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7 reasons to eat local
1 You know what you’re eating:
When you eat locally grown produce it’s easier to get answers about pesticide use and other food concerns. Trusting relationships are built with the farmers directly.
2 Save the world:
A current study determined that a regional diet used 17 times less oil and gas than a diet based on food shipped across the country or continent.
3 A tasty difference:
At a farmers’ market, most local produce has been picked within 24 hours. You get it ripe, fresh, and in full flavour, unlike supermarket food which may have been picked weeks, possibly months before.
4 Support small farms:
People from all walks of life dream of working the land – maybe you do too. In areas with strong local markets, family farms are starting to revive.
5 Get in touch with the seasons:
Eating local foods means you eat what’s in season. Cherries are the taste of summer, and comfort foods like squash soup and pancakes are perfect winter treats.
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6 Discover new flavours:
Ever tried sunchokes? How about purslane, quail eggs, or tayberries? Look for them at farmers’ markets across the country.
7 Give back to the local economy:
A British study determined the reinvestment value to the community of a dollar spent at a local food business was almost twice that of a dollar spent at a supermarket chain. |
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Cowichan Green Community,
a non-profit environmental agency in Duncan, BC, states that our food travels an average of 1,500 miles before it hits our Canadian tables. Those miles are extremely costly to the environment and our health. For example, 90% of the food consumed on Vancouver Island is imported. Creating a more sustainable food future is imperative to a healthy community – and a healthy body. The farther we buy up the long-distance food chain, the more our food is processed, and the more it costs the environment, the community, and our health. What can you do?
Eat more local
· Buy local, organic food
· Support local farmers and growers
· Educate yourself - read up on food security and organic food
· Ask farmers your food questions.
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Speak Out
· Form or join a local food security organisation
· Write letters to local government advocating change to local food policy
· Educate friends, family, and co-workers on agricultural and environmental issues
· Advocate that local schools implement a garden program or visit local farms regularly
· Speak to school principals about healthier food choices and breakfast programs
· Encourage local grocery stores, schools, hotels, and hospitals to buy local.
As often as possible buy from your community, then your province, then Canada. Make food purchases based on what’s available that was produced locally, and if local means no tomatoes, then consider not eating tomatoes. Use this opportunity to try interesting and more seasonal cooking, and revive the art of making preserves.
A Matter of Taste: Inspired Seasonal Menus with Wine and Spirits to Match by Canadian chefs Lucy Waverman and James Chatto is a sophisticated cookbook which will arouse your seasonal senses. Eating local – it’s easy, delicious, good for you, and the environment. Why would you eat anything else? H&L |
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