I didn’t really do much of it on my own. It was
really the group of mostly Western Melbourne ethically minded people that
gave me ideas on what to buy, where to shop, and linked me to some great
bulk buying purchases. I don’t think I could ever stick to a completely
100 Mile Diet – I use a range of ethical principles in my eating
– plus ‘block them out’ from time to time too. But the
learnings from this week will definitely help me with eating in a more
local, ethical and environmentally friendly way. The two main learnings
are 1) Ask more questions when shopping – some will not know the
answers, but at least it gets them - and me thinking, and 2) Grow your
own fruit and vegies (yes, one day I will).
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