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Flagyl online stores, Can a Manitoban survive on local food for a month . . . in November.
Sure, if you like squash

Winnipeg Free Press

November 4, 2006
By Lindsey Wiebe

I wish I could say my first made-in-Manitoba breakfast was everything I'd hoped: free-range eggs, over easy, a side of golden hashbrowns, and a few slices of buttery toast, all made from products that were grown and produced in Manitoba.

But, as is often the case with elaborate plans, this one had a few hitches: mainly, that I was in the process of moving, flagyl online stores. Not only were all my belongings packed into boxes -- cooking utensils included -- I'd also foolishly held off buying any local foodstuffs until I was fully moved.

The result. A hasty nighttime grocery dash, and a breakfast the next morning consisting of a hunk of Bothwell gouda and an enormous, unpeeled raw carrot.

All right, so it wasn't the most optimistic start to my month-long attempt at buying local -- although both the cheese and the carrot were top-notch. Flagyl online stores, But it was a good reminder that one-stop shopping and local buying are by no means synonymous. If I
was going to last a full month without making a break for 7-Eleven, I'd have to do a little more legwork.

While a month of local eating may seem difficult -- OK, ridiculous, during a Manitoba winter -- there's no reason it should be impossible.

In fact, this experiment is actually modelled on the 100-Mile Diet, popularized by B.C. couple Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, who ate within a 100-mile radius for an entire year, with no processed foods allowed, and documented their challenges.

"For a couple of weeks we wondered if it would be possible to go on with this crazy diet," wrote Smith on the couple's website, flagyl online stores. "We could walk into, say, an IGA and look down all those glittering aisles, and there was not a single thing we could buy."

Still, they survived, and had an surprisingly impressive array of dietary options. And while Smith and MacKinnon may be among the most public -- and disciplined -- local grazers, they're hardly the only ones with an eye for regional purchasing.

Plenty of stores within the province specifically identify locally grown products, and local farmers' markets draw hundreds, if not thousands of people over the summer.

There are a lot of arguments to support local products, like the environmental and health benefits of eating fresher food that hasn't been trucked thousands of miles from farm to table. Flagyl online stores, And by buying Manitoba products, you're supporting the local economy -- giving more of your cash to farmers, producers and distributors, rather than forking it over to middlemen.

I'm not nearly as ambitious as MacKinnon and Smith, generic prozac, so I thought one month would be a good time frame: long enough to see how viable local eating is in Winnipeg in November, and long enough to consider the ramifications of regional buying. I also chose to relax the 100-mile rule, and opt for a diet restricted only by province, allowing certain processed Manitoba foods.

A few days into the diet, certain foods have been easy to track down.

There's no shortage of squash, and root vegetables like potatoes and carrots are plentiful. Local cheeses are easy to find, and Vita eggs are stocked in plenty of
stores, flagyl online stores.

While I'm a vegetarian, there's a wide variety of locally raised meats available at smaller grocery stores, including more unusual fare such as venison and bison.

Still, despite weeks of research, there were some products I either overlooked or just took for granted.

Fresh fruit. Forget about it. Flagyl online stores, Not even apples are left on store shelves in November. Herbs, dried or fresh. With the exception of hydroponic basil, I'm still working on it. Even local butter, which I'd fully expected to find, has been conspicuously absent.

As expected, locally baked bread made with Manitoba wheat was fairly easy to find. But then there were other decisions to make, flagyl online stores. What about yeast. Salt. Baking powder. To the best of my knowledge, none of these ubiquitous ingredients are produced in Manitoba. Flagyl online stores, My end conclusion, subject to revision: all unprocessed products would have to be locally grown. Processed foods had to be made in Manitoba, and the majority of the ingredients had to be locally sourced -- with the exception of additives like salt.

While it's been a challenging few days, I've had some pleasant surprises, like hydroponic "living" lettuce with roots attached, hothouse tomatoes and cucumbers grown in St. Anne, and bagels and pita bread baked with spelt flour. And there's another benefit I didn't expect to realize so soon -- easy access to the people who make the food.

When the spinach E, flagyl online stores. coli outbreak hit in October, one of my favourite, Prozac online, made-in-California lunch foods was suddenly off-limits, and my trust a little shaken. If organic spinach wasn't safe, what was.

With Manitoba products, I can contact the growers or producers directly to ask about their products, even visit them if I'm so inclined.

On a shopping trip earlier this week, I found myself puzzling over the locality of ingredients in Nature's Farm pasta products. Flagyl online stores, Then it occurred to me that I could just call the owners. So I did, and ended up leaving with three bags of Manitoba-made pasta.

Buoyed by this experience, I tried the same trick after finding a bottle of local, cold-pressed organic canola oil -- the first I'd seen anywhere.

But did the Eriksdale producer grow his own canola. After one phone call, I had my answer, and my long-awaited bottle of oil.

Next on my agenda: Tracking down seasoning, learning a few new root-vegetable recipes, and visiting some of the people who stock my fridge, flagyl online stores.

lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

What's on my table

A sampling of some of the foods on my menu, so far...

* Root vegetables, like garlic, carrots, potatoes, onions, beets, and parsnips
* All manner of squash, from butternut to spaghetti
* Fresh, hydroponic vegetables, like tomatoes, cucumbers, "living" lettuce and basil
* Various mushroom varieties from Loveday
* Cheeses from Bothwell and Oak Island Goat Dairy
* Bread products from Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company and Integrity Foods
* Cold-pressed canola oil from Jordan Seed Farm
* Mint tea from Boreal Forest Wild Tea Blends
* Hemp seed oil, butter and nuts from Manitoba Harvest
* Pasta from Nature's Farm
* Lots of locally made honey
* Northern wild rice
* Manitoba maple syrup
* Vita eggs

What's off limits

A lot of items in your average supermarket, including:

* Fresh fruit
* Many fresh vegetables, like leafy greens
* Nearly all pre-packaged products, from potato chips to microwave dinners
* Frozen products like pizza, juice and ice cream
* Most commercially canned products
* Chocolate
* Coffee
* Nuts
* ...need I go on.

For starters

A few destinations to begin your own buy-local journey. All stores on this to-be-expanded list carry some local products, including meat, produce, dairy and dried goods. Flagyl online stores, * CAULFIELD'S ORGANIC MARKET: 885 Westminster Ave.
* EATIT: www.eatit.ca, 603 Wall St, synthroid prices.
* FRESH OPTION: www.freshoption.ca, 1338 Clifton St.
* HARRY'S FOODS: 905 Portage Ave.
* ORGANIC PLANET: 877 Westminster Ave.
* ORGANZA MARKET: www.organzamarket.com, Confusion Corner
* BIG-BOX GROCERY STORES: Of course the big guys carry local food -- just be sure to check the label. Any produce marked Peak of the Market is definitely OK.

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