Thanksgiving in Austin on the 100-Mile Diet

The 100-mile diet is a new diet and eating plan based on the non-fiction book The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating by Alisa Smith. In this book, the authors tell their story of restricting their diet to only foods found and grown within 100 miles of their residence. The urban couple began their challenge in March 2005 with little preparation and had to rely a great deal on farmer's markets and local vendors.

Of all the great reasons to do this challenge yourself, it is good for the environment, helps you save money, supports the local economy and can help you save money. Many people across the country are deciding to take up this diet challenge for Thanksgiving- a time when many families are buying, cooking and eating a lot of food.

How My Family Will Do It

In Austin, there are many opportunities for families just like mine to take the 100-mile diet challenge for Thanksgiving or for any time of the year. I have a big family- six with another on the way- and I know what a challenge it can be to feed them and stick to budget. We want our kids to learn to "eat from their own backyard" and the 100-mile diet is a great way to do that.

Here is how we will have Thanksgiving dinner without using anything more than 100 miles from home:

Austin Farmers' Market- The Austin Farmers' Market is a project of Sustainable Food Center (SFC), a local non-profit that creates opportunities for individuals to make healthy food more available to local residents. They have multiple locations within the city making it easier to get to what you need. We will use what is in season to help plan for our Thanksgiving meal. Potatoes, squash, corn, onions, and green beans are staples of our 100-mile Thanksgiving dinner. We can also get peaches and blackberries for making homemade desserts.

Johnny G's Butcher Block- Johnny G's makes a great choice for local meats, fresh wild game processing and more. We have a family friend who loves to hunt wild turkey in the area and is willing to donate a turkey for our family. Johnny G's will help us process it and then our meat is covered.

Everything that we serve for our Thanksgiving dinner will be found locally. You can apply this idea to your area, choosing fruits and vegetables that are in season to your area, shopping at farmer's markets and more. You can even apply the idea to a potluck version of Thanksgiving dinner where each guest brings a different local-inspired dish to complete the 100-mile diet Thanksgiving together.