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If the rolling juggernaut is the image most associated with industrial scale food production in this country it seems rather appropriate that two local food fanatics intend to cross America by bike later this month. They’ll be taking in the 5000 miles of scenery with a series of potlucks to learn more about the wealth of local food on offer - from Vermont to California. Their aim is to inspire people to come together over food – and to help encourage a change the way we eat from a grassroots level. Oh and they’re also hunting out a local nutella recipe, if anyone can help....

To support them, find out how local you can go this Sunday, April 11, 2010 at Brooklyn’s first food-themed game show, Farmers Market Sweep (for details see http://bit.ly/bikeloc). Meanwhile Robert DuBois and Aaron Zueck of bikeloc.org tell foodielink.com why they’re taking the road less travelled.

What got you into the local food movement?

Ever since reading the Omnivore's Dilemma in 2007, we've been thinking a lot about the food system – a grand irony, considering at that time we were studying at a school funded by Big Ag and CAFOs in Northern Colorado. In addition, Robert spent a year without processed sugars and consumed a hyper-limited selection of foods, with the idea that something he was eating was making him sick. (He even received a bag of cashews instead of a birthday cake for his 25th birthday. Yikes.) His experience inspired a lot of research into the negative impacts our current food system can have on our health.

Over the last couple of years we took in a lot of information from friends, articles, films, and books, and became increasingly concerned, and more recently optimistic, about the current state of our food system.

How can we make it easier for people to choose local?

There are so many things that need to be done, and so many things that are being done right now. Today is the best day for local food in America in decades. But we think that a lot of it comes down to those small choices individuals make at the store or the market. If we can inspire people personally and through our website, we hope to push some of those small choices a step closer towards local food.

How have you have changed the way you eat?

The way we eat today has changed in pretty much every way from when we grew up in rural western towns, where concern and access for local food were sparse. And now we're also living in a time where eating locally is popular, which means there are more farmers willing to produce and sell locally. Urban areas are often the first to catch on to popular movements, but the Local Food Movement, has a unique and really exciting rural bent to it as well. As an easy tip next time you go to the farmers' market, pick up something you've never seen or eaten before. Ask the farmer how to cook it – they'll have some good ideas – and go home to give it a try. Or, if you're feeling extra adventurous, pick up a book on foraging and see what kind of edibles you can find in your back yard. 'Tis the season for wild garlic!

Help us here. How local should local be?

It's not about counting miles. Local produce can be hard to come by in certain neighborhoods, regions, and at certain times of the year, so there's no magic number. But we think that as long as people continue to learn more about their local food systems, and making progressively better choices as a result, then we're on the right track.

You must be encouraged by the high profile media attention the issue is getting – even Michelle Obama now has a vegetable patch at the white house!

Without a doubt! We feel like the Local Food Movement is really gaining momentum this year. When we started to plan this last fall, local food was popular, not nearly as, dare we say ubiquitous, as it seems to be now. We couldn't have asked for a better time to be doing this project.

Any words of encouragement or otherwise for Jamie Oliver?!

Go Jamie, Go! We support you in giving kids one healthy choice for lunch – no more picking between a "healthy" and "standards compliant" options. And we hope that your show translates into more real change across the country.

Who are your food heroes?

Of course, Michael Pollan has given us great insights into our food system, and Ben Hewitt just wrote a fantastic book about the local food system in Hardwick, Vermont. Marion Nestle always keeps us informed on food policy issues, and we think Louisa Shafia's new cook book, Lucid Food is wonderful. We often get most excited and inspired by friends and neighbors who hold potlucks, those who consider the implications of what they're buying before they buy it, local restaurants with rooftop gardens, and regional farmers who bring their bounty to the farmer's market each week. As with our list of favorite foods, the list goes on!

Now the sun is shining what are you looking forward to eating this summer?

Garlic scapes, peppers, radicchio, carrots, fennel…every week brings something new to the market! We're looking forward to a lot of flavor and variety, can't wait to talk recipies with fellow farmer's market patrons, and are excited to hear about this season's strength from local farmers.

What food will be keeping you peddling?

We're going to try to eat local wherever possible, which we imagine will lead us to a lot of foraging – leeks, dandelion greens, wild garlic, and cattails. Other favorite stops will be roadside stands and small grocers, and carry-on staples will most definitely include peanut butter and…are we allowed some nutella if someone gives it as a gift? Anyone have a good homemade Nutella recipe?

Can we join in? How can people follow your adventures?

We keep imagining that scene in Forest Gump where the protagonist has 50 people jogging behind him as pursues the endless US horizon. How many bikeloc'rs could we amass? We're excited to have folks join up for parts of the trip, but we want to express that we're going to be busy on the road, and want to ensure we see fresh faces at each potluck. So join us for a day's ride or a night's camp, and when we tell you we've got to move on, it's not personal, it's in the name of local food.

You can also follow Robert and Aaron on the road at http://bikeloc.org

Written for FoodieLink by Joanna Keohane