Posted Sep 10, 2020
Tuesday, September 22 is National Eat Local Day, a day to encourage restaurants and people cooking at home to prepare and serve a complete meal created with locally grown ingredients.
“Our goal is to raise awareness that supporting our local sustainable farms is really important,” said multiple James Beard Award-winning Chef Sarah Stegner, co-founder of National Eat Local Day.
“It is even more important this year due to the coronavirus pandemic since many of our local sustainable farms have relied on restaurants for the majority of their sales. The restaurant industry has been hard hit by this year’s pandemic leaving chefs and farmers without income. We hope that home cooks will step up to help keep these farms running by purchasing directly from a farmer or shopping at a local farmers market.
National Eat Local Day was created by Stegner and public relations restaurant consultant Cindy Kurman, who believe that setting aside September 22 every year to remind people to focus on the importance of local sustainable farms and to help increase the flow of local sustainable food to our tables.
“It is important to direct attention to these farms which have become very important to our maintaining an environmentally friendly food supply chain,” said Kurman. “But it’s not just about the environment, it’s also about the exceptional quality of these ingredients, that are produced by farmers who are passionate that Americans eat great tasting, healthy food.”
A steadily growing number of restaurants throughout the United States procure their ingredients from local sustainable farms for two reasons: First, these ingredients taste wonderful, since they are harvested at their peak seasonal freshness. Secondly, restaurateurs increasingly consider that using local ingredients is the responsible thing to do for their guests’ health and for the environment.
Stegner’s restaurant, Prairie Grass Cafe in Northbrook, Illinois, that she co-owns with Chef George Bumbaris, has been highlighting locally sourced sustainable food for more than 16 years and has built a very strong following of appreciative food enthusiasts. To help out during the pandemic period, since April, Prairie Grass Cafe, has been a pick up point for people to receive the produce from farmers that they previously ordered on line direct from the farm.
National Eat Local Day is a focal point in which we are asking chefs to highlight a locally sourced meal.
"We are asking the general public to buy direct from farmers in their area; prepare a meal and share what they have done on social media using the hashtag #nationaleatlocalday."
Make a big deal and celebrate the bounty of the season with your friends and family while social distancing on September 22.
Farmers markets, food stores sellinglocalproduce, and restaurateurs who would like to promoteNationalEatLocalDay, using the official logo, are encouraged to contact Stegner and Kurman at nationaleatlocalday@kurman.com.