Why a Local Diet?
It’s an easy way to start thinking local. Taking roughly a 100-mile radius is large enough to reach beyond a big city and small enough to feel truly local.

How difficult is the Local Diet?
It can be very hard. It can take a while to find a local farmer who actually grows wheat. Meanwhile other items like potatoes could be in abidnance. Doing the diet the hard way teaches you a lot about the current food system, but it isn’t for everybody. A more realistic approach is to plan a single, totally 100-mile meal with friends or family, and see where you want to go from there.

Is this some kind of foodie cult?
Do we think the world would be a better place if more people ate local food more often? Yes. Do we want to pick fights or lose friends about it? No.

Are meals repetitive and boring?
At first, yes. As you find more and more local food sources, though, the meals became more interesting than ever before. Farmers and farmers’ markets introduced you to foods and flavors you may never tried before. Dscover the seasons, and the micro-seasons, and the micro-micro-seasons. What’s available is always changing.

Is it expensive?
Again, only in the beginning. Most of us pay a big premium for out-of-season foods like cherries in winter or prepared foods like spaghetti sauce, usually with a long list of ingredients we might prefer not to have in our bodies. Eating locally, buying fresh ingredients in season and direct from the farmer you can often buy in bulk. Preserve enough food for the winter and you rarely have to buy groceries. Our bet? Most people eating a typical diet could save money by eating locally.

Does it take a lot of time?
It takes time to find local food sources, to make food from scratch, to do canning for winter, and so on. But it also raises interesting questions about how we’re spending our time. What if we spent more time on self-sufficiency and less time at the office?

What will I miss the most?
Every region has foods that are hard - or impossible - to find. Bread, wheat, pancakes, every region differs,

Will local eating save the world?
Check out our 12 Reasons for Eating Locally.

Will I lose weight while I save the world?
The world of weight-loss diets is a weird and not-so-wonderful place. Let’s put it this way: a local diet is likely to involve lots of fresh produce and homemade meals, and not a lot of junk food, processed fats, additives and sugar. You’re also far more likely to know where your food came from, and what’s in it.