Local food: environmental, health, and economic impressions
These are posts from the week 6 Canvas discussion from the Navigating Modern Food Ethics student-organized seminar that Morgan and Katie taught Winter 2017. The prompt was: "What connotation does local food have for you? What has created that image of local food?"
Local is Healthy!
Feb 2, 2017. Anonymous
I think, for me, local food has an extremely positive connotation. Local food tends to be from farms that are smaller, which have the reputation of being super good for you and “healthier”. My favorite thing to do on the weekends at home is walking to and from the farmer’s market. For me, I feel that by buying produce from the farmer’s market, I am supporting farms while also maintaining the highest standard for my own produce at home. I even have a sort of feeling that the foods at the farmer’s market are the MOST nutritious and even better for me than that of the grocery store. I think that this image of local food was created by my childhood upbringing in Palo Alto, California. Palo Alto is known for having 4 separate farmer’s markets (all with local farmers) coming year round to town to sell produce. I have the feeling that it is better because my parents always used to purchase food from the market and everyone was always so happy to be there. I also think there is this extremist view between the farmer’s market (100% local) and the supermarket (100% imported usually). Getting your food local means that you have these healthy habits of buying everything clean and “without any processing” whereas purchasing food from the grocery store or supermarket means that you are purchasing the most processed foods possible. I grew up in a house where my family ate lots of sweets and cereals and snacks and for that reason, I have a huge sweet tooth. My parents always told us that the reason they provided us with all the sweets was because there were other families that didn’t feel their children any sweets or sugar. When my friends came over, they were always excited for the Oreos or Poptarts we had in our pantry. As an adult, I am more focused on feeding my body the healthiest food possible. For this reason, local food seems to be extremely important because, usually, if it’s local, it is a healthy food to eat. Local food tends to be fruits and vegetables and for that reason, we are told that everyone should buy as much local as possible!
Economic Incentive
Feb 7, 2017. Anonymous
Local food has a positive connotation to me because it invokes the idea of responsibility and economically ethical consumption for me. The idea of supporting local business in lieu of supporting large national or inter/transnational corporations is very appealing, and there are the complicated environmental benefits of less food mileage. However, that latter point is complicated.
I think my political views have instilled this value in me. For me, buying local (food and otherwise) has more to do with making choices within a market that allows large businesses to flourish, often at the expense of individuals, small businesses, and non-market interests.
Fresher-Tasting and Exciting
Feb 1, 2017.
For me, local food has the connotation of being healthier or even more "pure" than non-local food. I think part of this connotation is simply because local food is usually fresh fruits and vegetables, not processed like many other foods. While I am not sure where this connotation comes from, I also tend to think of local foods as having less pesticides and fresher tastes. There's no reason that local farms would not use pesticides, but the idea of food being from a small farmer makes it seem more pure than food mass-produced by a massive corporation. Also, just because I live closer to small rural farms, I think of local foods as produced by a small farmer, but I guess that perception could be different depending on your surroundings. The tasting fresher aspect is probably mostly a placebo, but when restaurants offer "locally grown" and "farm to table" foods, it makes the dishes seem like a specialty item and of higher quality. In this sense, I think the locavore movement has done a great job in branding. I am also way more excited when produce at the grocery store is from the United States- it makes me more likely to buy it. That's not super "local" but still more local than produce grown in Mexico or Argentina. I think this pure and exciting perception of locally grown produce at the grocery store comes from the idea that foreign produce is bad for the environment. I always thought that it must increase pollution, but my econ 202 professor (Ogawa) mentioned in class a few days ago that the ships used for transporting produce to the USA from other countries are so efficient that simply driving your own car one more mile to a different store to purchase entirely local produce causes more pollution than importing the produce. That seems crazy.
Idyllic Farms?
Feb 2, 2017. Amos Pomp, Sourcing Intern, Website Manager
Local food has a positive, homey connotation to me. First of all, it makes me feel closer to my food and therefore somehow more human. Second, there is an idea that local food comes from small, idyllic farms with a loving and caring family for its owner. However, when I check myself, I know (think?) that local food could still come from a factory farm as long as it is close to where I purchase the product. Regardless, the less distance food has to travel, the less packaging it might need and the fewer emissions its transport produces. It also implies that the food is regulated more by local governing bodies, producers, and consumers than ones in far away places with less understanding of local needs and processes.
My image of local food comes from knowing the possible environmental and economical benefits of it and associating that idea of well-produced food with small, idyllic farms.
Economic Benefits vs. Environmental Ambiguity
Feb 6, 2017. Christopher Mayorga, NU first-year, Learning Sciences and Latin@ Studies
Local has the connotation of being better for my local community. Whenever I've thought about buying local, the motivation behind it was not really for environmental reasons, but more so for community development. By supporting small business owners and workers from my own town, I'm supporting my neighbors and giving back to the community. In my town, there was a big push to shop at local restaurants and stores. Most of these locally owned businesses would give back to the community by investing in school programs, like extracurricular activities, and social services. Because of this, it was more economically sound to shop local, whether it be food or any other product. I think this argument still holds true and is hard to contest.
On the other hand, buying locally with the intent of being environmentally conscious is a bit more debatable. Like the readings mentioned, the concept of "food miles," or how much a food has traveled to get to you, is misleading and useless for the most part. I hadn't really heard of this concept before this, but the article's argument completely made sense to me. There is more nuance involved with the carbon footprint of food than just how many miles it's traveled; you should also take into account the energy it takes to process it, store it, and cook it. Therefore, it seems that local food can certainly be helpful the community economically, it is not always the best decision for the environment.
