Here's How to Eat Sustainably on Your Way to the Inauguration

By Kerry Trueman, Huffington Post. Posted January 17, 2009.

Electric cars and high speed rail top the wish lists of many a progressive, but for now, those lucky few who'll be hitting the road this weekend to head to DC for the inauguration must still rely on our tired old trinity of transit: trains, planes, and automobiles.

Drivers will be making pit stops all along the way to fuel up on petroleum-based products--oh, and also to get some gas. The pit stops I'm talking about are those roadside eateries where plates are piled high with a corn-ucopia of commodity crop-based crap: grain-fed factory farmed flesh deep fried in genetically modified soybean oil, with a side of fries. Top it off with a quart of high fructose corn syrup-sweetened soda and drink a toast to Big Ag!

Sure, gas is the only game in town to keep your engine running, but when it comes to recharging your own batteries, you can switch to solar power right now. How? By getting your calories from local, sustainably produced, predominantly plant-based foods instead of the meat-mad-schlepped-from-god-knows-where-fossil-fueled-fare served up at your standard diner.

Oh, yeah, like finding fresh-from-the-farm food on the road is so easy? Well, actually, it's a whole lot easier than it used to be, thanks to an online resource called the Eat Well Guide. Whether you're heading out from the heartland--or the bi-coastal "arugula belt"--the EWG's interactive mapping tool, Eat Well Everywhere, lets you print out your own ready-to-roll, customized "eat-inerary" with directions to the shops, co-ops, restaurants, farmers markets and even B & B's along your route that feature locally grown fruits, veggies, pastured animal products and all the other good stuff you can't find at conventional roadside restaurants.

The election may be over, but we still get to vote three times a day for a more humane and sustainable food chain. So all you progressive foodies who are flocking to DC to give Obama an earful on Vilsack and victory gardens, put your money where your mouth is-- fuel up on foods brought to you through the miracle of photosynthesis, and save the fossil fuels for your gas tank.

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