100-Mile Cultural Diet

Local food is hot. As we continue discovering evidence of all the social, environmental and economic benefits of eating local, the phenomenon becomes less of a debate and more of a movement. For instance, it seems that almost every day I hear of more and more people who are adopting the 100-mile diet approach to life. The goal of the diet is to eat foods produced within 100 miles of your home.

I think this is a valiant task and I applaud anyone who makes this type of commitment. But to be honest, I'm a lapsed follower of such a diet because there are certain out-of-season and bio-regional foods (bananas, chocolate, winter lettuce, etc.) that simply bring so much pleasure and health to life! However, we all don't have to strictly practice the 100-mile diet to make a big difference in our collective quality of life. I recently read a statistic whereby if every Michigan resident increased their weekly purchase of local food by $10.00, it would keep $37 million circulating in the Michigan economy each week! Such statistics always cause me to wonder, "If it works for food, why not culture?" Such statistics also remind me to recommit to buying local beyond food.

For example, I've committed to making local music a purchasing priority. To initiate this, I'll be purchasing CD's from local bands and musicians and giving them out this holiday season. Call it my 100-mile cultural diet. Sure I may download the occasional chocolate, banana or winter lettuce in the form of Iggy Pop, Brain Eno or Jack Johnson, but for the most part, I'm going to make an effort to purchase my culture within my region, be it music, art or literature.

Let's face it. Every community has rock star quality musicians that deserve our attention and dollars. Michigan is certainly fortunate in this regard. In fact, tonight I'm going to listen to a local musical legend, Seth Bernard. He's playing with his musical partner May Erlewine – which is sure to be a treat. Be it Claudia Schmidt, Levi Britton, Mike Moran, Neptune Quartet, Andre Villoch, Jason Kott, Ron Getz, Jeff Haas Trio, Don Julin, Joe Wilson, The Photographers, Steppin In It, Down the Line, they are all incredible talents.

And oh yes, our new marketing guy here at Food For Thought, Adam Reid, is the lead singer for the fabulous wedding band, Mac Daddy. No doubt this is just a sampling of some of the auditory wonders of Northern Michigan. I'm sure I've overlooked many.

I'm quite sure that every community in this country has them. They are hard-working, smoky bar-playin', wake-up-wondering-why-they-do-it musicians. Furthermore, they are the ones that show up and play for free at fund-raising and educational events. They live, eat and create in our community and add richness to our lives. Therefore, it saddens me when a local artist feels the need to move to Austin, Nashville, NY or LA to "make it" in the industry. While they don't have multi-million dollar ad campaigns or videos on MTV, they do make fantastic music that deserves a listen and a purchase to support what they do here at home. And they are always in season.

Comments:

Showing comments 1 to 10 of 13 | Next | Last

Chip
Posts: 13

Re: 100-Mile Cultural Diet
Comment #13 on Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 01:39 PM

Timothy, you know my commitment to local food, but I'm weighing other local sources. Music - true that we have some great talent, but their product can be delivered at almost zero cost (internet).

I choose to read (mostly non-fiction) from a wide variety of sources, much of it again, via internet. Even transitioning my "book reading" to my iPad.
Yet again - internet.

Let's broaden this theme, what about the graphic arts?
Just back from visiting family in California, and we took time to visit the De Young museum in SanFran for the post impressionist exhibit (only showing outside it's home at Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Not 100 mile radius.

For now, I'm sticking to food.
I tell others that I'll use my made in China iPhone, but the Chinese cannot sell me a local chicken.

Confession - I too, consume non-local foods, though my bias is local.
"show me a olive grove in Michigan and I will consider local olive oil"

Ciao
Chip

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Comment #12 on Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 10:05 AM

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breasmala
Posts: 13

i love your site
Comment #11 on Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 06:04 AM

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Comment #10 on Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 07:50 AM

Nice dispatch and this post helped me alot in my college assignement. Thanks you seeking your information.

Sarah Hunt
Posts: 13

Local company supports local and national indie musicians
Comment #9 on Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 05:10 PM

Great and delicious food for thought. My husband and I have spent the last year creating www.garagemic.com in support of our indie friends. Please check it out. Would love to chat more with you about it anytime.

Schnarchen Blog
Posts: 13

...
Comment #8 on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 03:24 AM

OMG loved reading your blogpost. I added your rss to my reader!!

Eric
Posts: 13

Iggy Pop
Comment #7 on Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 01:43 PM

Fear not on Iggy Pop! If you are from west michigan, he is from Muskegon! Though he may not reside here, he does have "roots" !

100-Mile Cultural Diet

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