Bay Area Blogger of the Week #15

Life Begins at 30 is a very special blog in my world. Jen's foodish blog was the very first one I stumbled upon after I had been blogging, blindly, in a vacuum, for about 3 months without any idea of the food community that had already been established online. I had come across Jen on a local food forum where I heard whispers that she had a blog. I actually sent her a private email asking if she would mind sharing her site with me. She responded by sending me her url and thereafter I discovered a whole new world. My naivety at that point in time might almost be considered charming. I noticed she had participated in something called Is My Blog Burning. I remember thinking to myself, that sounds like fun, but if I take part in the next one, Jen will just think I am copying her. Ha, yes, I fretted about that for a while, spent sleepless nights worrying, but I went ahead and entered the next one anyway and she didn't seem to mind.
I also confess, I stole the code to add a google search to my side bar, from Jen's template. I felt terribly guilty but surmised she would never find out. Yes, although she doesn't know it, Jen is the one who got me started, almost eleven months ago, on the template noodling that would eventually transform the look of my blog.

Enough about me - this is meant to be about Jen and her blog. There is a specific reason I am featuring her today. Jen is heading up a food blogger and readers effort for the Locavores Eat Local challenge for the month of August. By featuring Jen's efforts now, you will have a couple of weeks to think about taking part.

Locavores' goal is to eat from within a 100 mile radius of San Francisco for the entire month of August. Failing that, they will attempt to eat foods that come from within California, or are purchased directly from small scale farmers elsewhere in the world. They add Some of us will interpret these guidelines more strictly than others, but the main goal is to pay attention to where the food that we eat comes from.

I am squarely in the "less strict" camp regarding this challenge. The Bay Area is a fortunate place with plentiful resources so we kind of have it easy. The main reason I, personally, want to take part is in order to continue to educate myself about what I am eating and where it comes from. Jen already logged her previous Food Tracking Challenge in a fascinating read that prompted me to ask many more questions of vendors than I ever used to. In fact, in the eleven months I have been reading Life Begins at 30 I have learnt a lot. Jen's words have already had a huge impact on me. Until I read her blog, I used to almost solely shop at Wholefoods for vegetables. Now I make the effort to visit a farmers market whenever I can. She is truly an inspiration to me. And, as if Jen wasn't already challenged enough, she now has another difficult food-related circumstance to contend with in her life. If anyone can find a way to maintain their love of food on 25grams of fat a day, without the occasional drink, it will be Jen. I wish her and Jason all the best of luck in dealing with their new set of challenges. Go and read Jen's blog, drop by her comments to say hello and wish her luck. Perhaps, in some small way, you will be able to take up the Eat Local challenge too. Even if you only to endeavour to find out where the food you eat is coming from - that would be a very good start.

Further reading:

All you need to know about the Local Food Challenge

Why eat Local - I need more info

Previously Featured Bay Area Food & Drink Bloggers: Gastronomie - Confessions of a Restaurant Whore - Bunny Foot - Sweet & Savory - I'm Mad and I Eat - Yummy Chow - Nosheteria - Vivi's Wine Journal - Epicuran Debauchery - Food Musings - Pfiff -Marga's Food Blog - Where the Wild Things Are - Eggbeater

Archive Alert! By this time last year, we had already left France for London. Read about the last dinner we had in Paris here.

posted in Food and Blogging and Bay Area and San Francisco and Locavores and Eat Local

Bay Area Blogger of the Week #15