What We Did On Our Summer Vacation

By David M. and Judith A. Laws

Rather than paying too much for gas, we decided we would spend our vacation money by signing the pledge for Buy Fresh, Eat Local Week, September 3 – 11, 2005, sponsored by Sustainable Connections Food and Farming Program (www.sconnect.org). The pledge included shopping and cooking only food produced in our regional food-shed, Whatcom, Skagit, and Island counties. But because we were on vacation, we did not want to shop or cook. We just wanted to eat. And did we ever!

Nine Bellingham restaurants were on the schedule for different days of Eat Local week, and each served a special menu featuring the very best hand-chosen ingredients from our local food-shed. We apologize if we miss mentioning some of our delicious culinary experiences, but here are the memorable highlights:

·        Being able to order 100% grass-fed organic Skagit River Ranch beef at the State Street Depot. Fantastic steaks, organic salad, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and dessert. We are omnivores, but are too committed to our health, good nutrition, and fresh taste to eat meat products raised by corporate agri-businesses, which use antibiotics, hormones, and animal byproducts.

·        We are forever fans of the Old Town Café  (which of course was on the schedule because the owners and staff have unabashedly served local organic food with great love and pride for years). It was standing room only, but as usual, their food was worth the wait.

·        We ordered the Eat Local tasting menu at Mannino’s Italian Restaurant, and after our first taste, we looked at each other and said, “This tastes like real food, just picked out of the garden.” What a surprise to have Chef Sam Crannell come out and tell us that indeed, he had gone out early that morning and gathered the food we were eating, from farms in Whatcom County.

·        When we entered Pastazza and mentioned we were there for the Eat Local Week special dinner, we were treated like royalty by owner/chef Fred Berman. Absolutely extraordinary food (crab relleños, corn salsa, and romano beans) prepared for our eating pleasure.

We also want to mention our delightful lunch at Mount Bakery (smoked salmon with organic vegetables, and pastries to write home about); a delicious, organic, and inexpensive Swan Café lunch; dinner at Flats Tapas Bar (exotic food combinations from Spain served on small plates, each with a strong distinctive taste).

Then the pièce de résistance: the sold-out September 11^th Fall Harvest Dinner on Fairhaven Green. Three hundred and fifty of us gathered to celebrate local farmers and their dedication to keeping local, sustainable agriculture alive. We had never tasted such nutritious, delicious food, in such abundance. From the appetizers (petite hamburgers and pizzas, baked ravioli, and sweet corn soup), and starters (bread with Montasio cheese, and assorted pickles), through the dinner (greens with peaches and raspberries, beet salad with Oregonzola cheese, summer squash and grilled salmon), to the dessert (honey mead ice cream over waffles with berry coulis), we were treated to an extraordinary feast.

When we returned to our everyday lives, we felt sated and refreshed, like we had been somewhere special for vacation. The Buy Fresh, Eat Local Week had taken us out of the mundane and ordinary, as we visited restaurants where we’d never been, and tried foods we had never eaten before. Would we do it again next year? Absolutely!

THINK LOCAL, BE LOCAL, BUY LOCAL, EAT LOCAL!