There were definitely no oranges or bananas at a breakfast prepared from ingredients grown within 100 kilometres of Ottawa on Monday.

But more than 200 people still showed up at the Table vegetarian restaurant in Ottawa's Westboro neighbourhood to taste what a "100-kilometre diet" means in eastern Ontario after a long winter — roasted potatoes, sugar-free pancakes with maple syrup, eggs, mushrooms, hot house tomatoes and herbal tea.

'Your food is coming ... from across continents to get to our table.'— MP Paul Dewar

The meal was organized by Ottawa Centre NDP MP Paul Dewar, who said it was about supporting local farmers; eating fresher, healthier food; and reducing the greenhouse gases emitted during the transport of food.

"If you look … you'll find that your food is coming from not just from the exterior radius of 100 or 200 kilometres. It's coming from across continents to get to our table," he said.

He added it's something his constituents have been talking about thanks to events like the recent publication of the 100-Mile Diet by Vancouver writers James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith, and so Dewar decided the breakfast would be a good demonstration.

"It's to start focusing and putting our attention upon where we get our food from and supporting local farmers."

Chef Ian Lipski described to the diners what getting food locally at the end of winter entails.

"Eggs are always here ... potatoes are from last year's crop so are the onions, the herbs home grown and dried."

Coun. Diane Holmes, who attended the breakfast, said eating locally all the time would be "so much better for the planet."

'Extremely difficult concept'

"We have a pretty good supply of local food, a variety," she said. "And we would be going back to more the way our parents and grandparents ate. It would be root vegetables in the winter."

Pancakes, potatoes and tomatoes prepared with locally grown ingredients were served to about 200 people at the Table vegetarian restaurant Monday.
(Paul Dewar's office)

But even advocates for a sustainable food system like Moe Garahan acknowledge eating locally grown food would be a big change for most eastern Ontario residents.

"It's an extremely difficult concept, because of the ways we've been conditioned and raised to look at and experience our food," said Garahan, program director for the non-profit group Just Food, which promotes access to safe, nutritious food.

"The adventure, though, is determining what is possible to grow [in eastern Ontario]. Certainly coffee beans — no, [I] haven't seen that yet."

Dewar shared the view that eating locally is a challenge.

"Obviously … we can't get 100 per cent of our food from local sources," he said, admitting that non-locally grown coffee was served at the breakfast.

But he added the beans were roasted locally.