I am game for almost any eating challenge, as long as it does not involve swallowing that hated slimy, stewed okra.
So when I heard that eating okra was an optional part of the Maryland Buy Local Challenge, I was a willing player. The challenge was to eat at least one item from a Maryland farm every day for seven days in mid-July. The purpose of this statewide undertaking, which ended last week, was to familiarize Marylanders with the sources of locally produced fare.
This idea of eating local foods is hot. The word "locavore," someone who eats locally produced ingredients, was named the 2007 word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary. According to a recent front-page article in The New York Times, trendy types in San Francisco and New York who don't want to be troubled with fetching or growing local foods have taken to hiring helpers to perform these duties.
These so-called lazy locavores pay gardeners and cooks to tend their gardens or to shop at markets and prepare locally based meals. This, it seems to me, is absurd, not to mention an expensive twist on a good idea. It is more proof to me that the foodies in California and New York just might have more money than sense.
Eating foods grown in Maryland can be good for you and good for the environment. That is what I heard a string of Maryland officials - including Christine Bergmark of the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission, Agriculture Secretary Roger Richardson and Gov. Martin O'Malley - say recently as they stood in the broiling sun at the kickoff event of the buy-local challenge.
Jack O'Malley, the governor's 5-year-old son, also attended the event, held on the lawn outside Government House. Shortly after the adults started speechifying, Jack darted toward a shady section of what, in effect, was his backyard and climbed a tree. I took my cue from Jack and also headed for a patch of the shade.
It turned out to be a propitious move because that was where ice cream made by the Kilby Cream dairy of Cecil County was being served. It was one of the 18 Maryland-produced foods served at the gathering.
The ice cream was a knockout, luscious creamy vanilla with just a touch of Chambourcin wine. Not only was this ice cream decadently delicious, it also got me started on Day 1 of the eating challenge. I considered simply eating this ice cream every day of the challenge.
