Fair Food Matters names locavore of the year

If a person who eats meat is a carnivore it makes sense that a person who prefers to eat locally grown or produced food would be known as a locavore.

Donna McClurkan will be recognized as “Locavore of the Year” during the Fair Food Food Fair Saturday, Nov. 20.

The award goes to an individual or organization whose efforts over the past year best exemplify support for local food in Southwest Michigan, says Paul Stermer, Fair Food Matters executive director.

McClurkan became active in the local food movement after reading Michael Pollan’s “Omnivore’s Dilemma.” She went on to be one of 15 blog contributors for American Public Media’s “Splendid Table,” reporting on how her family met the radio show’s year-long challenge to eat foods that came primarily from within 50 miles of Kalamazoo.
 
McClurkan became a board member and interim executive director for Fair Food Matters. She helped form the Texas Township Farmers Market in 2008 and serves as its manager.
 
A registered nurse, she currently manages a unit within a national healthcare IT consulting firm, drawing on experience in emergency services and critical care.

McClurkan lives in Oshtemo Township, west of Kalamazoo, with her husband Mac and daughter Anna.

On weekends, she and her family can be found on a dairy farm in Bangor where they tend gardens, dairy goats, chickens, water buffaloes, llamas and bees.

The Fair Food Food Fair is a celebration of local food, beverages, art and music from 6-9 p.m. Nov. 20 at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. Tickets are available online or by visiting Fair Food Matters, 323 N. Burdick St. in Kalamazoo, during business hours.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Paul A. Stermer, Fair Food Matters