Having grown up reaping the rewards of my parents’ huge vegetable garden, I know what real food tastes like. Compared to most of what I can get in the grocery store, fresh, homegrown vegetables actually have flavor, not to mention color and nutrients. Plus, I got to pick them or dig them out of the ground myself…a 10-year-old's dream. But here in Los Angeles, it sometimes seems like that kind of food is a world away.

Where can I get the kind of food that reminds me of home? Fortunately, LA has some great Farmers’ Markets, including one down the street from me in Santa Monica. Not only are the veggies great, but they come from local farmers so they aren’t shipped halfway around the world to get to me.

But sometimes cooking just isn’t on the menu. Then what?

I’ve begun looking for restaurants that use local or organic food, and it seems that there are a growing number of options for eating out, while still eating well. One of my favorites, Tender Greens in Culver City, offers amazing salads, sandwiches, and grilled stuff, with produce coming from local farms.

Another Culver City favorite, Cook’s Double Dutch offers a long list of vegetarian and vegan specialties in addition to their pork tenderloin and turkey meatloaf, emphasizing their philosophy that vegans and omnivores should be able to eat together. Every day the menu features Niman Ranch specialties, using meat from the sustainable ranch north of San Francisco.

This spring, Double Dutch also offered The Sustainable Supper Club. Inspired by the Clubinas in Italy, the monthly events featured an entirely plant-based menu of local, organic foods paired with organic wines. Served party style with guests at communal tables, the event was designed to encourage discussion of our food systems, as well as increase the awareness of the benefits of moderation and incorporating locally grown meals into our daily practices.

But, we live in a hectic culture, and sometimes it seems like we only have time for a drive-thru. Luckily, there is an answer for those times when you need food on the run: Organic to Go. I was introduced to the chain at a meeting last month when the hosts ordered sandwich bags for our working lunch. Organic to Go uses organic and natural ingredients in their sandwiches, salads and wraps, and they even have a breakfast menu.

This movement against nutritionally bankrupt, unhealthy fast food is not new. In 1989, the international non-profit Slow Food was formed “…to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.”

This mission really underscores the complex relationship that we have with food, and how far away from that relationship we’ve come. But hopefully, by buying produce from local growers and looking for restaurants that use sustainable practices, perhaps I can go home again.