Localvore Challenge: Day 3

By Lisa Shames in Food on Sep 13, 2007 4:45PM

In case you hadn’t noticed, Chicagoist was a little cranky yesterday morning. After our second full day of the Green City Market Localvore Challenge, with our ‘allowed’ food pretty much gone, we were feeling a bit deprived. Once again, the feeling of only wanting what we can’t have was rearing its ugly head. Plus, we couldn’t shake the fact that if we knew how to really cook (sorry mom!) our localvore lives would be a lot easier—and tastier—too.

But after visiting Wednesday’s Green City Market, all is good in the world once again. Not only did we get to engage in one of our favorite pastimes, chef spotting—Paul Kahan! (Blackbird), Bruce Sherman! (North Pond), Susan Goss! (West Town Tavern), Michael Carlson! (Schwa)—but we also found out that everything available at the market is fair game for localvores! And that includes the yummy baked goods from Bleeding Heart Bakery and Bennison’s Bakery. So much for our theory that we might actually lose a pound or two during the Localvore Challenge week.

So after satisfying our very hungry sweet tooth with a few bites of a cranberry scone, we wandered the market to stock up for the remainder of the challenge week. We were tempted to simply follow around the aforementioned chefs to see what they were buying but that might turn chef spotting into chef stalking which wouldn’t be a very good thing (we imagine it’s quite difficult to follow a local diet while incarcerated). Instead, we relied on our own tastes and with the advice from the very helpful market vendors (a special thanks to Heartland Meats for taking the time to show us their budget-friendly selections and for the fact that they take credit cards), we came home with a bounty of good stuff (see photo above).

And with that bounty of good stuff, that feeling of not having what we really want disappeared with each bite of roasted baby potatoes, cipollina onions, squash and garlic. Although we couldn’t stop thinking of those beautiful raspberries from Nichol’s Farm and Orchard (see photo) that we didn’t buy.

To be continued...