The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating

IDE309 BOOK REVIEW by Archi Balakumaran

Title: The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating

Author: Alisa Smith & James MacKinnon

Date of Publication: 2007

ISBN: 978-0-679-31482-0

SNOPSIS

The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating is the joint-memoir about Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon’s experiment to exclusively eat locally for one year. The couple began in March of 2005 and only ate food that originated from within a 100-mile radius from their home in Vancouver, British Columbia. The experiment was jointly inspired by a meal made out of necessity by foraging through the woods and a statistic stating that, “within a typical North American meal, each ingredient has traveled at least 1500 miles”; both caused the couple to reevaluate their current eating and consumption patterns and to take action in a bold way. The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating depicts the joys and trials that the couple encountered throughout the year and is supplemented with historical facts about local eating and recipes from the couple’s cookbook.

RELEVANCE

Food, like design, is something that is always present but often is not a conscious thought. After reading about the intentional thoughts, efforts and sacrifices made by the couple to eat locally, I developed a new appreciation for what it means to design with local and sustainable materials. When thinking about One Planet Living’s 10 Guiding Principles of Sustainability, the choice to use local and sustainable materials would also aid in increasing culture and heritage, equity and fair trade, and health and happiness. I also understand that it is often rare that a material is local and 100% sustainable, and sometimes one has to choose to make decisions that result in either a local design focus or a sustainable design focus. The couple had to make a similarly difficult decision to forego their vegetarianism in order to sustain their local eating experiment. However, though it require a more conscious effort to find something that is local and sustainable, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

Rating: 3.5

OPINION

I enjoyed reading The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating, it had a good balance between historical facts about local eating and the personal narratives of Smith and MacKinnon. The historical facts about local eating made me reevaluate my current consumption patterns and Smith and MacKinnon’s narratives gave me a realistic understanding of the joys and trials they faced during their experiment. My views about local eating were challenged as well as my vision of what it truly means to live a sustainable life. Upon reaching the book’s conclusion I felt inspired to attempt a similar challenge, not only in my eating patterns but also to use more local materials within my designs. I would definitely recommend this book to someone looking for something that is entertaining, educational, and experimental, but be forewarned that reading this book may cause you to make some major lifestyle changes, so read with caution!

Rating: 5