Eat Local Now - Day 2 of the Localvore Challenge

Local Fish

Are you satisfied so far with your eating options after a day of Localvore Challenge? Are tomatoes boring you yet. Too many scrambled eggs. Are you in need of protein ideas for your sustainence. Ennui in the diet will lead you off the local path. Keep your diet diverse. Do you know that fish can easily fit within the parameters of your Challenge requirements.

I will confess, under my mantra of don't make yourself nuts eating local, that I have purchased during the last four years, various seafood--I'm a sucker for the marinated shrimp skewers at Whole Foods when they are on sale. I also very much eat canned tuna, sardines, anchovies, and herrings, but at least these fall into my made to travel exception. These purchases aside, I sometimes miss seafood. What keeps me missing it too much is the quality of seafood around here, at least for the price. What also keeps me from missing seafood is the good fish options.

If I do not purchase halibut at the store or some version of salmon, I am not without my fish. It can come from the Great Lakes, and it can come from area fish farms. Great Lakes fish include perch and whitefish, with the latter being cheaper and more available. It is common to find Great Lakes fish at area supermarkets, but it is really worth a trip to Devon Ave. for the last of the old time Jewish fishmongers, which these days means a Mexican fishmonger. No place sells a fresher whitefish than Roberts. Roberts alone will keep you from missing ocean fish. Farm raised fish carries mixed connotations. To some it can seem too tasteless and too eco-damaging. I am pretty sure the organic, sustainable system at AquaRanch is green. I'll leave the taste of their tilapia to you. Try this fish raised in Illinois from the freezer case at Cassie's Green Grocer. I'm plenty happy with the flavor of farm raised rainbow trout from Rushing Waters farm in Wisconsin. These fish are widely found at markets in the Chicago area, including Whole Foods. If you ever travel to farmer's markets in Wisconsin, you will find smaller producers of farm raised fish. The Chicago area local diet may not have seafood, but it does not need to be fish-less.

Success in your eat local challenge comes from keeping your diet diverse. There is no reason that local cannot be diverse. Make it diverse by including local fish.