Eat Local, Process Elsewhere
Interesting blog post at Freakonomics today. It's about Anti-locavorism. In fact it's a guest post written by James McWilliams, a historian at Texas State University.
I like it because of the anti-locavorism slant. I live in New York and I'll eat anything shipped from anywhere. Maybe this will get me skewered, but it's a well articulated argument.
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5 Comments:
It's a provocative piece and the comments that NYT readers have offered are generally really good. Of course McWilliams is taking an extreme position and making it sound like the entire movement is reflected in a limited position from the lunatic fringe and that makes for a fairly typical form of discourse from the righter side of the spectrum these days. Hmmmm.... not my favorite kind of argument.
The point of the local food movement is to do what one can to reduce demand for fuel consumption, to support the local economy - something which actually does exist outside the confines of a giant metroplis BTW - to re-connect to natural cycles by eating seasonally, to support farm workers in their quest for fair labor practices by supporting a US produced food item, and many other similar points besides. He does not address ANY of those topics in his snarky little commentary, choosing instead to belittle locavorism for its possible critique of land use and urban sprawl problems - but only as a jokey aside.
Is there room for critique in the local food movement? I hope so - we need to get a better handle on the way food is produced and consumed in this country and on this planet in general. Perhaps McWilliams' book will help to shape the discussion in a positive way. One can only hope.
Many thanks for posting this interesting link!
Tobey at 3:25PM on 08/27/08
I think this is a much more interesting and useful article:
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-09/st_thompson
simon at 4:53PM on 08/27/08
Very nice Simon. Another oldie but goodie book in this regard is John & Nancy Todd's Bioshelters, Ocean Arks, City Farming: Ecology as the Basis of Design
Dean Morton at NYC's Cathedral of St John the Divine has used this book to start an orange grove on the top of the cathedral instead of the usual architecture. That's one example but the Todd's jumpstarted many many others with this seminal text.
Tobey at 5:39PM on 08/27/08
Ha--reading the original piece it sounds like the guy tried making orange sherbet once, and grew embittered to all locavores! Dude, try the recipe a second time, or make a really good flavor!
More seriously, I don't have my own garden, but living in New Jersey I do have enviable access to both local farms and a Wegman's from which yes, I do buy Washington State cherries. I believe as with all things a balance is ideal, and eating a healthy and ethically produced diet is best (which might mean some and occasionally quite a lot of non-locally grown food).
HeartofGlass at 8:55AM on 08/28/08
Being a "locavore" can be more or less practical depending on where you live. If you live somewhere with short growing seasons with limited farmspace, then your chances of finding local food are going to be slim. However, if you live where I do, in Southern California, it's actually really easy to get a great variety of reasonably-priced local goods. While it is best to eat fresh, local produce, I would never advocate returning to the days of pickling all veggies for the long, hard winter.
beth1 at 9:06PM on 08/28/08