Why eat local foods?

A poster with a succinct idea concerning the why of local foods at yesterday's Farmer's Market (an especially pastoral picture captioned, HOMELAND SECURITY — Eat local foods), made me remember the Tufts University Food Awareness Project data:

"The average mouthful of food in the U.S. travels 1300 miles before it is finally eaten!"

Local foods are those foods grown or raised in your local area. At this Midsummer season of rising fuel and transport costs, buying from your local farmer will not only be more nutritious but less expensive, especially when you consider the environmental and social costs associated with eating non-locally grown foods.

Five Good Reasons to Shop at your Local Farmer's Market

There are many reasons to eat local foods, of which a few are:

1. In contrast with large commercial farms, local farmers and growers often use fewer pesticides — which equates to less polution of water supplies and the environment, and a less health risks.
2. Shipping, along with and storage, result in the loss of nutrients — as opposed to foods trucked in from a local farm, which tend to maintain their nutrient density.
3. Local foods that are consumed soon after the harvest often do not require preservatives, added wax, ripening agents (chemicals).
4. Consumption of local foods benefits your local economy. Buying from small family farms and growers means that they can survive and can continue production, in turn contributing to the local economy.
5. Transporting food a few miles instead of thousands reduces fossil fuel emissions that contribute to air pollution, acid rain and global warming as well as effecting final food prices and quality.

Not only that — there's something to be said for the taste of fresher food plucked off the vine or scooped out of the earth as recently as today.

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Contributing Author Lynn Cameron owns the AromaVital.com website and has conducted her own research into the complementary health field since the early seventies.

1 Comment for "Why eat local foods?"

1. Diane Vigil
   Comment posted on 06/21/2008 @ 2:07 pm

   Thanks, Lynn. I'd add, too, that food from local farmers likely doesn't require being picked green, refrigeration for a long trip, etc. It pretty much comes straight from the farm to you. Or me.

   Here are some pictures from our farmer's market here in Santa Clarita (north Los Angeles) — and these aren't stock photography. They were taken with our own camera.

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