For those a little late on the local food movement, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. In order to participate, a person signs up to pre-purchase their supply of vegetables from local farms. The farms then deliver the food to the customer in large batches. The past four years, I look up CSAs to get the cost, and weigh the benefit. What keeps me hesitating is the idea that I might not be able to cook all the vegetables, or that I will get sick of them.
This article in Slate addresses that very issue. It includes an interview with the owner of Greens, a restaurant in San Fransico, recommended by numerous vegans and vegetarians, where AAM and I enjoyed a fantastic meal last Fall. The author mentions what we found at Greens, and what I always support in vegetarian cooking, is the emphasis on the character of the vegetable, not disguising it. The article argues for keeping a few ingredients like garlic and soy sauce to compliment a variety of methods of cooking vegetables. With this approach, weekly deliveries of veggies are less scary. So, check out your local CSAs here: Local Harvest.
A friend a mine who did participate in a CSA last year decided not to buy in again this year because of the same reasons you were fearing. Even in a household of 2 adults and 2 children the amounts of veggies were a little overwhelming. I don't think she was prepared to eat mountains of greens during the cooler margins of the season. Nor was she ready for some of the less mainstream selections they sent her home with. By the end of the summer it was just too much for her. I still dream about joining one, though. It would be nice to find a CSA that provided fresh eggs each week. Maybe a jar of honey now and then.
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