Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet: A Cookbook

By Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon

The remarkable, amusing and inspiring adventures of a Canadian couple who make a year-long attempt to eat foods grown and produced within a 100-mile radius of their apartment.

When Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon learned that the average ingredient in a North American meal travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate, they decided to launch a simple experiment to reconnect with the people and places that produced what they ate. For one year, they would only consume food that came from within a 100-mile radius of their Vancouver apartment. The 100-Mile Diet was born.

The couple’s discoveries sometimes shook their resolve. It would be a year without sugar, Cheerios, olive oil, rice, Pizza Pops, beer, and much, much more. Yet local eating has turned out to be a life lesson in pleasures that are always close at hand. They met the revolutionary farmers and modern-day hunter-gatherers who are changing the way we think about food. They got personal with issues ranging from global economics to biodiversity. They called on the wisdom of grandmothers, and immersed themselves in the seasons. They discovered a host of new flavours, from gooseberry wine to sunchokes to turnip sandwiches, foods that they never would have guessed were on their doorstep.

The 100-Mile Diet struck a deeper chord than anyone could have predicted, attracting media and grassroots interest that spanned the globe. The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating tells the full story, from the insights to the kitchen disasters, as the authors transform from megamart shoppers to self-sufficient urban pioneers. The 100-Mile Diet is a pathway home for anybody, anywhere.

Call me naive, but I never knew that flour would be struck from our 100-Mile Diet. Wheat products are just so ubiquitous, “the staff of life,” that I had hazily imagined the stuff must be grown everywhere. But of course: I had never seen a field of wheat anywhere close to Vancouver, and my mental images of late-afternoon light falling on golden fields of grain were all from my childhood on the Canadian prairies. What I was able to find was Anita’s Organic Grain & Flour Mill, about 60 miles up the Fraser River valley. I called, and learned that Anita’s nearest grain suppliers were at least 800 miles away by road. She sounded sorry for me. Would it be a year until I tasted a pie?
—From The 100-Mile Diet

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Apr 24, 2007
• ISBN: 9780307394781

Alisa Smith

ALISA SMITH is the bestselling co-author of Plenty: A Year of Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet (Crown). Her freelance writing has been published in Outside, Reader’s Digest, Utne Reader, Ms. Magazine, Canadian Geographic, Elle Canada, the National Post, and many others, winning two National Magazine Awards. She served as a judge for a various literary awards and has lectured widely on writing. She is based in Vancouver.

Reviews for Plenty

[christineellei · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is our "One Book, One Community" choice for 2008. I purchased this book because of that and then put off reading it because I thought it would be a boring "this is what we did to save the environment" book. I was wrong! I really enjoyed this book. It made me think and definitely made me more aware of choices that we make in our lives, which I never considered as having an impact on our environment. Could I go so far as to live this way, even for one year? NO! Again, I thoroughly enjoyed the background facts in this book. I did not know much about the western provinces of Canada (hanging my head in shame). This book has pulled a few interesting threads in my virtual sweater or readng, unravelling it enough that I will be looking into a little more thoroughly. My only complaint about this book is that it is a combination effort by the two authors, written in the first person, and until I got used to the writing style differences, I found it difficult to discern who was writing the particular chapter I was reading.

[cheriedooryard · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wouldn't call anything that happened to these people "raucous," and they did try to hard to pull too many threads into one book (food politics! environmentalism! family history! cooking tips! relationship troubles!), but this was enjoyable. I am thinking about local food in a different way--that it's a cultural need as well as an environmental need--and I think that's a valuable takeaway.

[jescat-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this book about a couple who decide not to eat anything unless it comes from within 100 miles from where they live. Granted they live in Vancouver, which makes it sound a lot easier to do than say, Chicago, but they do discover certain staples aren't attainable to them anymore, like wheat. Finding wheat in the Pacific Northwest becomes the ultimate Holy Grail. The experiment itself sounds a little pretentious, but the authors don't shy away from the downsides of local eating...they fight while canning tomatoes, lose too much weight from a lack of carbs, and drink a lot of wine from a local winery. In the end, their descriptions of delicious local produce makes me want to shop at farmer's markets a lot more.

[dele2451 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting he said/she said account of one Canadian couple's experiment to eat and drink only items grown/purchased/foraged within a 100-mile radius of their Vancouver home for an entire year. An effective yet surprisingly entertaining illustration of the inadequacies of our modern globalized food system. The brief segment on "double disappearance" was especially powerful. Recommend!

[satyridae · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this local diet memoir, though I have a few quibbles. Near the end, the authors begin to talk about trouble in their relationship but do not resolve it at all. I think they should have either given us a denouement or left it out entirely.

The 100-Mile diet concept is intriguing. Overall, the book is well-written. The authors alternate chapters and each has a distinct voice, which is a pleasant touch.

The book touches on the ways in which humanity has mucked up the environment as well as the unnatural distances our food must travel. Either I'm reading in a very narrow channel or this particular issue has become more apparent lately- but I'm troubled by it either way.

[auntieknickers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of several books on more-or-less the same subject that I read this past year. This one's set in Vancouver, BC and also in a woods cabin somewhere in the same province. The couple, who are a little self-involved, make truly valiant efforts at eating from within 100 miles of where they are. You'd think this would be easier in the Pacific Northwest, but they had trouble getting any flour! It would be especially good for people from that area to read, but it's a good book for anyone, though not as good as Kingsolver's.

[sriemann_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very nice. The book flowed really well, and I appreciated the format of having both of them write chapters of their own, so that you got both of their perspectives, but it didn't go back and forth in a confusing manner.

[grinningsybil · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The authors of this book do a great job of demonstrating how diverse the food landscape around you can be if you take the time to explore it. They live in rainy Vancouver, BC, yet manage to find olives and even wheat growing within 100 miles of their home. Many people seem to think that local eating is "impossible" 100% of the time, yet that was the only reality our ancestors knew! I am inspired to learn more about seasonal fruits and vegetables in my region and to do my own canning and preserving of local foods, rather than rely on imported foods from far away. A great read!

[jo2son · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the fascinating story of a couple who decided to eat food that came from no further than one hundred miles away. It was also though provoking... how does one do without coffee, bananas, oranges? What happens in the winter when food is not growing? An interesting read.

[bcteagirl_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A couple in BC decide to only eat food from within 100 miles for a year. I enjoyed reading about their adventure, and about ecological history (Their used to be more widespread and non-specialized agriculture within Canada, discussions of wild food, etc). The book also gives you glimpses into their personal lives and relationship. Although I enjoyed this book I did feel as though something was missing. I was less interested in business trips they were taking (mentioned but rarely expanded upon) or sadness they felt as a small child than I was in the 100 mile diet. I would have loved to have more details on the diet itself, more sample menus to get a feel for how they were eating, a discussion with a supermarket about why they carried no local, more discussion of local food politics as it applied to their journey. There was plenty of food history (From both a European and a First Nations point of view) but not as much as I expected on current food politics. Perhaps I was expecting more on the now and the future, less on that past. However, I did very much enjoy this book and will be keeping it for future reference.

[kmoellering_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

You know, I was ready to really like this book. I was receptive to the idea of eating local foods, and wanted to see how a couple on the other side of the continent could make it happen. Turns out, they do make it happen, and they are skilled writers, but I couldn't help feeling that their issue was a first world issue. That, as young, single people with flexible schedules, they were free to indulge their new hobby of eating food only produced within one hundred miles of their home. They spent a good bit of money (at first) on the project, but even more time was spent procuring their sources for food. I cannot imagine being able to do this as a working mom - it just seemed to take far too much effort. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic to their cause, because I am not, however, I will look elsewhere for ideas for working families to incorporate this kind of lifestyle into their own. The authors also point out several times that for all of human history communities and civilizations have prized exotic foods from strange locales over their own locally grown foods - from the extravagant meals from far flung locations in ancient Rome, to the trading ships of the 19th century bringing tea from China and spices from India. So, even though we have refrigerated trucks and a national highway system, our lives are not too different from people of earlier times. I think we should be eating less processed foods and more REAL foods, the more local, the better - that is the issue!km

[eo206 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was intrigued by the title and the idea of eating locally for an entire year, and the book did bring home the principle that today food travels thousands of miles before reaching our plates and mouths. For one year the authors, a couple, ate food grown within 100 miles of their Vancouver, B.C. apartment. The authors alternated writing chapters and alternated between blending personal thoughts and experiences with eating locally and the politics of food. I most enjoyed the personal experiences and when they wrote about their food experiments such as learning how to can food for the winter, making cheese, and other food firsts for them. Another good book along this local food genre is Animal Vegetable Miracle.

[whereonearth07 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The idea was great and I think Alisa and James did a good job explaining and carrying out their experiment. It was well written and interesting, but the book was peppered with snide relationship comments that I could have done without. Regardless, I'm convinced that local eating is the way to go!

[sunfi_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The concept is interesting, eat only those items that are produced/grown within 100 miles however their implementation seemed a little martyr-ish. They wanted you to believe that they had survived and it was very difficult but there were many things that they could have done but didn't. They talked about one woman whose son survived on elk meat but I didn't hear one story of their talks about it, just defrosting the old hamburger from the freezer. They also seemed to spend a lot of time in their car driving and looking for items. Is it really likely and economical for someone to drive 90 miles just to find walnuts and then they have to drive back. What happens if everyone did that? What would that do to pollution, maybe the idea is more sound to have local grocery stores that collect good from within 100 miles so folks could ride their bikes instead of everyone driving their car. Just a thought, some items seemed a little too far fetched and almost like they were making it too difficult. I understand their point about folks not knowing where their food comes from I just don't care for the way they chose to tell it.

[rainbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

People around the country are finding out that eating locally grown foods, compared to eating food grown thousands of miles away, is better for the consumer, the community and the earth. Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon have contributed to that awareness with their bestselling book “Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet.”This couple of 14 years, who were at their secluded cottage in Vancouver, decided, after collecting cabbage, wild mushrooms, potatoes, fish and a variety of fruits and seasonings from their land, that they wanted to “take the meal into the rest of their lives.”The diet began with mapping a 100-mile circle around Alisa and James’s second story apartment in Vancouver, Canada; then eating only foods that were grown and raised within that 100-mile radius.They started in March and had to make a few compromises to their new diet and to their vegetarian natures. Anything that was already in the cupboards — bread, sugar, flour, salt — could be used until it was gone.Beans and rice were the main protein sources in their vegetarian diet, but since there were no rice farmers and only a few bean farmers within 100 miles, they turned to eggs and fish for their protein.Food became the center of their days, and since they were both writers, they shared their dietary experiment on a blog. Asparagus season and farmers markets became important components in their lives.They joined a community garden — “an earthen canvas” — where Alisa planted everything the books said would grow in their area: radishes, garlic, chickweed, dandelion and other plants. But with a late frost that year, the garden took its time and that bleakness took a toll on their relationship.Alisa and James scoured the countryside for local farmers. “Plenty” is filled with charming stories about their encounters with many of them: The bee farmer who made buckwheat and pumpkin honey, smuggling cheese across the American/Canadian border, and the guard dogs at the walnut farm.One time in particular, Alisa and James found a farmer that tried growing wheat but the harvest had sat around for so long that it was hard to tell the wheat berries for the mouse droppings.“Plenty” is also a story about Alisa and James sharing their life, their friends, and how they dealt with occasional visits to their relatives, where they allowed themselves to step away from the diet. By the end of the yearlong experiment, the couple realized that they were healthier and happier people, which was not the outcome they had expected.The critics used the word “impossible” to describe the diet. What Alisa and James found was not impossible but often inconvenient and troublesome. The 100-mile dieter needs to be creative and open to new foods.“Plenty” is a guide book for a locally grown diet and challenges the reader to know where their food comes from and to eat locally grown food whenever possible.

[eratus_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book. I was surprised at how much local food the authors were able to find, though it did take quite a lot of work. They even gathered salt from the ocean at one point.There was a bit of interpersonal bickering in the book, which I found annoying. The bickering was not compelling, nor was anything related to the bickering resolved in the end. This detracted from an otherwise pleasant read. One star off because of that.

[lhlibrarian · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I couldn't finish this book. Somehow, after reading Barbara Kingsolver's book , I couldn't take these authors seriously. The way the man writes came off as very pretentious in the beginning so I just put it down. But, I like the idea of what they were writing about. Maybe I'll give the book another try after reading some Michael Pollen.

[hjjugovic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This memoir of a couple who eats only food grown within 100 miles of their home for one year seems odd at first glance. However, after doing my own experiment with local food, I totally get it. I think this book would have been more of a revelation to me if I had not read Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" first. On its own, this book is great, but between the two, I would definitely recommend Kingsolver's take on local food. Perhaps because Kingsolver's book does without it, I was unsure why the authors included details of their relationship difficulties in the book. It is touchingly real, brave, and something I think many people can relate to, but a bit distracting from the main point of the book. Overall, I would definitely recommend this.

[juanitajsmith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very enjoyable and informative. This book included a few recipes and technical information, but mostly described how eating locally integrated with the writers' lives. Food is a vital part of our culture, and as such, how it affects and intercepts our lives is our of its most important features. The only thing I didn't care about what that the writers both wrote from the first person, alternating chapters, and sometimes it was difficult to know who was writing a particular chapter.

[arcona_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The concept of eating what grows locally appeals to me, but I couldn't relate to this experiment by the authors. For example, unable to find a flour source, they eventually acquire a small supply that was littered with mouse feces which they separated out grain by grain, taking an hour to sort a cupful. I found their writing style to be difficult - they wrote the book jointly in the first person, but didn't identify who was writing much of the time. I found I was constantly rereading because they had switched without telling the reader until pages into a story. Different fonts for each writer would have been very helpful as they each wrote very personally of their life and it would have helped the reader to know who was writing.I'd like to read another book of this type written by a better writer with a more conventional lifestyle - it was hard to relate to a couple who live a month each year in a ghost town without power or water, live in a tiny inadequate apartment the rest of the time but who are willing to spend huge amounts of money on food that fits their criteria, who aren't sure they like living together after 14 years, and who are part-time vegetarians. When I finished the book, I found I really wasn't that interested in these people.

[francescadefreitas · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was pleasant, and I enjoyed following this couple through each month of their year of eating only local food. As I am moving to the same city, I had been hoping for more of a guidebook - a resource for places to go to find local food. But while various farms and markets are mentioned vaguely, the book seems to encourage people to explore their own neighbourhood, which is a much broader message than a list of farmer's markets in Vancouver.Looking at it as a memoir, there are many threads throughout the book that are left unresolved, but it was a small glimpse into the author's lives and relationship.

[erasmusrob · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An enjoyable memoir of a fascinating experience, this book is yet another indicator of how precarious things have become. The authors describe how the original inhabitants of their part of Canada would not have found it difficult to live on food gathered from a far smaller radius than their experimental 100 miles, but nowadays they found it an enormous challenge. Not merely because they couldn't eat bananas, but because it was difficult to *find* food that had been grown and sold within that radius. I'm lucky, living in Minneapolis; I probably would not have to go the nine months they did without bread because they couldn't find locally-grown wheat, for example.Makes me want to start gardening (which is easy to say when winter's about to be upon us; ask me again the the spring...)