Today on Food Network Canada, the network will premiere a new series, 100 Mile Challenge, that is alot more than just about eathing healthy. The basic premise of the series will be whether it is possible to completely stock your cupboards from suppliers within 100 miles of your home.

In the Teeswater area that sounds fairly easy, what with all the dairy, cattle, pig and chicken farms in this area, not to mention the plethora of road side stands offering a wide variety of vegetables and fruit. But is it that easy?

What about the things we take for granted, like Bananas? Ooops, unless Harry Belafonte has taken up residence there is zero chance we have a banana grove or two in our region. Even simpler, how about Sugar, Coffee (sorry, having a Timmy’s within 100 miles of your house does not qualify), Tea, even Flour?

Back in 2005, two investigators at The Tyee, J.B. McKinnon and Alisa Smith, came up with the original concept – eating from suppliers within 100 miles of their home for an ENTIRE year.  What followed was a series of reports that struck a chord with many of the Tyee’s readers, then Harmony Press / Random House, resulting in a wildly successful book and now a series on FoodTV.  I highly recommend the series on The Tyee, as it is quite enlightening how hard this goal is to achieve.

So that got me thinking (as things do…) about how the 100 Mile Diet would affect us here in Teeswater. A quick check of Google Maps and it appears that just about all of Southwestern Ontario is covered in the 100 mile radius, unless they are growing Wheat in Algonquin Park. Good so far, I think I have meat, poultry, vegetables and dairy products covered. Now for the other staples, like Flour.

So back to Google and what do I find but a website ALL about being a locavore (yes, the 100 Mile Diet even has its own hip new term!). The website,  Southwestern Ontario Locavore is constantly being updated they say. Oh this is getting easier by the minute. A quick search on this site and yes, Flour is now covered.

But how about the more arcane items like  Salt, Pepper, Coffee and Tea? Oops we run into a bit of a brick wall here. But at least if I can’t buy Coffee that is grown locally I can at least buy ‘Fair Trade’ ‘ Coffee within my zone. Fair Trade is all about the producer getting their fair share of the revenue from the sale of their product. I understand that Hillcrest Central is having a Fair Trade day at school shortly, more on that as details are firmed up.

Ok, so I think I can cover the basics within 100 miles of home, with a few cheater items from the Fair Trade aisle. It might make for a bit more driving about to find items but it certainly looks do-able. And then it hit me.

The 100 Mile Diet is about ALOT more than just eating locally. It is about supporting local producers, reducing the amount of preservatives we consume, cooking from actual ingredients instead of pre-packaged mystery foods and even about community and neighbourliness (carpooling etc. for your foraging trips). Sure it might make for a bit of extra effort on your part, but at the end of the day there are many great benefits to the idea.

So what to do?

• Watch the show.
• Take a peek into your cupboards and fridge
• Think about supporting our local producers (and Fair Trade producers!)
• Talk to your family and neighbours. Perhaps you can’t go the whole nine yards but maybe there are items you can buy local that you have been simply ‘grabbing off the shelf’ at the grocery.

The 100 Mile Challenge airs on FoodTV starting today at 1 and 8 pm (Eastern). Original Farm Fresh logo copyright Penn State Cooperative Extension.