It’s that time of year again: when cravings for mom’s sweet potato casserole or homemade cranberry sauce kick in with a vengeance.

But this year,  the 10 Percent Campaign is helping people realize that they have a choice about which ingredients are used in their favorite recipes.

The campaign is the outcome of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems’ Farm to Fork initiative. The initiative was designed in 2008 to research the development of local and regional food systems in North Carolina.

The resulting 10 Percent Campaign encourages consumers to spend 10 percent of their food allowance in supporting local, sustainable food producers and businesses.

This Thanksgiving, the state is making it easier than before to incorporate local food into holiday celebrations, explained 10 Percent Campaign manager Teisha Wymore.

Wymore said that the campaign has put together a holiday menu with the help of their local farmers and their partnered restaurants. The menu will feature local options that include where ingredients came from.

In 2009, North Carolina residents spent approximately $35 billion purchasing food. If the 10 Percent Campaign is successful, $3.5 billion will go toward supporting the local economy and food producers, according to the Center for Environmental Farming System’s State Action Guide.

Since the campaign began in July, 1,768 people and 161 businesses have pledged to spend 10 percent of their food dollars locally, totaling $1,987,863 to date, according the the 10 Percent campaign’s website.

“If you think about it from a capacity standpoint, just having launched, a normal initiative it would take a longer period of time to gain traction,” said Wymore, adding that universities, farmers and other consumers have already gotten involved.  “It gives them a place to put a stamp on what they’re already doing.”

The effort could create jobs and revitalize North Carolina’s agricultural sector, according the the State Action Guide.

The campaign’s holiday recipe pamphlets are part of the campaign’s effort to encourage buying locally during the holiday season. They will be available at the five pre-Thanksgiving farmers markets in the Triangle Nov. 23, located at the Carrboro, South Estes, Durham, Eno River and Western Wake markets. | Map

These markets will offer a variety of seasonal produce, meats, eggs, cheeses, breads and desserts. For those in need of additional inspiration, more recipes, like “Not Your Mama’s Green Bean Casserole,” will be available both at the farmers markets and on the Triangle Farmers’ Markets website.

“You can go there, buy what they have, grab the recipe sheet and go home and learn how to cook all that stuff,” said Cindy Soehner, who works with her husband John at Eco Farm in Chapel Hill.

John and Cindy will be offering their selection of produce at the pre-Thanksgiving Carrboro Farmers’ Market. The couple works year-round with the help of their three adult children and other volunteers to provide locals and local restaurants with the freshest produce possible.

Cindy Soehner said her husband is always planting, even in the winter.

“He keeps saying he wants to get smaller, but he keeps planting more and more. It’s really hard to get smaller when you do that.”

The Soehners have already sold most of their turkeys for the upcoming holiday but will offer the rest at Tuesday’s market.

Vimala’s Curryblossom Café in Chapel Hill, which offered customers a chance to win a local free-range turkey from Circle Acres Farm, is also involved in the 10 Percent Campaign.

“I can understand that it would be a challenge for some businesses that aren’t used to buying locally,” said restaurant owner Vimala Rajendran, who gets up to 50 percent of her ingredients and all of the restaurant’s meat from various local sources, including the Eco Farm.

Although it can be difficult to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal using only seasonal ingredients, a mixture of non-local and local food presents a healthy option, Rajendran said.

The restaurant is only one example of local support for the movement for sustainable food choices.

Studies have shown that the interest in local sustainable food is growing — the industry is expected to have grown from $5 billion to $7 billion between 2008 and 2011. In the western part of North Carolina alone there was a $450 million demand for local food in 2007.

“I think the main thing is to ask questions,” Wymore said. “I mean everyone eats. Everyone shops for food. This day and age we’re encouraging people to actually buy and cook food.”

Rebecca Seawell, a senior from Mechelen, Belgium and Raleigh, N.C., is a platform producer for the Reese Felts Digital News Project.