I’d assume that, in the Chicago area, you could get most vegetable produce during the growing season and there’s numerous places with cows, pigs, sheep, turkeys and chickens. And fish farms. Apples, berries and other fruits. Obviously more soy, corn and grain than you could shake a stick at. In the far suburbs, there’s all sorts of farms operating and many have some land aside for produce (non corn/soy) or livestock.
Out of season, of course, it’s all frozen, jarred, dried or canned.
Clam/lobster bake. Any New England seafood really, but we’re partial to clams. You can toss in some fresh eggs laid by Rhode Island Reds and and serve it all with Johnny Cake.
Northern Alabama here. I think we have a lot of industrial chicken “farms” around, but I don’t suppose that counts. We do seem to have small farms raising cattle, pigs and chickens. No local seafood (unless you count Gulf seafood from 300 miles away) but we do have trout and catfish.
Of the vegetables I see at farmer’s markets, field peas and okra are abundant and excellent. Also lots of squash, tomatoes (including many heirloom varieties), greens (collard, kale, swiss chard, etc), yams / sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, hot peppers, eggplant, etc. Depends on the season of course.
For fruit: Peaches. And more peaches.
Local milk and cheese are available.
Drinks: muscadine wine or beer (we have a number of microbreweries).
Illinois has a number of wineries downstate and even within the Chicago area. And, of course, enough craft microbreweries to keep you busy. There’s also a number of locally produced sodas although that probably stretches the definition of “local” since they’re not exactly growing their own sugar cane. I guess this would be an exception where “made with corn syrup” is a boon
Callaloo is a nice local green. Onions, mangoes, lychees, and limes grown well here.
Various bananas, plantains, or Jamaican yams for a starch.
Coconuts grow in abundance, providing coconut meat and coconut milk. Nice for flavoring sauces. Hot peppers are another favorite spice, Scotch Bonnet (aka habañero) are preferred.
Putting a full menu together…
Steamed fish served escovitch style smothered in sauteed onions, fresh squeezed lime juice, and seasoned with sea salt. Served over a yam puree. A side of callaloo sauteed with a bit of coconut milk. Slice of mango. Fried plantain slices as garnish. With a sorrel tea as a beverage. Dessert can be a nice banana-coconut pudding.
No matter which neck of the woods you were talking about, it would change a lot with the time of year.
Dishes that come to mind for Navarre, and without thinking too much because it’s lunchtime and I’m already hungry as it is :p:
trout, typically fried with a slice of serrano as filling,
menestra, a dish composed of several different vegetables, usually served with a thin white sauce and some bits of fried bacon (left off if any guest is a vegetarian, eats halal, etc.)
calderete, the local variety of what’s called rancho in many places; a dish consisting of boiled potatoes and pieces of meat from small animals (rabbit, kid, lamb, chicken). Nearby Rioja’s version of rancho is called patatas a la riojana (Rioja-style potatoes), where the potatoes are accompanied by chorizo and seasoned with sweet red pepper (in general, “Rioja-style” is understood to mean “seasoned with sweet red pepper”).
One for Catalonia which has people traveling from other countries when it’s the right time for it is calçots, scallions, grilled and eaten wich little cleanliness and different sauces, of which the most common ones are simple allioli or just a bit of oil.
Seattle area. Great seafood - Dungeness and red rock crab, all sorts of salmon, shrimp, oysters, etc. Plenty of vegetables in the summer. Hothouse grown the rest of the year or trucked over the Cascade mountains. Obviously, fruits and veggies that have long growing season or require a lot of sun don’t thrive here. Local fruits include cherries, apples, blueberries, blackberries, persimmons, etc. There are local organic farms that raise all manner of animals. I have 5 chickens in the backyard for fresh eggs.
We recently ate at a locavore restaurant in the self styled “Bavarian town” of Leavenworth that had absolutely delicious pork and chicken.
This is considered one of the greatest locavore restaurants anywhere: https://www.willows-inn.com/ I haven’t been, but if my marriage gets through the current rocky patch, we may go to celebrate.
Places like Yakima and Wala Wala have a lot of local food, but not sure how many miles get’s outside of “local”.
This time of year? Nice grass-fed, dry aged steaks or chops with a morel mushroom sauce, asparagus, polenta, and greens cooked with bacon. Strawberry shortcake for dessert.
Dies beer count though? Just because non-local ingredients are combined locally, it doesn’t make it a “locavore” food. AFAIK Alabama doesn’t grow a significant amount of barley or hops.
Similarly, I don’t consider a local cidery to really be all that local as they import apples from the PNW among other places, as North Texas isn’t much of an Apple growing area.
Well, the OP says “reasonably locavore”. Part of the concept is to encourage local economies and local culture so, to prevent everyone from drinking creek water, I would say that locally owned & produced beer or soda is at least making the effort.
Like vegetarianism, your definitions and limits may vary.
Here in Boston, if we’re thinking of “locavore” as within 100 miles, this time of year would be early greens (chard, spinach), spring dug parsnips, maybe garlic scapes, meat, fish, mealy apples from last year, some questionable turnips, radishes and a few wild foods like ramps and fiddleheads.
The Front Range of Colorado, with it’s long growing season and ample sunshine, produces just about anything that grows close to the ground.
Protein would be lamb or bison or beef, accompanied by any king of greens you wanted, topped with some chili based sauce.
About the only things difficult to grow here are large fruits that grow on trees, with the exception of Western Colorado peaches. Not sure why they do so well and taste so good. Not many apple orchards around here.
I’m in southern California. We’re pretty much everyone else’s “vore.” It’s hard to imagine what isn’t available all the time here, except Atlantic seafood.
