At the risk of being viewed as obsessive-compulsive, I'll share with you something I did this past week. Well, yeah, I ate almost exclusively food that was grown and produced within 100 miles of my home. But that wasn't the most obsessive part. I also kept a notebook of my meals and made meticulous calculations of how much they cost.
I'd heard people doubting that eating local could be done on a budget. I've heard this kind of lament before, working at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco. It's true that some local, organic food can cost more than supermarket produce (which is often imported from nations with much cheaper labor and looser environmental laws), but you can also find quite reasonably priced produce at the farmers' market.
I was curious to see how much eating local would cost.
For my experiment, I didn't shop for what was cheapest. I bought what I wanted, as long as it was local. To me, what's most important is to enjoy what's in season and to get fresh food from a local farmer I feel good about supporting. I'd rather skimp on entertainment or clothes or toys than on food.
During the first seven days of the challenge I spent $58.40, for an average of $8.34 per day. To give you an idea of what I ate, here's the menu that came closest to the average cost:
Breakfast:
smoothie (milk, strawberries, honey)
Lunch:
chicken
potatoes with butter
chard with balsamic vinegar
Snacks:
apple with almond butter
dried nectarines and apricots
Dinner:
potato, leek, and sorrel soup
Dessert:
honey whole wheat cookies
mint tea
I thought $8.34 was pretty good, since one could easily spend that on a single meal, or on 2.5 lattes.
But just for comparison, I did a little research. I stopped in at that place of my childhood, you know, the burger place with the goofy redhead clown. I added up the price of a day of their food: egg and ham on muffin with OJ for breakfast, Asian salad for lunch, and a double cheeseburger and fries for dinner: $9.68.
I knew this comparison was apples vs. oranges, so I did some more research on the average American's food budget. The average American spends $8.48 a day on food (in a one-person household). So I came in a little under average, even though I shopped in the second most expensive city in the country.
I've lived on much less; I remember when ramen or mac & cheese could go a long way. Sometimes they still do. But my palate has gotten more demanding and so has my desire to be an informed consumer. I think about more than just the price of my food; I also consider the costs and benefits--social, environmental, and personal gratification (let's face it; I can't go without chocolate forever! But maybe I can look for fair-trade chocolate). For more on the external costs of our food system, go here and here.
I know that some people still can't afford the $8.34 per day. There are also people (myself included) who don't always have the time to cook all their own meals--or the know-how. But with a little shopping around and a friend to help, anyone can put a little local food on their plate.
Julie Cummins lives in Oakland, California and is the Director of Education for CUESA, the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture.
