As some of the recipes I've been writing about recently probably suggest, I've been looking for ways to make some healthier adjustments to my diet - not just for personal health reasons, but also because in this day and age I believe it's everyone's responsibility to think about how their food (and by that I mean food purchase) choices have a broader impact. I was quite pleased, on Saturday, for instance, to pass over some very good looking strawberries in the Fresh Market when I realized that they had been shipped in from California and South America.

Now, of course I know that both those regions produce very good strawberries, but I'd just filled up my gas tank the day before (to the tune of $50.00) and - still stinging from the outlay, I couldn't help but think about the amount of fuel it had taken for those strawberries to get to Tennessee...

And because one thing tends to lead to another, I then wondered just how long those strawberries had actually been trapped in those little plastic cartons...and how "fresh" they really were. And while I am certainly no skinflint when it comes to paying for ingredients (as every modern girl knows, quality is far more important than quantity), there's nothing I dislike more than paying top dollar for a pound of strawberries that start molding before you've even got them out of the store.

You get where I'm going with this of course. Suffice to say it's a whole new way of shopping. But here's the thing, it's not that painful. In fact it's not painful at all. Sure it saves you a few dollars on strawberries that probably wouldn't have lasted more than a day anyway. But it's also smart. And more to the point in this day and age, right.

If you're interested in reading more about "food miles" -- the environmental and financial cost of food based on the distance it has to travel to get to your plate - as well as how the rising cost of fuel is having a direct impact on food prices, the New York Times is running The Food Chain, a series that "examines the growing demands on, and changes in, the world's production of food."

In the series' most recent article, Elizabeth Rosenthal deals with the "Environmental Cost of Shipping Groceries Around the World,"  - and reveals how some of our best-known and most "affordable" grocery chains - like Wal-Mart and Tesco - have some pretty obscene shipping practices (how does sending fish halfway around the world for cleaning, then all the way back again for sale sound for environmental responsibility?).

This isn't the only article about these sorts of practices - the NYT ran a great article last summer explaining food miles, and The Sustainable Table offers enough information, resources and ideas to make every modern girl an expert on the topic. Check them out before you hit the check out!

You can't be a skinny bitch all the time (I'll get off this topic soon, I promise) so to drive the point home - and because we had several birthdays to celebrate - I got a gorgeous cake from The Cake Gallery in Chattanooga for book club this week.

Too bad it was devoured before I got chance to take a photo....which means you'll have to make do with this stock shot...and imagine in its place a beautiful double-chocolate round covered in chocolate icing and big, playful pink and green polka-dots! Perfect with glasses of champagne...

Fortunately, the "meal" was "balanced" by the fact that in classic book club style, most people arrived with wine (or champagne) and food was otherwise limited to an absolutely addictive quinoa tabouleh (quinoa is pronounced 'keen-wah') from Greenlife Grocery, along with humous, artichoke and crab dips with various baked pita and organic chili-lime corn chips. 

What could possibly be more fitting...
 

Quinoa Tabouleh

Diet Types: Dairy Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Ingredients: 1 cup Quinoa 1 1/2 cups water 2 tablespoons freshlife veggie broth powder 3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice 2 tablespoons extra virgin oliv oil 1/3 cup scallions, finely sliced with green tops included 2 medium tomatoes, seeded, diced 2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped fine 2/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine

Serves: 6

Cooking Time: Under 30 minutes

Instructions:

Rinse Quinoa in fine mesh sieve. Bring water to boil in medium saucepan. Add broth powder and stir. Reduce heat, simmer until liquid is absorbed (about 15 min). Fluff with fork and allow to cool. Combine all remaining ingredients with Quinoa, tossing to blend. Cover; chill several hours or overnight. Allow to warm slightly before serving to liquify the olive oil.