Mission Challenge: The Rules, Revisited
We challenged people in Mission, B.C., to try local eating for 100 days starting June 1. Nearly 100 people signed up - and we couldn’t resist signing up, too. Can a community change the way it eats? It’s never to late to get involved: Join in for a month, a week, even a single meal.
DAY 38 - Over the weekend, Alisa and I met with a core group of Mission 100-milers on the shores of Hatzic Lake. Our task was to nail down final, clear rules for the 100-day challenge. We’d heard rumblings that just leaving the rules to each person’s conscience was wreaking havoc in Mission, and I suspect our names had been used in vain more than once. So, as a group, we brought down the hammer. The rules we came up with are not meant to make the challenge ridiculously hardcore or uptight. Instead, the goal is to focus the spirit of the challenge and to push each of us to learn as much as possible from the experience (necessity is the mother of invention - gooseberry salsa, anyone?). I’m posting the rules here. They might be of use to other 100-milers in Mission or to people planning local-eating challenges elsewhere.
Rule #1: The Restaurant Rule
No meals at any restaurant unless the restaurant is either participating in the 100-Mile Challenge or is otherwise deeply committed to sourcing locally raised and produced foods.
Rule #2: The Traveller’s Rule
(a) When travelling, the 100-mile circle travels with you; that is, you must either bring local food from home or eat foods from within the 100-mile circle of your destination.
(b) It is not acceptable to make trips outside the 100-mile circle in pursuit of distant foods.
(c) When returning from a trip, it is acceptable to bring home a small amount of food not found within your 100-mile circle. Likewise, if friends come to visit, they are free to bring small gifts of local food from their home areas.
Rule #3: The 99-Percent Rule
(a) The foods that 100-mile challengers eat at home should be prepared using only local food products or products acquired under rule 3(b).
(b) Food products that are wholly local except for very small amounts of minor additives are acceptable. This is to encourage 100-milers to support producers who are dedicated to local foods but are not as exacting as participants in a 100-mile challenge. Such products might include wine made with yeast, cheese with added rennet, or salt-cured meat, but would not include wines made with large amounts of added sugar, cheese with added ingredients, or meats cured in nonlocal marinades or sauces.
Rule #4: “The Randy Rule”
(a) Under exceptional circumstances, 100-milers may break from the challenge rules. Real examples of exceptional circumstances included a conference gala, an uncle’s traditional pancake breakfast, and wines set aside for a 10-year anniversary. The 100-mile challenge is intended to build, not break down, a sense of community.
(b) If a 100-miler finds he or she is regularly making exceptions, he or she should should take on an additional challenge that helps deepen the experience, build the 100-community, or support the community at large.
That’s it, four easy rules. Now let’s get back to enjoying the local-foods revolution!
-JBM
