Ready, set, eat

If you’re looking for a way to eat more local foods but haven’t overcome your inertia yet, the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op (1900 Alhambra Boulevard) is offering a bit of an incentive, as if the current crop of juicy tomatoes and peaches, snappy beans and milky-sweet corn weren’t enough. Starting in August, they’re putting on a challenge: Competitive types can sign up and track their purchases for the month, to see if they can buy 80 percent of their food from local sources. (No cheating by going to Safeway and stocking up on Oreos.) The Co-op has hundreds of local products and labels them well (particularly the produce), and you can enter to win a basket of local foods at the end. They’re also tying in some events; there’s an Eat Local Tasting Fair coming up on August 16, as well as other events throughout the month. Check their Web site for details at www.sacfoodcoop.com.