One of the most insightful critics of the American food system is Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma. In his latest book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, Pollan provides the following 12 steps for healthy eating:

• Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
• Avoid foods containing ingredients you can't pronounce.
• Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot.
• Avoid food products that carry health claims.
• Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle.
• Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmer's market or CSA (community supported agriculture program).
• Pay more, eat less.
• Eat a wide diversity of species.
• Eat food from animals that eat grass.
• Cook and, if you can, grow some of your own food.
• Eat meals and eat them only at tables.
• Eat deliberately, wth other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.

Annual Taste of the Earth dinner and fundraiser for the Crown Point Farm & Education Center, with select chefs preparing foods from local, organic produce.

Reservations and more information here or call 330-668-8992.

Locavore: One who obtains most of the fresh food they eat from local sources.

Join a discussion of meal ideas using what is available today at the market.

Share ideas of where to obtain other local products.

For information or call Fern Jennings 216-381-0029

If you can’t beat it, eat it! Join the Nature Center as it turns the invasive garlic mustard plant into a delicious pesto meal. Fees: $25 members; $35 nonmembers. This event is for adults 21 and over. For more information, call (216) 321-5935 or visit www.ShakerLakes.org. Registration required.

Stanford Hostel's 20th Annual Pancake Breakfast

You’re invited to the historic Stanford Hostel for locally made, high-quality pancakes made from Fowler’s Mill stone ground flour, pure Ohio maple syrup, tasty sausage, orange juice and coffee.   

Tickets:  $10 adults;   $ 5 for children under 12   

The Northeast Ohio Council of Hosteling International (HI-NOC) is a nonprofit organization that operates Stanford  Hostel, a restored, 19th century farmhouse in the heart of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Proceeds help us continue offering affordable accommodations to all Northeast Ohioans and visitors.   

For information visit www.stanfordhostel.org  or contact Brady Bourquin, Hostel Manager at 330-467-8711 

Directions: Located around the corner from the Boston Mills Ski   area.  From Riverview Road, go east on Boston Road. Turn left on Stanford Road. The hostel is 1⁄2 mile up on the right.   

Tremont Market

Buy local.  Really local.

Locally grown produce, unique arts and crafts and more...  Enjoy the market this weekend. 

When:  Sunday, October 22nd from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where:  In Tremont at the corner of Starkweather and Professor

For more information contact tremontmarket@yahoo.com

Tremont Market

Buy local.  Really local.

Locally grown produce, unique arts and crafts and more. . .  Find it at the Tremont Market this Sunday.

When:  Sunday, October 22nd from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where:  In Tremont at the corner of Starkweather and Professor

For more information contact tremontmarket@yahoo.com

Tremont Market . . .it’s fresh!

Clevelanders celebrate the fall harvest and prepare for the holidays at a unique market featuring all locally produced goods!

Eating regionally: A winter's tale of good food
Originally published in 1996 in the EcoCity Cleveland Journal

By Mary Kelsey

It's mid-February and wet snow is correcting any impression spring might have arrived yesterday.

I've just eaten a Melrose apple grown on a neighbor's farm last summer, and I've checked on the cold room where it was stored: I opened the vents and let in fresh air, now that it's cooling off again outside. Rising and falling temperatures have taken on new meaning because they bear directly on one of my favorite activities: eating.

We didn't set out to eat regionally and seasonally out of idealism, or thinking it would bring us closer to the place where we live. We fell into it by accident. But now that we're half-way through our second season of it, I can trace the seeds of my eating that apple in some personal experiences. I had spent a year studying rain forest conservation in Central America, where I learned that sustainable agriculture is important in saving forests. I was interested in local community; and I shared with my partner, Will, a desire for a simpler lifestyle. It made sense for us to try to eat more locally-grown food.

Becoming a "locavore" 

Can we learn to eat bioregionally? It will mean eating more local foods in season, rather than foods shipped from halfway around the world.

This section will offer creative ways to prepare foods grown in our own region. Send us your recipes! 

Resources
Northeast Ohio harvest guide
General tips for eating locally in winter
Eat Local Challenge
Locavores
Putting Food By, the classic book on preserving foods