[SustainableTompkins] NYTimes.com: Food That Travels Well

[Simon St.Laurent]

senecajean at aol.com wrote:
> You got that right..it's brilliant. I am going to forward this on to some
 > other lists because there is an almost obsessiveness, perhaps especially
 > among climate activists, that you've got to buy local.

I don't get my interest in localization from climate concerns, though it 
certainly complements it nicely.  I get my interest in buying local from 
my concern that we've created an enormously expensive system which is 
unlikely to be sustainable in the long term and which severs the bonds 
we used to have between us and our food and the people who grow it.

It's not just tons of carbon, it's community, knowing where you live and 
how you're connected to that place and its people.

> I just finished a book?called Eat To Live by? Dr. Joel Fuhrman who 
 > advocates a plant-based diet (with some allowances for individual
 > needs) and who says it's exactly the rich diversity?of foods availale
 > that make a high quality?lifetime vegan diet possible.

If your primary focus is on being vegan, I can see where eating local 
might not be much fun - perhaps especially around here.  Of course, I've 
never understood some people's obsession with vegan diets as the 
necessary path toward ecological, ethical, or even health improvement. 
Different priorities, I suppose.

> I had read a little bit before about the idea that reducing food's
 > carbon imprint involves alot more than just food miles traveled.
 > This article really brings it into focus. Thank You!!

Food-miles by itself isn't that exciting a concept.  It's a good way to 
illustrate to people just how crazy our industrial food system has 
become, but it's not a foundation on which to build a whole philosophy 
by itself.

But then, I have embarked on eating local - NY and PA for now - and 
don't see much difficulty in finding good food from the area immediately 
around me.  Citrus fruits and bananas are great, but so are currants, 
blueberries, and peaches.

There are lots of options out there, but this one still strikes me as a 
good one.

Thanks,
Simon St.Laurent
http://livingindryden.org/