Eating sustainably is like a game for me. I think, "My meals should be as organic and locally produced as possible." This eating philosophy became a part of my psyche after completing the Chef's Training Program at the Natural Gourmet Institute in spring 2005. It was there that I became acutely aware of the state of "food" in the United States. Our animals raised for meat are unhealthy and abused. Our vegetables are shipped thousands of miles and tasteless. Our dairy is full of unmentionables. Not only is this unhelathy for our bodies, but our environment as well. I could go on and on. If you want to know more, let me know and I'm happy to share.
Anyhow - last night I was walking my plate to the table and realized, "This entire plate is local, mostly organic, except for the small amount of goat cheese in the tomato salad!" Love it. Some of you might see the bison on my plate and think you've got something in your eye. I declared myself a vegetarian at age 12 and spent 16 years eating vegetables, dairy, eggs and a little fish. But, about a year and a half ago I began introducing red meat into my diet thinking of it as a multi-vitamin that I wasn't getting on my mostly veg diet. This introduction of meat has been slow and deliberate. I enjoy meat, mostly Kentucky Bison, about 2 times each month. (and to be fair, I only ate about half of what is on the plate. My dining partner (shall remain nameless since he did not sign up for this) finished what I did not.)
In addition to the KY Bison, this idyllic summer meal consisted of Casey County okra purchased at the Good Foods Coop, and sweet corn and tomatoes from our Elmwood Stock Farm CSA. The tomato salad also had chopped basil from my "garden" and a little crumbled feta, olive oil, salt and pepper.