The 100 Mile Challenge

James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith revolutionized the concept of the 100-mile diet. This method of eating relies solely on consuming those foods that are grown or produced within a 100-mile radius of one's own home, which they see as a healthier and more sustainable way of life. They themselves survived on this diet for one year, and blogged and wrote a best selling book about their experience. They place a challenge on the residents of Mission, British Columbia, Canada, a small town located in the Fraser Valley just east of Vancouver: live on the 100-mile diet for 100 days. The benefit that this community has is that it has a bounty of locally produced fresh food available, but this food does not include many of those things that most people in western society take for granted as part of their daily life, such as coffee/tea, black pepper, chocolate and commercially produced sugar, salt and flour. From the families that sign up for the challenge, MacKinnon and Smith follow six to monitor their progress on this new way of life.