Food
Eat Local Month & the Eat Local Challenge Start on April 1st
The purpose of Eat Local Month is to provide the Charleston community with educational opportunities and events to help everyone learn more about local foods, farmers, restaurants, and businesses.
Meanwhile, the goal of the Eat Local Challenge is to help consumers “make the shift” in their spending towards local products and businesses. Participants in the Eat Local Challenge will be asked to shift at least $10 of their weekly spending toward locally-sourced food, drink, and specialty crops, which include fruits and vegetables.
Although agribusiness is SC’s largest industry, the state imports over 90% of its food – with the average meal traveling over 1,500 miles to get to our plates.
“With increasing opportunities that link local food and consumers like farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSAs), and local sections in grocery stores, we hope participants will find that taking steps toward eating locally can work for everyone,” Jamee Haley, Executive Director for Lowcountry Local First, said.
The Eat Local Challenge will officially kick off on April 1st and conclude on April 30th. Individuals and teams are invited to use Lowcountry Local First’s app, available for Android and Apple devices, to interact, learn, and track their financial shift.
Participants are also invited to participate in the #howieatlocal Instagram contest sponsored by Verde to win weekly gift cards. More details here.
Other Eat Local Month events include:
- Plow to Chow
- Saturday, April 8th, Charleston Farmer’s Market
- Celebrate the start of the 2017 downtown Charleston Farmers Market in Marion Square with Lowcountry Local First and some of their partners
- Free tastings prepared by local chefs using fresh, local produce from Limehouse Produce. Participants include The Drawing Room, Glass Onion, and La Tela Pizzeria
- Saturday, April 8th, Charleston Farmer’s Market
- 10th Annual Chef’s Potluck
- April 30th, Middleton Place
- Sixteen participating chefs are paired with local farmers, fishermen and ranchers to bring attendees the freshest, local ingredients in Charleston
- Enjoy live music, local libations, tastings from each chef and some beautiful views
- April 30th, Middleton Place
For more information on Eat Local Month, click here.