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Out of Indiana
This week has brought a new challenge, adventure, and questions in my month as a locavore. What do I do when I leave Indiana for work? Do I pack a cooler in my car to take Indiana products with me or do I try and find local alternatives at my destination? How do I attempt to reduce my carbon footprint while I am traveling?
I’m writing this blog from a northern suburb of Indianapolis…Chicago. I’m actually in a Western suburb of Chicago called Oak Brook Terrace. After spending some time contemplating my drive, I decided that while in Chicago I should try and eat food that is local to Illinois. I really didn’t think would be difficult, but what I didn’t anticipate was the difference between the burbs and downtown. My time on Google yielded a ton of restaurants that provided unique interpretations of food made with fresh local ingredients downtown. The one I found most intriguing was Hot Dougs. Unfortunately, in the burbs the options were slim pickings.
That lead to contemplating the Oak Brook area. Oak Brook is the home to a food establishment that has fed over 99 billion people, McDonalds. If ever eating at McDonalds would be considered local, it would be in Oak Brook. There were just two problems with this:
- I don’t really care that much for McDonalds other than shamrock shakes (only available once a year) and the strawberry sundae (discontinued).
- Even though the corporate headquarters are here, the small amount of research I did shows that none of the food actually comes from Illinois. Now my research was limited to a few places I found on Google, so not too authoritative, but also nothing that would lead me to think local.
Most of my research was done on my Blackberry while I sat in my car not moving in traffic (not while driving…firm believer in Oprah’s campaign to get people to not text and drive). The best option I found from googling the phrase Slow Food Oak Brook. I found a place called Antico Posto. After I arrived and looked over the menu, I realized that even though the restaurant was owned locally, it was not featuring local products. On further examination, the info on Google said slow service not slow food. I suppose I could have walked out, but I didn’t have any better options and they did make their pasta in house. It seemed like the best option and I did have an eclarir and gnocchi that was filled with ricotta cheese.
I have a much better plan tomorrow. I packed my breakfast and lunch with food from home. I did this by bringing a cooler with ice and food. Tomorrow I’ll have a brat, some kraut, Local Folks Food ketchup and mustard, and mint iced tea. I also have tracked down a local coffee house that roasts coffee so I can get my day off to a good start. Was I successful today in my quest? Not exactly, but I’m trying.
I used to travel for my job between 60 and 80 nights a year. Over that time I created a few odd habits, but have also come up with ways to make it a bit more eco-friendly
- Water – I’m kinda snobbish here. I frequently don’t care for the water in my hotel room sink. I’ve had some pretty bad experiences with off colored bad smelling water, but I can’t stand the idea of using another bottle of water. I always bring an aluminum water bottle with me and see if I can get it filled at the hotel restaurant or bar. This water typically is filtered…or at least a higher quality.
- Soap – It is very easy to just bring soap from home as opposed to using a different bar every day. This also saves disposing of the boxes / wrapping they come in. When I am at a hotel I will use a bar of soap and then save it for the other days of the trip and take it with me. If the soap comes in a box, I will dry the soap off and put it back in the box. I don’t do this because of obsessive cleanliness (Maureen will testify I am far from that), but to keep the maid from giving me a new bar. 80% of the time I leave my soap in the shower I get a new bar
- Towels – Most hotels leave a note about hanging your towels if you want to reuse them. I again find 50% of the time I still get new towels. That one really frustrates me…there is a sign that says to do this, but the hotel staff ignores it. I have complained in the past, but this doesn’t give me my towels back. What I now do is place the do not disturb sign on the door every other day. If my room is only serviced half the time, I only give half the opportunities to the staff to take my towels (or replace the soap).
- Fast food / Take out – When heading to any of these establishments, there are a few things you can do to help out. You can keep a knife, fork, and spoon (or a knife and spork) in your purse / European carry all / briefcase. You can clean the utensils after each meal and save on all that plastic. I also find taking a few pieces of Tupperware can save on the packaging. Though McDs probably won’t put the Big Mac into your Tupperware, a place like Yats gladly will scoop in your Étouffée. This is also much better advice when driving places with the convenience of keeping Tupperware in the car.
This is just a short trip, I’ll be driving home tomorrow night. I am very excited for this because tomorrow will be the 1 week mark from when I started pickling the cucumbers. Last year I used a 2 week soak for a really strong flavor, but it is a good time to start testing the flavors!
