Tuesday, May 15: Melody Porter

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Day two of food tracking for the month!  Even though I haven’t reported on my food sources for the past six days, I have been more mindful of how I’m playing into food systems than before.  So here goes for this fine Tuesday.

Breakfast was a little easier to track this morning, thanks to leg work from last week.  Just Haiti coffee with half and half from Hutchison, Kansas (via Kroger), milk from Homestead Creamery in Wirtz, Virginia, Field Day raisin bran (of mystery origins – still no response from the company) with Kashi Autumn Wheat and Kashi GoLead Crunch! Honey Almond Flax (phew, long name) mixed in for some fun.  I called Kashi to ask about their sourcing, and wouldn’t you know, Marco from Kashi customer service pointed me to their sourcing page on their website.  The Autumn Wheat comes from farms in Lubbock, Texas, Sterling/Longmont, Colorado, Oshkosh and other places in Nebraska, Chugwater/Burns, Wyoming, Mission, South Dakota (shout out to DJ!), Marion, ND, Big Sandy, Montana, and the ever-charmingly-named Moosejaw, Saskatchewan. The KGLC!HAF comes from “a range of states, including Arkansas, California and Montana” – they also show Canada, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota and Louisiana on their map.

Lunch will win the prize for best meal of the week, I’m pretty sure.  So delicious and pretty, I’m including a photo.  I made a salad with arugula and beets from my friends Alister and Rebecca, who own Victory Farms in Hanover, VA (I finally ponied up for a CSA membership this year and I am loving it!).  I added chevre from Goats R Us in Blackstone, VA, walnuts I got from Trader Joe’s (sourced in California) that I toasted, and a dressing made of salt (Trader Joe’s, Spain), flower pepper (Trader Joe’s, South Africa), half a lemon (Mexico), a lime (Mexico) and olive oil (Field Day natural, Spain).  Not all local, but it’s hard to find salt, citrus and walnuts ‘round these parts.  And it’s seriously delicious, y’all.  (I did email Trader Joe’s to see if they could be more specific about their sources.)

Snacks: Mango from Mexico.  Radishes from Hanover, VA.  Sunflower bread baked at Ellwood Thompson’s (four blocks away) with peach jam (made by a friend in Glen Allen, VA) and butter of unknown/refrigerator door butter dish origin.

For dinner, I heated up some sauteed broccoli raab with spring onions, both from Victory Farms.  I also had some cheese that a friend gave me after gathering over the weekend (not sure where it was from, but I know it was a creamy cow’s milk cheese she bought at Ellwood Thompson’s.  With the cheese, I had Private Selection (from Kroger) brand water crackers – source unknown.  I finished the night off with a glass of Quinta de Crasto Douro Red, made in Portugal, halfway between Régua and Pinhão, and found at my local wine bar, Secco.  Yum!