Reflections from Alisha Bess on the Eat Local Challenge

As you may remember reading, our office took the Eat Local Challenge two weeks ago. We each planned a dinner that used all local ingredients and shared with you (and our flickr friends) the outcome. Well, now we have a guest writer sharing her experience. Alisha Bess is from Whole Foods Market Buckhead and is responsible for organizing the second annual Eat Local Challenge. Below she shares why this challenge was important to her and her overall thoughts on Atlantans eating local...

"It all started last year when I read an article about how writers from a local newspaper decided to eat nothing but local foods for 1 week. After reading about their experiences I was inspired to take the challenge myself. As I started talking to my fellow Whole Foods Market Team Members, we not only decided to do it ourselves, but challenge customers to eat local as well. And thus the Eat Local Challenge was born. This was our 2nd year of the Eat Local Challenge and it was bigger and better. There were so many highlights to this year’s challenge that it’s hard to stay focused on just a few. First, of course, there’s the food. The number and variety of delicious food treasures across Georgia could keep the most advanced culinary mind tantalized for days. It was a pleasure for my team and I to compile recipes to help people along the challenge. Our own writings, in addition to recipes generously contributed from local chef/writer Virginia Willis and various local producers gave us more recipes than we could include!

"In addition to the amazing recipes, this year’s challenge showed me a community more engaged in the local food movement. The awareness of gas prices on food prices has really impacted pockets and awakened consumers’ minds about where food comes from. Not to mention the recent food recalls and the abundance of information about the down right scary things that occur in some food production has no longer made words like “irradiation,” “pesticides” or “animal byproduct” a mystery. Never before have I heard more people say “I already eat as much local as possible. Between Whole Foods and the farmer’s markets, this is where I do all my shopping.”
"Whole Foods Market has always been a big proponent of eating local and supporting the farmers and producers who put their hearts into making the most delicious foods around. And now it is starting to make sense to others. And by others, I mean the tons of other retailers who have jumped on the local bandwagon. Local is the new organic. And as we know, trends sell.

"So although we may not have had tons of people sign up for the challenge, we were able to engage and continue the conversation about the ease and importance of eating local. So to the Georgia newcomer, who has never been blessed with fresh pasta from Via Elisa, mouthwatering beef from Harris Family Heritage Beef, creamy chevre from Sweet Grass Dairy, sipped one of Georgia’s award-winning wines, or had peaches, tomatoes, squash or any other amazing Georgia foods-wake up and embrace what it really means to be Georgia-grown."

Dinner at Tanai's Place

As the Eat Local Challenge made its way to my kitchen, all I knew was that whatever I made would have to be simple or I would be so focused cooking that I would forget to take photos. So, I headed to my local Whole Foods Market with a few of my favorite recipes in mind.

When I got to the store, I picked an abnormally large sweet potato from Haynes & Sons Farm in Cullman, AL; corn on the cob from Branch Farms of South GA; and a beautiful grass-fed flank steak from White Oak Pastures in Buffington, GA. (Yes, I know I am missing my leafy green, but hey, whadaya gonna do. At least it’s all local, right?) After I sat everything out, I admired my selections (right).

On the menu: Grilled flank steak with cinnamon sweet potatoes, and corn on the cob. This is what you’ll need:
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 teaspoon rosemary
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive Oil Cooking Spray

First, I preheated the oven to 450 degrees and cut the potato thin slices. Next, I melted the butter in the microwave and mixed with the brown sugar. I spread the potato slices evenly in a 9 inch pan and drizzled with the sugar butter. Then, I sprinkled with nutmeg, cinnamon and a dash of salt. I covered with aluminum foil and baked for 40 minutes, uncovered and baked for an additional 10 minutes.

The next step was the steak. After rinsing, I pat it dry and sprinkled with sea salt, pepper and rosemary. Next, I rubbed to make sure the seasoning was even on the meat. Then, I set it aside to come to room temperature (important for grass-fed beef).

When the potatoes were nearly complete, I removed the husks from the corn and boiled in lightly salted water(with a dollop of butter) and preheated my handy-dandy indoor grill to its hottest temperature.

Cooking with grass-fed beef is different from grain-fed. Click here for more details. I sprayed the grill with olive oil cooking spray then grilled the meat for about 6 minutes on each side (for medium).

Here’s the finished product (below).

Serve and enjoy. Simple and delish! Check out more shot of our team's Eat Local Challenge progress on our flickr page. Good luck!

Breakfast for Dinner

As Meryl posted yesterday, our office is taking the Eat Local Challenge that Whole Foods Market Buckhead has issued. This challenge is more than just eating local for me seeing as I am not good at cooking. I went over the few things that I know how to make in my head and decided on French toast. I was able to find all the ingredients at Whole Foods on my way home from work. The French bread is made fresh each day at the Buckhead location I visited and the eggs are from Latta Family Farm in Hillsborough, NC. The milk comes from Sparkman's Cream Valley made in Colquitt County, GA and my special last minute find were blackberries from The Orchard in Cross Plains, TN.


Since I'm not a cook, I don't know how to give the recipe. It was something taught to me when I was growing up so I just play it by ear. No measurements. Here is quick run down: crack one egg for every two pieces of toast, add some milk (but not too much) and top the batter off with cinnamon. See picture below. Soak both sides of the bread in the batter and cook on the skillet, medium heat. Continue adding cinnamon as needed. When finished top with powdered sugar, fruit and syrup. I usually have more patience and time to cook this for dinner, but French toast is also good for breakfast - enjoy! For more photos of our team participating in the Eat Local Challenge, go to our flickr page! Feel free to share your pictures with us. Just tag them with "atlwfm" and we'll find 'em.

Eat Local Challenge from Whole Foods Market

So, our friend (and client) Whole Foods Market in Buckhead has issued an Eat Local challenge, and we here at MLA are up for the challenge! As someone who is an ardent fan of both Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Omnivore's Dilemma, I deeply support eating local and do my part as often as possible. I subscribe to Moore Farms' CSA and shop at the Peachtree Rd. farmer's market on Saturdays, but, honestly, I never truly tried to make an all local meal until last night. And, let me tell you, this isn't the easiest feat ever. True, with the abundance of local produce right now, it is probably easier than ever, but this meal took some definite forethought.

After shopping at the Saturday farmer's market at the Cathedral of St. Philip, I came home with some beautiful eggplant, way too many tomatoes than I know what to do with, an awesome loaf of crusty bread from Holeman & Finch bread company, and a jar of the best basil pesto I have ever tried from Hope's Gardens.

With a little help in the way of a recipe from the kind folks at Hope's Gardens, I whipped a pretty darn good all local eggplant Parmesan! Let me preface this recipe, with a few footnotes. Now, I don't know exactly what the rules are for Eating Locally, but taking my cues from Barbara Kingsolver, I decided that I was going to allow basic pantry items (olive oil, salt and pepper) to count even though they definitely aren't locally made. Other than this, my only iffy ingredient was mozzarella cheese. I bought this freshly made from Whole Foods Market in Buckhead. This counts as local, right?

Without further explanation, here is Hope's Gardens' recipe for Eggplant Parmeasan. (I know, I know - my photography needs serious help!)

1 jar of Hope's Gardens Basil Pesto
Eggplant, sliced into 1/2" slices (from Farmer Jeff)
Fresh tomato slices (from Moore Farms CSA)
Mozzarella cheese slices (from Whole Foods)
Salt and pepper to taste

Arrange sliced eggplant on a baking sheet with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, flip slices, and continue baking for another 10 minutes. When eggplant is done, remove from baking sheet and layer with tomatoes and mozzarella slices in a baking dish. Top each layer with a few spoonfuls of pesto and salt and pepper. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Serve with crusty bread and a great local wine. We drank Wolf Mountain Vineyards' Plentitude and the acidity cut the richness of the pesto nicely!

Be sure to check back and see what everyone else whips up as part of Whole Foods Market's Eat Local challenge!