The notion of eating more locally grown food is a trend across the nation among individuals and institutions, said Marie Kulick with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Some proponents of "eating local" go even further, seeking organic food grown or raised without pesticides, antibiotics or hormones, she said.

"It's becoming less and less unusual to hear about a hospital or a nursing home making changes to the food they serve," Kulick said in a phone interview from her office in Minneapolis. "There are a wide variety of reasons why these institutions are doing this. In part, it's to help increase the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables. When food is fresher tasting, people clean their plates a little bit better."

Even institutions that don't have an official "eat local" framework attempt to serve local food when it's possible.

"We have a donor who gives us beautiful local organic greens which enables us to give the children incredible salads," said Fay Lohr of Central Virginia Foodbank, which serves as many as 3,000 meals a day during the school year in its Kids Café Program.

The Virginia Department of Corrections has been "eating local" for years. Using prisoner labor, it produces much of its own food, including meat, milk, produce, and fish.

JABA's initiative grew, in part, out of last May's Virginia Food Security Summit at the University of Virginia, where considerable discussion centered on the importance of locally produced food in terms of food safety and community well-being. Charlottesville already is home to a group called E.A.T. (Everyone at the Table) Local that promotes the development of a sustainable community food system. Walker hopes JABA's efforts will lead other institutions in Charlottesville to do the same.

However, JABA officials have discovered deciding to "eat local" is one thing. Making it happen is another.

"It's easy to say you're going to do this, but as you get into it you find these challenges at the production and distribution end," Walker said.

Health regulations limit the foods the agency can buy and from whom and restrict many aspects of preparing and disposing of food, including composting. Small farmers, natural partners for an organization such as JABA, can't always fulfill orders for a variety of reasons, including growing seasons and lack of ready access to processing plants.

And eating fresher and healthier comes with a cost; locally produced meat, in particular, is more expensive. JABA expects to spend an additional $12,000 per year just to meet its goal of serving 25 percent locally grown food, Walker said.

But, the feeling at JABA, is the price is worth it.

"I care not only about the taste and flavor of the food I prepare and eat but also the nutritional quality and freshness," said Sarah Lanzman, a JABA chef. "Local food is always fresher than food that is transported 3,000 miles . . . [and] fresh food not only contains more vitamins and minerals, it also contains digestive enzymes, which are essential to maintaining good health. Digestive enzymes are destroyed in processed foods."

Lanzman directs JABA's revenue-producing catering business, providing meals for meetings and other occasions. Her kitchen recently prepared an entire lunch using local ingredients. An appetizing example was the roasted butternut squash and apple soup with cilantro walnut pesto that included butternut squash from Roundabout Farm in Keswick, Granny Smith apples from Carter Mountain Orchard just outside Charlottesville, and cilantro from Manakintowne Specialty Growers in Powhatan County.

"This soup," exclaimed Walker, tasting his first spoonfuls, "is outrageous! It's almost like dessert."
Contact Bill Lohmann at (804) 649-6639 or wlohmann@timesdispatch.com.