Here Goes Nothing...

Confession: I'll admit I am *slightly* obsessed with knowing where my food comes from, how it was raised, grown or produced, and what ingredients it contains.

Until recently, I had never given much thought to the stuff that landed on my plate three times a day. I have always liked to cook and bake, but my focus at the grocery store was on what ingredients were the cheapest. I figured organic was for suckers and the paranoid, and that if it was on the grocery store shelves, it must be good to eat.

All that changed about 2 years ago when I discovered the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. And then there was The Omnivore's Dilemma. And then In Defense of Food. And Food, Inc. And Twinkie, Deconstructed. And many more fantastic, eye-opening, thought provoking books on that thing we call supper. Well, you might call it dinner. But in Maine, it's supper. Or more accurately, suppah. But I digress.

So I've been spending the last 18 months or so rediscovering food from the ground up. I joined a CSA and started buying the bulk of my produce and meat, eggs and cheese from farmers markets. I purchased a small chest freezer last year and stocked it full of produce so that we wouldn't have to buy food produced in Argentina and other far off lands in the winter. I've searched out local, pesticide free and organic sources whenever possible. And I've been brave enough to try veggies that I never knew existed, like kohlrabi.

One thing I have not done ... yet ... is to give up meat completely. I know how bad commercial meat production is for the land, for the animals, and ultimately for us, the consumers, but I figure that sustainably raised meat is fine. Even so, I've been toying with the idea of giving up meat just for a summer, just to see how it goes. Well, summer is right around the corner. So the time is now! And the place is here. This is my blog, which I will use to share with you my successes and failures during my *mostly* vegetarian summer.

I'm not going vegan, so butter, eggs, cheese and milk will still be on the menu. I'll try to get them locally and organic whenever I can. This being Maine, I will probably not give up seafood for the entire summer. And yes, I may break down and have the occasional red hot dog. I reserve that right - don't judge me. This is not an ideological stand as much as it is a way to satisfy my own curiosity.

Along the way I hope to share some great recipes and nutritional information as I find it. I'll take some photos of my kitchen creations. I'll let you know the impact on my health, happiness, and wallet. In my posts, I will make grammatical errors and I will use commas with reckless abandon.

Given all the above, I still hope you'll join me in my adventure and share your ideas with me too along the way.

Happy Summer!
~C