Circle of Responsibility

Environment - Community - Well being

Eat Local Challenge

Food that is grown locally is flavorful and benefits the local community. Bon Appétit is committed to buying local, and to highlight this commitment, has created an annual challenge to eat a lunch that is made completely of ingredients from within a 150 mile radius of the café. This act, while seemingly simple, has far reaching implications. During our sixth annual Eat Local Challenge, being held this year on September 28, 2010, our cafés will create delicious meals from locally-sourced ingredients to showcase local flavors.

Eat Local Challenge on Facebook: For the first time ever, Bon Appétit is challenging the world to do what our chefs do every year: create a meal sourced entirely from local, farm-fresh ingredients.

If you join us, you could win a new iPad loaded with a free copy of Mark Bittman's new app, How to Cook Everything! And now, thanks to our friends at Culinate, the first 50 people to complete ALL the steps of the Challenge will win a free copy of the HTCE App!

How to enter:

1. Become a Fan of (aka "Like") Bon Appétit Management Company on Facebook

2. Cook a meal with fresh ingredients sourced from 150 miles of your home (go all the way -- the only exception is salt!)

3. Take pictures of your meal, then savor the farm-fresh goodness with your friends

4. Post a picture of your meal with the names of the farm(s) or farmer(s) who grew your meal on the Event Wall

5. Make sure you complete ALL of these steps by September 30th.

Voila! You'll be automatically entered for a chance to win an iPad with "How to Cook Everything!

Bon Appétit!

Details of the contest can be found on the Eat Local Challenge Event Page on Facebook! 

 

Why Eat Local? 

Flavor

At Bon Appétit, everything starts with flavor, as a company we are committed to creating food that simply tastes good. Food that is grown locally is fresher and dramatically more flavorful than food that is harvested early so it can be transported great distances. Locally produced food is picked at the height of freshness, often making it to market within 24 hours of being picked, while food from non-local sources may have been in transit for more than 7 days and been warehoused for many months. Have you ever eaten berries straight from the field or picked an apple right off the tree? Wouldn’t you like all your produce to taste like that?

Environment

According to the Worldwatch Institute, in the United States, food now travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to table, as much as 25 percent farther than two decades ago. That shipping and trucking does incredible damage to the environment in the form of global warming and air pollution. Eating locally also helps reduce the immense amount of non-renewable resources wasted in transporting food. Fuel conservation isn’t only about driving less; it’s also about buying things that don’t travel half-way across the globe.

In addition, local farmers, who often use more sustainable growing practices, act as stewards of the land. By buying from local growers you help support sustainable farming practices that nourish and replenish the local land rather than stripping it. You have the power to ensure that the food you buy is produced in a manner that steers away from pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics.

Community

The purchases you make can have a profound impact on your community. The family farm is dying and when the family farm dies so too does our agricultural heritage. However, if you eat locally then you are simultaneously investing in your own community and helping to preserve local farmers and artisans ensuring their traditions continue. If you buy local, you are helping to ensure that we can savor these authentic flavors in the future.