NY Locavore Challenge - Breakfast, Day One

Today's the first day of NOFA-NY's NY Locavore Challenge! It's not even 10:00am, and I'm realizing just how challenging this month is going to be if I don't set some ground rules for myself. I've always wanted to see just how locally I could source my food, and the Challenge is the perfect opportunity to push me into a full-blown locavore. So, here goes nothing!

Melissa's NY Locavore Challenge:

• When I must go out to eat, I will choose only local restaurants & franchises - this means going to La Bottega instead of Olive Garden, Brew 7 instead of Starbucks, Speakeasy instead of Applebee's, etc. 

• I will try my best to replace the products I would buy from chain stores with locally-produced goods. So, I'll be having Papa Pasquale's ravioli from the Long Beach farmer's market instead of Trader Joe's.

• I will incorporate a locally-grown, organic fruit or vegetable into at least one meal a day. Ideally, I'd like to have at least one meal a day of entirely local food.

• I will try canning tomatoes, cooking fresh tomato sauce and foraging.

Breakfast this morning is already a challenge! I'm out of organically-fed, pasture-raised chicken eggs from Garden of Eve - I'll have to pick up more at Crossroads Farm at Grossmann's in Malverne today. Instead, I'll have Polka Dot Pound Cake's Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, a delicious, albeit sugary, start to my day. I also brewed a pot of coffee for myself - a sticky locavore subject, since the beans are grown outside the US - but I will only be buying from Gentle Brew from now on. These 4 young friends source Arabica beans from fair-trade growers, and roast & grind them right here in Hicksville, NY. I never "got" quality, fresh coffee until I tried their Columbia Sierra Nevada blend, and I'm never going back!

I'm sure lunch on Day 1 will be equally interesting...I'm wishing I stocked up on local goods before the month began! But this is why it's called a Challenge, right? And I'm looking forward to seeing just how local I can go...