100-Mile Thanksgiving Stories

By Timothy Beatley Charlottesville, VA 100-Mile Thanksgiving plans are in full force here at the University of Virginia. It's a great chance to take our lessons in community food systems out of the classroom and into our kitchens. In my case, my own family will be enjoying a 100-Mile thanksgiving meal. And I'll be challenging the nearly 200 students in my courses to commit to a local Thanksgiving, or at least to take the message of local eating home to their parents and families.For the students in my grad seminar on sustainable communities I have in mind a specific assignment:they'll each be asked to research and submit a recipe for a 100-Mile Thanksgiving dish, and together these will form the beginnings of a 100-Mile cookbook!I'm also proposing that our annual faculty-student Thanksgiving dinner be organized this year around a 100-Mile Diet as well.Everyone will be asked to prepare a dish with local ingredients, or bring a locally produced food item, and to be ready to share the local 'story' behind this food item. It's a fantastic opportunity to talk about food, about the virtues of locally grown food, and to learn about and celebrate the special food resources and heritage and special abundance available from our unique part of the world.