Meet at the market: local mission accomplished

Edible Santa Barbara editor Krista Harris and “Eat Local” newbie Alan Irwin took the challenge. Photo: Kathryn Barnes

Each week we meet up with Katie Hershfelt of Cultivate Events as she chats with farmers, chefs and shoppers at the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers’ Market.

At the beginning of October, she caught up with two locals participating in October’s “Eat Drink Local Challenge.”

Four weeks later and nearing the end of the challenge, she found out how Edible Santa Barbara editor Krista Harris and “Eat Local” newbie Alan Irwin did.

Here’s what Alan Irwin learned:

• Eating local means learning to cook your own food.

• Don’t overbuy. At first, Irwin bought way more produce than he could eat before it went bad. “Things don’t survive, and when you’re buying fresh and local, that’s important,” he said. “It’s an understanding of what I can eat in a period of time that would get me back to the market.”

• Find new ingredients to love. For Irwin, it was beets. “They go with everything. Now, beets are on my permanent purchase list.”

To check out all our past farmers market segments, click here.