Meatless Monday: Celebrating Earth Day

Happy Monday.

This Friday marks the 41st observance of Earth Day, a day of environmental activism organized by Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin. 

Inspired by a tweet from the Elm City Market, a community owned food co-op scheduled to open in New Haven this summer, I propose a sustainable feast to honor the day.

Strawberries are seasonal in CA in Feb.

If you live on the West Coast, your farmers’ markets are already overflowing with Spring produce — from strawberries to new potatoes and greens. If you live in New England, the pickings are slimmer, but at the last CitySeed market in New Haven, offerings included winter spinach, parsnips, radishes, and carrots. You may not be able to craft an entirely local feast, but even in New England you can certainly find one or two local ingredients to incorporate into your meal.

Elm City Market provided a link to a page on the Organic Valley site where Regional Earth Dinner menus are posted. 

Another excellent source for inspiration for Earth Day or upcoming spring holiday menus is Simply in Season, by Cathleen Hockman-Wert and Mary Beth Lind, which features recipes using locally grown seasonal foods. The book's sections are organized by the seasons of the year. This is one of my most treasured cookbooks. Its recipes are simple, foolproof, and delicious.

Happy holidays. Happy eating.

Have a great week. And please come back soon for more food news and culinary adventures.

I try to blog on food or food issues each Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”