Tuesday, November 9, 2010

138 weeks... locally

World Tour Self-discovery... to bike is to feel the land.

[New York, NY to Trenton, NJ 66.1 mi
Trenton, NJ to Wilmington, DE 61.8 mi
Wilmington, DE to Bel Air, MD 57.6 mi
Bel Air, MD to Washington, DC 75.2 mi]... 260.7 miles

To feel the land. I have to say it a couple of times, "to feel the land". Saying it sort of helps me to transcend my writer's block. That is to elevate my thoughts from the here and now to the then; the unknown ahead. Sometimes it's difficult to position my thoughts. What is a better phrase? To get into the zone. So I search engine up a lot of stuff, and read, read, and read. This probably doesn't help me feel the land, but it does get me more curious about this region. This region might best be described by the Cuisine of the Thirteen Colonies. That is sort of like a "aha" moment.

"Aha!" To feel the land is to better sense a regions cuisine. Locally, to understand its food roots; maybe even to appreciate it. This is different from the food experience of tasting it, although, I am curious what scrapple tastes like. It's the feel for local ingredients. But what does local ingredients mean these days? Isn't the Cuisine of the United States the result of ethnic food migration. "... migrants brought with them food habits that formed major regional cuisines".

I read that "a movement began during the 1980s among popular leading chefs to reclaim America's ethnic foods within its regional traditions, where these trends originated". I think that movement is different than nowadays locally, and sustainable foods movement. I'd say that I don't think that our own local Heartland restaurant & Farm direct market intent is to foster ethnic food traditions.

The unknown of the then. I am not sure what I will be thinking about. Maybe just the immediate views of the road up ahead [or the thoughts of what I might have missed, like the Cuisine of Philadelphia.] After 4 days, 260.7 miles more with a few precarious eating spots on the way, I'd be pedaling into Washington D.C. to seek out some food-by bike savory restaurants.

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