Take the Challenge
- Try eating at least one home-cooked meal this week, made of mostly local ingredients.
- Try to incorporate at least one never-before-used local ingredient into a meal.
- Try "brown-bagging" at least one meal this week made primarily from local ingredients.
- Try talking to at least one food retailer and one food producer about local food options.
- Try to choose local food products whenever possible!
- Remember, if it doesn't say Alaska Grown it's not local.
WATCH THE VIDEO
BENEFITS OF EATING LOCALLY
HELPS SUPPORT OUR LOCAL FARMERS AND FARM ECONOMY. Eating locally helps you put your money where your mouth is. Your food dollar goes to local growers and helps them continue to farm here, providing food for our local markets, bakeries and butchers.
HELPS TO KEEP YOU HEALTHY. You can get locally grown foods at the peak of freshness, nutritional value (since nutrients diminish over time) and flavor. Ripe, fresh fruits and vegetables taste better, so it�s easier to eat more of them. Compare this with produce, for example, that is picked early and unripe for long-distance transport and longer shelf life.
HELPS THE ENVIRONMENT BY CUTTING DOWN ON EXCESS TRANSPORTATION AND "FOOD MILES." On average, food travels 2,000 miles to reach your plate in Alaska, so eating local foods that are sustainably grown helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With rising fuel costs, the price of globally sourced foods is likely to increase as those transportation costs are passed on to the consumer. Eating locally can also help preserve open space by retaining farms instead of pavement.
HELPS BUILD COMMUNITY. Including: growing your own food and sharing with family, friends and food banks; shopping at farmers markets and on-farm stands where you can strike up a conversation with the person who grows your food; participating in a community garden or edible schoolyard and teaching or learning about growing food with others.
"Eat Local" Club Stories
"My husband is going hunting soon but in the meantime, we just butchered our own chickens fed on an organic diet. We also have laying hens that give us eggs every day. I make my own pasta and breads that go great with all the smoked salmon we make. When we eat out we avoid the chains and try to eat in our neighborhood so we can bike or walk. Luckily we live in Spenard so it's easy."
-Victory
Share Your "Eat Local" Club Stories and Photos
Do you grow peas in Nome? Does your cafe have an all-Alaska salad? Send your unique veggie tales to us. E-mail us at amy.pettit@alaska.gov