At the table – What is local?

Because of the growing confusion over organic food, many people are now focusing on the concept of buying local. So what exactly is buying local? Today, I’ll give you a brief overview of the concept, and in future columns, I’ll try to take different aspects of buying local and go into more detail. (If you’d like an indepth article on organic versus local, read Time’s March 2, 2007, article, “Eating Better than Organic.”)

Here at Sustainable Table, we encourage people to buy as local as possible. To take it a step further, we suggest consumers buy as local as possible from small, sustainable family farmers. But what exactly does that mean?

Buying local means what it says – to buy products that are raised and produced as close to where you live as possible. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, though, the issue can get a bit more complex – so let’s try to break it down.

Let’s take apples as an example. Why would I buy an apple from Washington State if I live in New York? There are delicious varieties of apples grown in upstate New York. Often people do because they don’t think about where their food comes from, or they have no choice – their store only offers apples from 3000 miles away. We encourage consumers to ask for local products – ask your store manager for apples from your area. (Apples can be found almost everywhere in the country.) You can check out our Eat Seasonal page to find out what is grown in your area.

That’s the simplest explanation – buy food from local farmers as much as possible. That way, you’ll be saving on fossil fuel costs used to transport food long distances, and you’ll be eating a fresher product – the less time from farm to table, the more nutritious the food will be. But what about other considerations like how the food is produced, and pesticide and fertilizer use? Or animals raised in confinement? (With regard to animals, there’s also an issue of where the feed is grown – feed should always come from the area in which the animal is raised – but we can get into that at another time.)

A debate is currently revolving around buying local versus organic – for example, if I live in New York what is better – an organic apple from Washington State or a conventional (chemical pesticides used) apple from upstate New York? There are pros and cons to each – and we’ll probably spend a future column just on this. But think about it – and feel free to let us know what you think. Here at Sustainable Table, we encourage people to find small scale, sustainable/organic producers in their area.

And I know I sometimes sound like a broken record, but we created the Eat Well Guide just for this reason. We believe it’s still possible to find a local farmer who is raising and producing food in a sustainable manner, where the animals and land are treated with respect, with minimal to no pesticide use, no matter where you are in the country. And if we want to keep farmers on the land, we need to support them by buying their products! So we encourage you to go and put in your zip code to find one – if you can’t find any, let us know, and we’ll look for you! Or if you find one that we don’t have, please let us know.

What makes the whole process of buying local worthwhile (and fun!) is that ultimately you decide what you want. We encourage people to buy “as local as possible” – you can still purchase food produced elsewhere but you should try to focus on buying as local as possible. If you drink coffee, eat chocolate or enjoy bananas, please continue to enjoy them. When we eat these types of products, we look for the Fair Trade label, where small farmers earn a fair wage and the environment is treated with respect. (More on Fair Trade in a later column…)

In addition, if you love a certain food – ham, for instance – and you like to purchase it from small farmers in Italy, we’re not saying you have to stop. If there are certain specialty foods that you enjoy, continue to enjoy them! But try to buy other products you eat from local farmers. Balance is key- and it’s also important to be realistic. Buying local isn’t about depriving yourself – it is about exploring great food in your area, but it’s not about denial.

The key is to do what you can. Go to your local farmers market and local restaurants and discover all the great tastes around you – and share them with friends! Buying local is about community – so get out and meet your neighbors!