Why Local?

Writing this blog encourages me to cook more mindfully. As part of that, I've been giving more thought lately to why I like local products so much.


I'm always on the lookout for local produce and dairy products, locally-raised meat, or locally-caught fish. Partly I choose them because I'm not from the Pacific Northwest, and exploring local products is part of exploring the area I now call home. But I also instinctively think they're better and, after some reflection, here's why:

• Local fruits and vegetables can be picked at the height of flavor -- when they're ripe and bursting with goodness. Those that have to be transported long distances must be picked when they're green and then ripened in warehouses or on your counter. There's no contest, for example, between the taste of a typical supermarket tomato and a vine-ripened one from a local farm stand.
• Because it doesn't have to travel as far, local food is also likely to be fresher and, hence, contain more nutrients. According to a study done at Iowa State University, if you live in Iowa, a local apple travels about 60 miles to reach you, whereas a conventionally-sourced US-grown apple travels over 1700 miles¹²³! Thus a conventional apple may travel a week or more, and that translates to its losing important nutrients.
• Local food tends to be available in a wider range of interesting and delicious varieties and cultivars. Varieties that will be transported long distances are limited to only those tough enough to withstand the rigors of shipping, and for which there is a big market. In Oregon there's no better example than strawberries -- our local varieties are small and a little gnarled-looking, too delicate to ship fresh, and only available a few weeks every year, but they're sugary lumps of intense strawberry deliciousness -- much better tasting than their more perfect-looking better-traveling mass market brethren!
• Buying local products supports your local economy. When you buy from local farmers, much of the money they spend, in turn, goes to supporting other businesses and charities in your surrounding community.
• Buying local products is kinder to the environment than buying those that have to be shipped by planes, trains, boats, and/or trucks and protected by large amounts of packaging.
• Since most GM (Genetically Modified) foods come from large industrial farms, I think it's easier to avoid GM products when you shop locally. Plus you may have more opportunity to learn about the food by talking with the farmer and asking about GMO use.

So next time you're at the grocery store, check out the "locally-grown" foods. Or seek out a farmer's market or farm stand. Your tastebuds, your body, your community and the earth will be glad you did!


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¹Pirog, Rich and Benjamin, Andrew. "Checking the Food Odometer: Comparing Food Miles for Local Versus Conventional Produce Sales in Iowa Institutions." Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, July 2003.
²Note that this average distance traveled was for apples grown in the continental US. If New Zealand apples had been included in the mix, the distance would have been greater!
³And if you think apples travel a long distance, look at the figures for carrots, lettuce, broccoli, etc.!
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Photos used with permission from Portland Farmers Market © Amy Nieto Photography 2010, 2011, All Rights Reserved.