Ideal Bite

Does anyone know a website like Local Harvest for us Canadians? It seems like it would be extremely useful!

Don't know about across the pond where you are but in England the "locally Grown" sign popping up in a few supermarkts is an incredibly cheeky bit of deceptive greenwashing. - The food IS grown locally it's true, however, being sold in a huge supermarket chain means it gets to travel all across the country to the store's central depot to get processed/packaged/whatever else they feel the need to do with their produce, then all the way back again to the store. Locally grown? yes, saving on fuel and carbon emissions? not remotely. The only way to get truly locally grown food is to get it from local farmer's markets. (or even normal local greengrocers that don't trumpet "locally grown" probably have food that travels shorter distances than supermarket produce.)

Here in Burlington VT we have a VERY active localvore community, check out www.eatlocalvt.org. Last fall for the month of September I participated in the "Eat Local Challenge," pledging to eat only food produced within 100 miles of home. Not only was it pretty easy, it was delicious!! Participants had the option to pledge anywhere from a day to a week to the whole month, and could allow themselves exceptions (coffee, etc). There were pot-swap dinners, a kick-off event at our local co-op, and several other events throughout the month.

In saying local over organic, you are only taking emissions into consideration. There are other things to be to concerned with such as: farming practices, pesticides contaminating our water supplies, and of course we eat this produce, so, health effects of non-organic food is also a viable concern. Not to be too demanding, but, I want local food that is also organic. Which would be easier to get, if instead of just jumping on the 'local' bandwagon, we used our buying power to influence our local farmers to shift their practices.

Another big benefit to buying local is that you often get to meet and interact with the very people who are producing your food. I have been able to cultivate personal relationships with the people that supply my meat and produce. They're always a joy to talk to, are happy to give free advice, can tell me anything I might want to know about their products and provide the sort of personal service that a chain store never could. It's not anonymous - if you have concerns or requests, you can voice them directly to them, and they're usually very receptive (they want to make their customers happy). Also, I don't know about elsewhere, but my small local suppliers are operating organically anyway, so that's not an issue.

Locally grown foods can often also be organic. They are not mutually exclusive. Many local farmer's markets will seel their organically grown treats with pride. At Whole Foods we promote local growers and producers economically as well as by giving them shelf space. The more these small local purveyers are supported they more they can thrive and be wonderful examples to others. Happy eating!!!

While I love the idea of eating locally grown produce, I live in Southern AZ and there just is not an abundance of locally grown produce available here - and what is available is not the quality you get in CA or other areas. In addition, with little kids to worry about, I am concerned about feeding them pesticides so I don't want to give up the organic option. Farmers Markets are scarce on my end of town and getting there every weekend when my hubby works and the kids have activities is sometimes impossible so sometimes Sunflower Market is my only option and while they do offer some local produce, it is not always worth buying. If anyone in this area has better resources they can suggest I would love to hear about them!

Just because the local farmer's produce doesn't have "certified organic" labeling, it doesn't mean they aren't. Our friends grow organic Kona coffee on a small farm in Hawaii, and they say the cost and effort required to get that labeling is not worth it. Many small farmers are very ecologically minded, and if you're able to talk to the farmer yourself, you'll often find it's organic.

There are levels and there are levels - of quality, personal health, planetary health and economics, involved in how we shop for food. Everyone cannot always choose the best (local, healthful, fresh, AND organic at any given time. You can only do the best you can. Our general rule of thumb is: Always the least processed (flour, milk, bread are processed foods, too), then only fresh foods, then local, then organic depending on what is available and affordable to me on that day. I also try to only eat what is seasonal in my geographic area... but admit to bananas and ginger creeping in now and then. And, yes, many things grown on small local farms are often organic without being certified due to the costs involved for certification.

Focusing on "food miles" is often an oversimplification of the environmental impact of our food, as this article in the New Yorker entitled "Big Foot" points out. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/ 02/25/080225fa_fact_specter Local food may actually have a more damaging environmental impact than imported food because places like South America or New Zealand (or Florida and California) often need less irrigation or pesticides and are sunnier and warmer -- the better to grow food in an energy efficient manner. This makes it very hard for the everyday consumer to know when to buy local and when not to. What we need is a carbon tax so that the carbon footprint is reflected in the price of our food products, as well as other goods.