How To Become A Locavore
photo credit: garryknight
Locavores are so-called because they appreciate and understand the concept of food miles. Quite simply the further our food has to travel from producer to plate, the more carbon has likely been emitted and so people keen on eco living rightly look for food that has travelled the least distance to get to them.
In other words, these people want to eat local foods – hence the coining of the term “locavore”.
The first question if you want to buy local food is really “what is local?”.
It seems such a simple, powerful concept at first glance but actually defining what we mean can be a little more difficult. Whilst some supermarkets and food suppliers selling “local” foods aim to source these items within a 30 mile radius, many locavores look to a figure closer to a 100 mile radius. Whatever your definition, the closer the better is really the key concept here.
But if buying local food is important, how do you actually go about doing it?
Again, whilst some supermarkets make an effort to offer “local food” legally speaking anything marked as local only has to come from the same country. And clearly something which has travelled hundreds of miles across the country in a gas-guzzling truck probably isn’t as local as you’d like. So be careful.
Maybe buying from farmers markets and local farm shops is the answer? You are certainly more likely to find local produce in these establishments though you may pay for the privilege. And remember that some “farmers” may still have driven for long distances to actually get to the market itself.
I recently made a shocking discovery about farmers markets in the UK, covering the legalese of what “local” actually means. Whilst most fruit and vegetables sold at these markets have indeed been produced, there is a catch.
And that catch is any “manufactured” product like bread, pickle, wine and so on. Anything which rather than just coming straight off the plant has been in some way manipulated and turned into something else.
Did you know that UK rules specify that only 25% of the ingredients in these “local foods” actually need to come from a local source? A delicious “local” chutney could be filled with vegetables grown just down the road, but with other ingredients from anywhere in the world. Doesn’t sound too local to me.
Bread can be even worse, where only 10% of the ingredients need to be local in order to be sold at farmers markets. You could use your own milk but then fly the grain in from another country and still sell it as “local”.
I think this is a major problem and should be a cause for concern for locavores.
The true locavore then needs to be wary of any manufactured product. They need to buy base ingredients – grain, milk, fruits and vegetables – and then make their own foods from them.
Recent statistics show that we import more fruit and veg than any other food group and so actually growing your own or joining a local food co-op is arguably going to have the biggest impact on your food miles.
So to be a true locavore, grow as much of your own food as you can, and if not, buy base ingredients from local farmers. That’s the best way to ensure you keep your food miles down as low as possible.
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- Container Crops – How Anyone Can Grow Their Own Food – No Matter Where They Live
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