Locavore's Handbook

May 10, 2010
Expanding on 2008's Botany, Ballet and Dinner from Scratch, which chronicled a year of eating nothing that wasn't produced within 250 miles of her Brooklyn home, locavore and urban gardener Meredith presents a practical guide best suited to conscientious foodies in the New York City area. Though much will be familiar to locavores and devotees of Michael Pollan–—including the benefits of seasonal eating and the problems of conventional farming methods–—Meredith sums up the issues well. Tips on sourcing (particularly from Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) groups), community and urban gardening, and composting provide concrete, succinct steps toward greener food consumption. Meredith also provides thorough tips for getting the most out of farmer's market purchases, including standard meats and produce as well as less familiar foods like fiddlehead ferns and currants; she also provides instructions and steps for preserving a summer bounty and the dos and don'ts of foraging. Though she closes with a list of web references for any zip code, Meredith's more specific tips—and there are many—are largely confined to New York.