4 Steps to a Local Menu

Eating locally is great for the planet, as well as your tastebuds.

30 Days to Green Your Diet - Heritage and heirloom foods are delicious and healthy.

Photo: Liza McCorkle / IStock

By Brian Clark Howard

1. Buy Local, Grill Local
Farmers' markets open soon, if they haven't already opened for the season. Choose your meal based on what's in season now, and available locally. Aim to buy as much as possible food grown and produced within 100 miles of home.

Need a jump-start in finding all things local? Use the 100-Mile Diet Mapping Tool to define your target area. Then, use Local Harvest to find local farms and farmers' markets in your neighborhood.

2. The Substitute You'll Actually Pay Attention To
Some summer favorites just aren't available yet. Try these worthy substitutes until the harvest catches up with your appetite. Although there's really no substitute for sweet corn, how about grilling asparagus? It's quick, easy, and the grilled flavors this venerable veg evokes simply can't be beat.

Have a hankering for crisp, cool watermelon? Sub in strawberries — they're ripe for the picking (and eating). Tired of waiting for "everything tomato?" Try our white gazpacho soup recipe that uses lots of garlic instead and will make your calendar-watching days a little more tolerable.

3. Let Us Help
Check out a couple of weekend menus for distinctive locally flavored meals that will keep your guests talking until Labor Day. Or, choose one dish and haul it to your neighborhood potluck party. Here's a menu that hits all the high notes for easy-to-find ingredients, flavor and good-old fashioned summer season fun. A duo of vegetable and fruit salsas, steak and vegetable grill, goat cheese and arugula sandwiches, a cool, creamy cucumber salad — all topped off with sinfully delicious whole wheat brownies — is sure to please any die-hard al fresco fan.

And, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, the authors of Plenty, A Year of Eating Locally, share their tips and Memorial Day Weekend recipes inspired by their quest to live off the land all within their own zip code.

4. Spread Local Flavor
If you're hosting the barbecue, give it a local theme by encouraging your guests to bring food with regional flavor. If you're lucky enough to be attending someone else's party, wow them with your favorite dish — then rave about the farm where you bought the ingredients.

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