Buffalo Rising Online

Nov 8th 2007, 1:59pm By Christa Glennie Seychew

Okay, now that my headline has gotten your attention, let's talk about localvorism. Here on BR we spent the majority of October talking about farmers markets, CSAs and the growing trend toward eating local- heck, we've even made the bible of localvorism our first assignment for BR's Foodie Book Club. But, I'd like to talk about why I personally disagree with localvorism.

Any regular BR reader knows that I wholeheartedly support local grocers, butchers, bakers, manufacturers, restaurants, regional agriculture and its farmers. Choosing to buy local when it is at all possible is vitally important to strengthening our area's economy and sustaining regional food traditions.

There are, of course, a number of other issues that are involved in choosing localvorism. These include (but are not limited to) environmental concerns, the country's economic security and ability to fully sustain itself agriculturally, food safety, and how our agricultural future and physical health are effected by genetically modified foods.

I do not in any way wish to push these concerns aside, and hope that you each keep this in mind if you post a comment below after you read this article. Each of these issues, individually and as a whole, are things we as a nation need to engage in a lengthy dialogue about. Certainly no one would agree that preservatives and additives, mad cow disease and ecoli contamination, animal factories, starving farmers, terrifying growing and manufacturing processes and the greenhouse effect are good things. We need to chart a course for our future.

My concern is with the herd of people that are choosing to limit their diets to food that is only (or mostly) produced locally. I have a handful of issues with localvorism in general, and quite honestly, a problem with the attitudes with which some people and organizations have approached it and other restricted diets. Though I am not a nutritionist, scientist or economic wizard, I think that all of the points covered in this post have some legitimacy. I've tried to separate my thoughts into four categories, I wonder which one(s) will provoke a response from our readers?

A Winter's Worth
Restricting your diet to food that is grown within even a few hundred miles (as opposed to the 100 miles proposed by most locavores) is a huge task. In a region with four pretty severe seasons, we find ourselves in the difficult position of maintaining a well-rounded diet throughout our blustery winter and early spring. A well-prepared and eager person could undertake the many traditions that involve freezing, canning and preserving the bounty we have access to during the growing season.

But I have to wonder if many of the folks that jumped on the locavore bandwagon during the height of summer took that into consideration and planned ahead. Less than 100 years ago, families spent months in preparation for winter. As a working mother, I must admit that I am completely overwhelmed by the idea of having enough money and time within the confines of my modern life to, like my grandmother, tend a vegetable garden and fill my pantry, root cellar and freezer with enough food to feed my family for four to six months.

Recently a Brooklyn man tried to run a farm in his 800 sq. ft. backyard. Granted, Buffalo isn't Brooklyn, but this story offers some compelling evidence against the average contemporary American's ability to self-sustain. Though it was a valiant attempt, he was anything but successful. After 30 days and a hefty investment of $11,000, this New Yorker only managed to feed himself a scant 2 meals a day, ultimately loosing 29 lbs.

Your Dinner's Odometer
The carbon footprint caused by foods that are flown/shipped/trucked in from countries thousands of miles away is one of the many reasons why supporting local agriculture is important to the environment. But, for those that are heavily concerned with this particular aspect, and those that have been throwing around the term “carbon footprint” willy-nilly, please keep this in mind. Determining the exact carbon footprint caused by anything, particularly items that have been grown or manufactured, is extremely difficult.

The carbon footprint of a head of lettuce, for example, requires more than a calculation of the amount of pollutants created by the truck it was transported by. In order to correctly estimate a carbon footprint, you need to look at the provenance of all of the equipment and supplies required to grow or manufacture that item. The carbon footprint of the lettuce you bought from the farmers market is more than the 20 miles your local farmer traveled.

It also includes any pollutants that were caused by the manufacturing and shipping of all of the fertilizer, pesticides (natural or not) and soil enhancers that farmer used, not to mention the pollution caused by farming itself. This may seem to be a silly point, since it is still likely that the head of lettuce that came from California has a bigger footprint than the one from down the street, but if this is the major fuel (excuse the pun) for your locavore fire, I ask that you spend more time looking at all of these practices before assuming that everything local is always better.

Rich Man, Poor Man
If eating local is a major passion for you, please consider doing what you can to improve the accessibility and, most importantly, affordability of fresh food items to those that struggle financially. Localvorism is a rich man's lifestyle. It may not seem that way at first glance when you're standing at the farmers market in the full flush of summer drooling over gorgeous ripe tomatoes priced at 89￠ per lb., but head over to Buffalo's West and East Sides (or a struggling sector of any American city) and see how much fresh food you're able to get your hands on. Stumbling upon fresh locally grown food is even less likely. For those of you that are going to argue that impoverished Americans dislike fresh vegetables (which I'm sorry to say has happened on this site before), I suggest that you do some reading. Here are two studies worthy of your examination: GrowingHealthyNY.pdf, HEbD-Buffaloreport.pdf.

Another great one that you should check out (but that I'm unable to provide you a link for) is a Buffalo study called Food for Growth. Suffice it to say that these areas lack food security, a term which has been defined by the United Nation's FAO. “Food security means that food is available at all times; that all persons have means of access to it; that it is nutritionally adequate in terms of quantity, quality and variety; and that it is acceptable within the given culture. Only when all these conditions are in place can a population be considered “food secure.”

Utter Deprivation
Olive oil, tea, seafood, bread, lemons, Bordeaux, rice, prosciutto, caviar, mushrooms, brie, vodka, pasta; the list of forbidden food is endless. In addition to never eating in a restaurant again, locavores will have to dismiss an entire world of culinary treasures. Granted there are things like bread and pasta that are produced by local artisans, but I doubt that the flour these products are made from is. Some locavores have what they call “wild cards”, allowing themselves to purchase a small handful of items necessary to food preparation (or in the case for some, “survival”--think coffee). I for one, cannot imagine (and sure as hell don't wish to) a life without sushi, truffles and chocolate--all of which would be considered "unnecessary".

The obvious answer to the issues raised by the locavore diet is moderation, including local foods on your shopping list as often as possible and supporting local businesses. But moderation isn't an option with the strict guidelines followed by locavores, guidelines as stringent as those required by other restricted diets like veganism. So what are some of the solutions that will make the locavore diet work for the many people that have recently adopted it?

Has Diet Replaced Religion?
Finally, I ask you to consider the possibility--and I really mean possibility—of food restrictions often coinciding with smugness. I am not in any way pointing this question toward people who avoid certain goods based on a religious doctrine, and if you are an even keeled vegetarian (for example) who is comfortable with other people making their own choices about food, more power to you. If your food beliefs (think anywhere from simple vegetarianism to the South Beach diet) often put you in the position of judging others--how good can they really be?

The idea of a person's dietary choices effecting their behavior toward others has been the topic of conversation on many of our nation's food blogs. And though it is not the main point of my article, it is one that is worthy of discussion. In our society, people's food choices and how they are or are not reflected in their attitudes have a lot to do with how they identify themselves and how they are perceived by others. Those perceptions, if they are positive, influence food trends. Think about the last 25 years where the idea of being fit has had tremendous impact on the availability of foods that fall within that lifestyle's guidelines, or the trend toward organics which has built empires for food manufacturers.

So how does one temper a firm personal belief towards food with grace and patience? Has the discussion about people's food choices grown as taboo and uncomfortable as conversations about religion?

Now that I've been terribly politically incorrect and have broken the unspoken rule of speaking against the hottest new diet restriction and the attitudes that often accompany food restrictions in general, I'd like to ask you, Buffalo, what do you think?


More resources:
Eating Local May Not be Energy Efficient
Maybe Eating Local Isn't Always the Best Choice
Food That Travels Well
But Eating Local is so Expensive
Eating Local: Guidelines to Making it Work