I came across a pretty shocking statistic stating that the average meal travels over 1200 miles to arrive on a dinner plate. It seems extremely irrational to me that we import so much of our food when the advantages of eating locally benefit not only the environment, the local economy, small family farms, but also health in general. If we are a nation where obesity rates are on the rise and the environment is in grave danger, isn’t this ideal of the “locavore” a logical solution?
Books such as “The 100-Mile Diet”, “Fast Food Nation”, and “The Way We Eat: How our Food Choices Matter” (my personal favorite book on the subject) all explore the influence of our culture’s food economy on the environment. This has spurred the notion of a “locavore”, defining someone who eats primarily foods grown within a small radius from their home.
The advantages of eating locally, although most are fairly obvious, include: limiting the use of oil and gas which would be used to transport crops long distances, being more in tune with the season (as crops will reflect the time of year), significantly stimulating the local economy, and probably most importantly in my opinion, keeping the small family farm alive. Small farms are responsible for keeping hundreds of produce varieties alive, as larger farms overlook variety and plague the contemporary grocery store with sameness.
Peter Singer’s “The Way We Eat: How our Food Choices Matter” is unlike any other diet book on the market, stressing the advantages, both locally and globally, to a lifestyle focused on locally grown foods. I highly recommend you check it.
While this initiative makes me extremely pleased and optimistic in mankind, I wonder if this trend of eco-dieting is a feasible option for a person like me. Can a college student living in Champaign Illinois, with a busy schedule, a meager bank account, and reliance on a bicycle and public transportation easily eat locally? I hope to use this blog to record some of my observations in my attempt to become a more eco-friendly eater.
