Syracuse University students Amy Williams and Hannah Young have kissed goodbye their traditional dietary habits and replaced them with food from their own backyard.

Beginning last week, Williams, a senior television, radio and film and women’s studies major, and Young, an S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications graduate student, decided to adopt lifestyles in which they eat only local foods for 30 days. People across the country are doing the same by joining the recent ‘locavore’ movement in which they become ‘locavores’ or people who only eat food made and grown locally.

Because each person sets his or her own parameters and definition of ‘local,’ each locavore is different. By eating local food, people learn exactly what is on their plate and where it comes from.

‘The ability to shake your farmer’s hand at the end of the day and to know where everything on your plate came from is a great feeling,’ Williams said.

Though the initial reason for this experiment was for a project in their documentary production class, Williams and Young’s experiment now extends beyond that.

By eating locally, locavores are able to help the environment. A large amount of petroleum is used to transport produce from the farms in one part of the country to the grocery stores in another, which contributes to global warming, said David A. Sonnenfeld, the environmental studies chair at State University of New York Environmental Science and Forestry.

Williams also found it healthier to eat locally than to simply buy food at the store.

‘We eat all natural sugars now and no added salts,’ she said. ‘I feel so much better now because there’s no overly processed white flour.’

Though she and Young said they’re satisfied with the results so far, they have struggled along the way.

‘The first two days were hell,’ Young said.

Williams was unsure what she could eat, so she ate only green beans and apple cider for the entire first day.

The hardest part the two found so far is being social when going out with friends and family to eat at restaurants. It’s hard to not drink alcohol since a variety of ingredients that go into beer and wine are not local, they said.

The two said there are a few products they’ve started to miss like bread, pasta, tea and ice cream. Both said the struggle is mostly mental.

‘It’s hard to feel fulfilled for long periods of time,’ Young said. ‘I keep telling myself psychologically that it’s enough because the portion sizes changed. It’s all mental.’

Williams and Young said they’ve also gained respect for the farming profession.

Rebecca McElheny, a farmer who at seven months pregnant would wake up at 5 a.m. every day to work in the fields alone because her husband works in another state, made Williams and Young realize the contribution made by local farmers.

‘It’s sad that people don’t realize the amount of work they put into it,’ Williams said. ‘They get up at five in the morning every day so you can have a potato on your plate. We worked for six hours with her harvesting barley, and we were tired, and this is her life.’

To help themselves stay on task through the locavore challenge, the students developed a few tricks. Cooking has proved to be a useful skill. Also, Williams’ roommates have been watching her along the way to make sure she doesn’t stray.

‘I’ll probably slip up, but that’s not why I’m doing it,’ Williams said. ‘I’m doing it to see if it’s possible.’

So far, the two have found the locavore lifestyle maintainable.

‘It’s in the attitude,’ Williams said. ‘You can think of it as something negative because you’re giving things up, or you can think of it as something positive and see all of the good things you can bring into your life.’

Both said they’ve discovered it was easy to find places to purchase local products.

Williams and Young get food by helping local farmers harvest their crop in exchange for some produce, and by attending farmers’ markets and stores that specialize in local products.

They even have hunting plans in the works for their own meat.

‘We’re trying not to go to Wegmans because although there’s a local part, it’s still a corporation and not as much money goes back to the farmers, which is what we’re trying to support,’ Williams said.

Richard Breyer, a television, radio and film professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, is not a locavore himself. But depending on his students’ experience with the locavore documentary, he might try it.

‘They’re doing something relevant to the times,’ he said. ‘It could be important and valuable to the university and the community.’

krkoerti@syr.edu

Published on October 7, 2008 at 12:00 pm