10 Reasons to Eat Local Food

by Jennifer Maiser

Eating local means more for the local economy.  According to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy.  When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the community at every transaction.  (reference)

Locally grown produce is fresher.  While produce that is purchased in the supermarket or a big-box store has been in transit or cold-stored for days or weeks, produce that you purchase at your local farmer's market has often been picked within 24 hours of your purchase.  This freshness not only affects the taste of your food, but the nutritional value which declines with time.

Local food just plain tastes better.  Ever tried a tomato that was picked within 24 hours?  'Nuff said.

Locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen. Because the produce will be handled less, locally grown fruit does not have to be "rugged" or to stand up to the rigors of shipping.  This means that you are going to be getting peaches so ripe that they fall apart as you eat them, figs that would have been smashed to bits if they were sold using traditional methods, and melons that were allowed to ripen until the last possible minute on the vine.

Eating local is better for air quality and pollution than eating organic. In a March 2005 study by the journal Food Policy, it was found that the miles that organic food often travels to our plate creates environmental damage that outweighs the benefit of buying organic. (reference)

Buying local food keeps us in touch with the seasons.  By eating with the seasons, we are eating foods when they are at their peak taste, are the most abundant, and the least expensive.

Buying locally grown food is fodder for a wonderful story. Whether it's the farmer who brings local apples to market or the baker who makes local bread, knowing part of the story about your food is such a powerful part of enjoying a meal. 

Eating local protects us from bio-terrorism.  Food with less distance to travel from farm to plate has less susceptibility to harmful contamination. (reference)

Local food translates to more variety.  When a farmer is producing food that will not travel a long distance, will have a shorter shelf life, and does not have a high-yield demand, the farmer is free to try small crops of various fruits and vegetables that would probably never make it to a large supermarket.  Supermarkets are interested in selling "Name brand" fruit: Romaine Lettuce, Red Delicious Apples, Russet Potatoes.  Local producers often play with their crops from year to year, trying out Little Gem Lettuce, Senshu Apples, and Chieftain Potatoes.

Supporting local providers supports responsible land development. When you buy local, you give those with local open space - farms and pastures - an economic reason to stay open and undeveloped.

Download a printable version (pdf) of this guide.

Originally published by Life Begins at 30, August 2005.  Published with permission.

Comments

[Ian]

Great to see your number one reason is to support the local economy - if you need any further evidence I can highly recommend the book Collaspe by Jared Diamond

[TryingDaily]

My family has always eaten wild meat, it doesn't get anymore local. We also handle all the skinning and butchering ourselves. I can't amagine a better way to cut costs, grocery bill costs and the environment costs. Happy meat is the only way to go green!

[june]

I think we all should eat more locally grown food. Support our local growers and eat healthier by do so.

[Joe]

Well, a good idea, but let's remember our history, trade in foodstuffs has been around ever since civilisation started. Wine, grain and oil was traded in the Roman Empire. You can pry my olive oil from my cold dead hand! ;) Joking, but let's not throw out all ethnic and cultural culinary diversity.

[Shilpa]

uh, Joe? many parts of the US make olive oil too! Vermont makes some of the greatest Italian-style Bufalo mozzarella, they even sell Indian-type vegetables at the local farmer's markets here in Boston - go on and look around,the US is VERY culturally culinarily diverse...

[the opoponax]

Not to mention, of course, that "eat local" doesn't mean "eat only what you grow yourself in your own backyard". The Hudson Valley milk I buy at a farmer's market in Brooklyn is every bit as much a part of a "trade network" as oranges grown in Campania and sold in Rome were 2000 years ago.

Only the very wealthiest people of ancient times had access to exotic delicacies transported long distances.

That said, most locavores I know make exceptions for things like wine, olive oil, coffee, etc -- it's not about deprivation, it's about doing what you can. I try to only buy apples grown here in New York, because why buy something from New Zealand or Washington that's already produced 50 miles away?

[Anita]

I know this is an old post... but I have a couple of questions.
There is nothing grown locally where I live but grain crops, and what people grow in their back yards... I'm in southcentral Kansas... Doesn't that limit our diet drastically?
And does eating locally mean I never get to eat citrus again? Or avocados, or seafood, or anything else that doesn't grow in zone 6? I like the idea of eating what we can locally, but we'd miss out on so much! Forgive me if these are an ignorant questions!