Localvores living abroad

Tonight, we went out in high-end neighborhoods not far from our friend's house in Casablanca. This is a gentrifying neighborhood close to an enormous seaside mosque.

We were out trying to find some quick ingredients to put on a fast dinner. On the way, we had the good fortune to turn towards a bakery and some flower stands and find a great public market where we purchased lots of great greens, veggies, fruit etc. Outside, we also bought fresh baked breads from local vendors. We brought all of this home and had a scrumptious supper.

Casablanca is another city that is filled with small shops and great markets. On the rooftops and surrounds of a neighborhood central market you can find barbers, seamstress, repair shops, and all other sorts of small businesses you could imagine existing in the mid-twentieth, late 19th, or, perhaps even, 22nd centuries!

We love this kind of green travel.

We are localvores, we prefer to eat local, fresh, seasonal products that are unprocessed and come from local sources and traditions. The best breads and cheeses, the freshest produce, the highest caliber food production we discover available in these green markets. What delights!


More than just improving our palates, we learn from or meet the producers and farmers. We also gain better green food habits by being localvores. At local markets, by example, you do not encounter those same strange looks when you arrive with your own shopping bag or basket. For a farmer-come-to-market the reusable wood crates, wicker baskets, and tough cardboard make sense - where as having plastic bags around is just additional cost passed on to the customer.

Relearning what it means to buy local is a wonderful path. We have learned most from places where cultures have never morphed away from local production and/or delivery systems of food and services. We have found what we love in South American, Caribbean, and Indigenous Markets of our homelands existing in all parts of the world. The major difference between Aix-en-Provence or Astor Place, it turns out, is that in elite green markets the cost is more for the luxury; whereas in 'third world' markets we pay less for not importing foreign goods not in season and the 'luxury tax' f big box retail.

We remember what we loved in the enormous city affairs in China and Ghana. But, the more local we can shop the better. We are always compiling favorite memories of localvore shopping. As we progress on this path, we are defining our terms for what it means to find a great shopping community that is not based on consumerism, consumption, or marketing - but, rather, social, cultural, and familial market traditions. The more local the market the more sentimental it feels to return to it. Africa, Asia, and the Middle East have all been places that pulsed with this sentiment and a commonality of purpose in the human joy that exists more in public markets. North Africa, in Morocco, weare finding, also has these wonderful charms.

The more that a community provides for the localvore to dig down to the localist possible ingredient, merchant, or guild - the more that one can reach the source, or, near the source of the product or service which one is buying - the happier, more knowledgeable, informed and interconnected we can be. As we take on the attributes of informed and connected purchasing, we become more responsible and humane citizens of our communities.

There are too many examples for us to mention, however, India's always a great example for me of highlighting how even in mass urban communities we can rediscover our humanity through engaging our fellow people. In Mumbai, a city that is very high-paced and developing rapidly, public shaves and street haircuts still took place, spice and vegetable vendors were on pedestrian overpasses, and, my personal favorite, individual cologne dosages (daily or for special events) were sold at your local fine purveyor of smelling potions. When you participate in daily ways, when you must return to the markets and engage with your neighbors directly, you build fabric of society. When you purchase what it is that gives you life and know or trade to the source - you give your body dignity as well as nutrition.

Today, on a short detour from a supermarket, in a rush to get some quick ingredients for dinner - we discovered once again the value and contentment of the lifestyle and power of the localvore.
We remember my mother--in-law's friend Peggy in Oregon who is spending the next six months with her husband only purchasing what they have preset that they are going to shop for. If this sounds easy, try it. We applaud Peggy for leading the way to smarter consumption. Fi we think about what we hae to buy before hand, we are more likely to use decision-making skills that save us money, make us healthier, and impact the world in positive ways. Last night, we set out to but some ingredients for dinner. Because we had no plan, it is no wonder we diid not come back with bags of plastic and processed food...thannk goodness we found the loca market.

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Traveling Green - Hard to stay on Mission with 'greening' our diets

We gave ourselves a few constraints to green our journey around the world. We are using only public transit wherever possible; except for our transoceanic flights we are sticking to rail and bus; we are planting to offset our carbons (our first project will be rebuilding a house planter with perennials and vines outside our 'home away from home here in Sumiyoshi). We also are planning to eat at least three days 'at home,' using non processed foods. This is difficult. Not only will we not always have a kitchen; but, as we have already found in Japan while shopping at our neighborhood markets, even the obvious changes when you are not familiar with language, character letters, or even what we think of as obvious (the bread section, the fruits and vegetables, the seafood etc).

By example of how sometimes normal foods can be turned on their heads, this morning I saw a sandwich filled with soba noodles and seaweed. Language is always a barrier (one that we have overcome before), but not knowing cultural morays can add the extra burden. We have persisted. Our only meal 'out' so far this week was a lovely Japanese version of egg foo yung which we had at a small neighborhood restaurant. Fresh ingredients, mushrooms, cabbages, egg mixture, tofu and very small flavorings of meat were presented tableside and our lovely host prepared them on the grill, set into the table. So we cooked and ate and it was local, unprocessed food at a tiny local family run community restaurant; but, we are not counting it as one of our three days of home cooking.

This idea comes from a lot of sources we have been studying lately. Have you seen the movie "Food Inc"? Or do you know that 'organic farming is not a mom and pop business but takes place at the same scale and usually right next to and with many of the same multi-national corporate giant practices as regular produce only substituting organic fertilizers and natural pesticides and pest eating insects for unnatural ones, but often at a cost of a higher carbon foot print? Too bad that the last time we tried to travel with Peanut Butter the TSA saw to it to take it away as it falls in some category of potentially explosive pastes!! Otherwise we would have carried a 1.5 kilo jar with us because - you know what - Peanut Butter, as it turns out, is a tool to save the planet!! Mom was right way back when. Unfortuantely, besides the Aussies and their Vegemite, paste sandwiches are not catching on in the rest of the world. (My sister Stella and her husband Peter, who have taken on a lovely duty of managing our Hotel Oso Perezoso in Colombia this year, practically buy out Carrefour when PB goes on sale in Santa Marta!!).

Other 'green' ideas we are reinforcing for ourselves in Japan are heat-on-demad water heaters (which we used already in South America), the human energy harnessing of community gardens, and bicycles as a primary source of daily transportation. we would also love to take home in our backpacks an eco version of the Japanese toilet - warm water bidet, flushing sound camouflage, apricot scented air freshner, and a warmed seat.

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