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The 100-Mile Diet

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The 100 Mile Diet:
A Year of Local Eating
First edition cover of Canadian release
AuthorAlisa Smith & J. B. MacKinnon
SubjectDiet (nutrition)
GenreNon-fiction, memoir
PublisherRandom House
Publication date
March 2007
Publication placeCanada
Media typePrint (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages272 pp.
ISBNISBN 0679314822 (10) & ISBN 9780679314820 (13) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
OCLC74028846
This article is about the book The 100-Mile Diet.. For the social movement that advocates eating locally-grown food (locavore), see Local food. For the diet that attempts to minimize ecological footprints, see Low carbon diet.

The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating (or Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally) is a non-fiction book written by Canadian writers Alisa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon. In the book, the authors recount their experiences, including motivations and challenges, on restricting their diet, for one year, to include only foods grown within 100 miles of their residence. Beginning in March 2005, with little preparation the urban couple began only purchasing foods with ingredients they knew were all from within 100 miles. Finding little in grocery stores, they relied on farmer's markets and visits to local farms. Staples in their diet included seafood, chicken, root vegetable, berries, and corn. They lacked cooking oils, rice, and sugar. They preserved foods for use in the winter but ended with extra supplies.

The couple first wrote about the experience in articles for the online magazine The Tyee. The popularity of the articles led to a book deal. In the book, Smith and MacKinnon each write alternate chapters, 12 in total. The first chapter is written by MacKinnon and focuses on the first month of their experience. They write in the first person as a memoir that explores their own dietary experiences and personal feelings.

In the Canadian market, the book spent five weeks on Maclean's nonfiction bestseller list. The book spent 20 weeks on The Vancouver Sun's nonfiction bestseller list. The authors won the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize from the British Columbia Booksellers Association for the best contribution to the enjoyment and understanding of British Columbia. The 100-mile diet concept, along with advocates of local food, were covered by media across North America.

Background

Alisa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon's idea of local eating began while visiting their cabin in northern British Columbia in August 2004.[1] Their food supplies were nearly exhausted so to feed their dinner guests they scrounged the surrounding land for food. Their dinner of Dolly Varden trout, wild mushrooms, dandelion leaves, apples, sour cherries, and rose hips, along with potatoes and garlic from the garden, so impressed the couple that once back home, in their Kitsilano apartment in Vancouver, they pursued the idea of eating only local food.[2][3] They eventually decided to try a diet consisting of eating food, for one year, grown within 100 miles of their home. They began the diet symbolically on the first day of spring, March 21.[4] Beginning in June, they wrote articles at The Tyee about their experience. The couple, both in their 30s, each had experience in writing: Smith as a freelance journalist who had taught non-fiction writing, and MacKinnon as the author of the award-winning historical non-fiction book Dead Man in Paradise and a past editor of Adbusters magazine.[5]

They were over-whelmed by the response, first from other locavores and then from local and international news media.[6] Eleven articles were published in the The Tyee series over the year, plus an additional four articles afterwards, between August 2006 and May 2007. They launched an independent website, 100milediet.org, in April 2006 and began writing the book. Random House published the hardcover version on 12 March 2007 in Canada as The 100 Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating and on 24 April in the United States as Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally. The trade paperback was released in Canada by Random House's Vintage Canada imprint on 2 October and in the United States by the Three Rivers Press imprint on 22 April 2008.

Content

The book consists of twelve chapters, plus an Epilogue and an Acknowledgements section at the end. Smith and MacKinnon individually write alternating chapter, each of which covers one month from March 2005 to February 2006. In the first chapter MacKinnon tells how his idea for the 100-mile diet began and Smith agrees to try it for one year. They begin symbolically on the first day of Spring, March 21, and define 'local' as 100-miles, a convenient radius that would include the Lower Mainland, the southern half of Vancouver Island, and Whatcom County and Skagit County in Washington State. Their exceptions to this rule include meals eaten while traveling, meals prepared by friends, and business lunches. Their initial month was expensive as they scoured grocery stores for whatever they could find. In the second chapter, Smith describes her and MacKinnon as an unwed urban couple in their early thirties with no children and living in a rented apartment. They recount how eating impacted their relationship before and after the diet, the anonymity of prepackaged foods, the traceability of their diet, and the diets of the Coast Salish.

The farmers' market opens in May and they are able to buy local honey to replace sugar. Seafood from the Strait of Georgia becomes a staple in their diet. The couple spend August at their cabin in northwestern BC where they fish the Skeena River, pick wild berries, and eat whatever grows in their garden. Back in the Lower Mainland, the September harvest provides them with melons, peppers, eggplant, grapes, and tomatoes. To prepare for winter they preserved corn and tomatoes, made jam from berries, collected herbs from their community garden, and bought many potatoes.

During the fall, each write on the troubles in their relationship. David Beers, the founder of the Tyee, hosts a 100-mile Thanksgiving dinner for Smith while MacKinnon was away. In November, during a family emergency, MacKinnon travels to Kamloops where he suspends his 100-mile diet a few days. They finally find a source of flour when discover a farmer on Vancouver Island who grows his own fruits, vegetables, meats, and flour. In December, Smith travels to Edmonton where her grandmother feeds her microwaved pasta which she accepts.

In January they find a restaurant that specializes in local cuisine and, previously vegetarians, they cook and eat beef for the first in years. Working in Malawi, MacKinnon is struck by the contrast between their western diet and that of the poor country's: there is ample food supplies in Malawi but most is exported to Canada and the United States who buy the food they do not require. The couple learn about Mexican and Maya cuisine while in Merida, Mexico for a wedding. The book ends with an epilogue, written by both Smith and MacKinnon six months after their one year diet. They make a symbolic journey to Bamfield, within their 100-mile radius, to collect sea water for its salt and prove they could obtain their own salt supply.

Style and genre

The book uses a first person memoir style with Smith and MacKinnon taking turns writing each chapter.[3][7] The authors purposely avoided writing a self help book in favour of the memoir style, saying, "We wanted to show readers that process, and how it affected us and let them see it through our eyes."[4] The topics sometimes go beyond the motivations and challenges of the diet into more personal relationship issues. Prior to writing the book they created a general plan on where the narrative would lead.[8] They took turns writing so they could monitor each other's progress. As the two alternate there are shifts in perspectives, though the overall theme of "traceability" persisted.[5][7] The general tone has been described as charming, innocent, and sometimes funny.[5] Smith's chapters have been said to demonstrate more honesty and vulnerability, while MacKinnon's were more "show pieces, little tours de force".[7] The final chapter was authored together by Smith and MacKinnon writing as a disembodied third-person narrator to summarize and conclude the book.[7]

Reaction to the book

In the Canadian market, The 100-Mile Diet debuted at #10 on Maclean's nonfiction bestseller list on May 14. It spent five weeks on the list, peaking at #4.[9] In the Vancouver market, the book spent 20 weeks on The Vancouver Sun's nonfiction bestseller list, peaking at #5.[10] At the British Columbia Booksellers Association's BC Book Prizes, in April 2008, the book was short-listed for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, while the authors won the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize, awarded to the authors of the book that best contributes to the enjoyment and understanding of British Columbia.[11]

The book has been called engagingly written, wisely researched, and honestly told.[2][5][12] Critics admired the wit and humour.[13][14] The book reviewer for The Globe and Mail admitted he grew impatient with the grand and repetitive statements about the changing global food system and the authors' hyperbole regarding their modest culinary discoveries.[7] Compared to Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, The 100-Mile Diet was found to be more compelling and easier to read, with Smith and MacKinnon more relatable and sympathetic than Kingsolver.[15]

Reaction to the diet

While the concept of only eating locally grown food is not new, the book coincided with the emerging popularity of the locavore movement and farmer's markets.[16][17] Media outlets in North America examined the feasibility of only eating food produced locally, local food-themed events, and locavore groups.[18][19][20] During World Food Day in 2006, playing off the popularity of Smith and MacKinnon's articles in The Tyee, the Vancouver City Hall held a 100-mile themed breakfast.[21] Locavore groups have held local-only dinner parties and week-long challenges.[22][23] Some restaurants and caterers offered 100-mile menus. Some farmers, gardeners, or regional food producers began offering subscription services to deliver produce or urban farming or gardening services. The 100-mile diet spawned many variations to allow for various circumstances and motivations. Examples include the allowance of a few non-local items, like Barbara Kingsolver chose to include spices into her local diet,[22] or expanding the geographic area to more convenient boundaries, like the economic region, or the entire state or province.[17] A 'made-in-Manitoba' diet challenge led to a government Manitoba Food Charter recognizing and encouraging local food markets.[24]

References

  1. ^ Irving, Pamela (10 October 2007). "Worldwide phenomenon began with one simple meal". Edmonton Journal. p. E10.
  2. ^ a b Murrills, Angela (19 April 2007). "Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon". The Georgia Straight. Vancouver Free Press. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  3. ^ a b Coppard, Patricia (6 May 2007). "Green grow the markets; Kitsilano couple determined to eat only locally produced food find they cannot live by kale alone, and they longed for a bit of bread". Times-Colonist. Victoria, B.C. p. D10.
  4. ^ a b Giese, Rachel (11 April 2007). "Home cooking: Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon talk about The 100-Mile Diet". cbc.ca. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  5. ^ a b c d Simonds, Merilyn (5 May 2007). "Food for thought about what we eat". The Gazette. Montreal. p. J6.
  6. ^ Loew, Tracy (6 September 2006). "Couple think globally by eating locally". USA Today. p. D5. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  7. ^ a b c d e Wilkins, Charles (21 April 2007). "Think globally, shop locally, eat really well". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. p. D1.
  8. ^ Conner, Shawn (13 April 2007). "Year of eating locally". Vancouver Courier. p. 41.
  9. ^ Bethune, Brian (14 May 2007). "Best Sellers". Maclean's.
    Note: The book was listed at #7 on May 21, #6 on May 28, #4 on June 4, and #6 on June 11.
  10. ^ "Best on the shelf". The Vancouver Sun. 21 April 2007. p. C10.
    Note: The book peaked #5 for two weeks (May 12 & 19) and was last listed on 1 September 2007.
  11. ^ Wigod, Rebecca (28 April 2008). "Authors of The 100-Mile Diet win B.C. book award". The Vancouver Sun. p. C5.
  12. ^ Conlogue, Ray (2007). "The 100-mile marathon". Canadian Geographic. 127 (3). Royal Canadian Geographical Society: 91. ISSN 0706-2168. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Bethune, Brian (30 April 2007). "Food for Thought". Maclean's. 120 (16): 69.
  14. ^ Roulston, Nancy (2007). "Learning to Eat Locally". In Business. 29 (6): 10–11. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  15. ^ "What's for dinner? Anything the neighbours produce for local-eating advocates". Winnipeg Free Press. 6 May 2007. p. D1.
  16. ^ Cooper, Carolyn (April 2007). "100 miles and counting". Food in Canada. 67 (3): 7.
  17. ^ a b Roosevelt, Margot (12 June 2006). "The Lure of the 100-Mile Diet". Time. 167 (24): 78. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  18. ^ Moore, Jacquie (27 July 2007). "Living La Feeda Local: Can Calgarians eat a 100-mile diet?". Calgary Herald. p. SW24.
  19. ^ Irving, Pamela (10 October 2007). "Local couple takes the 100-mile challenge; Discover buying, preparing only locally produced food results in healthier eating". Edmonton Journal. p. E10.
  20. ^ Cosier, Susan (September/October 2007). "The 100-Mile Diet: The Struggles and Successes of Eating Local Foods". E/The Environmental Magazine. 18 (5). {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ "Councillors will breakfast close to home in celebration of World Food Day". The Vancouver Sun. 13 October 2005. p. B2.
  22. ^ a b Burros, Martin (25 April 2007). "Preserving Fossil Fuels and Nearby Farmland by Eating Locally". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  23. ^ Dumke, Jennifer (May/June 2007). "Eating In the Neighborhood: My 100 Mile Diet". South Dakota Magazine. 24 (1): 26—30. ISSN 0886-2680. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ Rance, Laura (15 September 2007). "The 100-mile diet could be worth every step". Winnipeg Free Press. p. B9.
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