St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Bon Appétit Management Company begins their fifth annual Eat Local Challenge at lunch Tuesday, September 29. Each ingredient, with the exception of salt, will come from sources within a 150- mile radius of SMCM with most ingredients coming from St. Mary’s County.

Dishes will include Southern Maryland stuffed ham, Chesapeake Bay steamed crabs, corn on the cob, sautéed zucchini with tomatoes, and pumpkin pie. Sources include Dalton’s Farm in Hollywood, Even Star Organic Farm in Lexington Park, Produce Patch in Great Mills, and Butler Produce in Mechanicsville. The goal of this event is to educate the community about the benefits of eating local while encouraging participants to learn how to protect the local food supply.
                                                         
According to Worldwatch Institute, food in the United States now travels 1,500 to 2,500 miles from farm to table, as much as 25 percent farther than two decades ago. Increasingly, food is being grown or processed overseas. The required transport, especially air-freighting, damages the environment in the form of global warming and air pollution. Eating regionally helps reduce the amount of non-renewable resources wasted in transporting food.