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Lifeinthegaylane

Food & Drink > Thoughts on Local Food vs Organic
 

Thoughts on Local Food vs Organic

I've never been into organic food. Perhaps the pesticide washes on vegetables and fruits will kill that nasty stomach flu before I even notice I have it. Or maybe the amount phosphorous fertilizer will give my skin that radiant tan without stepping foot in the sun or a tanning booth.

Rather, I've always been a proponent of local food. I'll pay more for a foodstuff if I know that a farmer 5 miles down the road grew it, even if it was produced non-organically. You can go to your whole foods and buy "industrial organic" food that was grown in California, but put on a truck and driven 1000s of miles across the country to get to your table, totally negating any environmental benefits of its organicity (and spell check tells me this is a word).

This bothers me, and I might be the only person who sees a commercial and then contacts the company telling them how I disagree with their message. I got very irritated recently when I saw a commercial for some dairy company advertising how you should buy their product because it comes from happy cows in a happy state. Why would I want to buy dairy products put in a semi and jostled across the country to end up in my grocery store, when I could just get some cheese made by a local cheese maker and dropped off at the store every few days. A brand identity that promotes long distance travel of dairy products is a stupid campaign and I sure let them know that. They did respond with a letter saying that they were a family business as well (isn't everyone part of a family?) and that they had to compete by such means.

But buying locally is hard. You cannot buy all your food from your county, let alone the US. I started on Monday my campaign to get my Mom to buy only items that are made in the US for the next 30 days. Essentially we've avoided shopping this week. The cupboards are dry, the refrigerator is empty. Getting fresh fruits and vegetables this time of year means that it was grown in Chile or Argentina. Even frozen green beans were grown in France. But our goal goes far beyond the kitchen pantry. Mom can pretty much forget about buying any new clothes or electronic device - sorry she's out of luck. I haven't decided what I'm doing for gas yet, I'll just have to buy from a company that doesn't import a majority from the middle east and refines most of it locally.

I guess the point that I'm personally trying to discover is that it's a disappointment that what can be done locally is not done locally anymore. Cheap oil taught us to be wasteful and centralize activity. Economics teaches us that trade benefits all. If you can do something cheaper elsewhere then do it there, and trade for something you can't do. But is it worth it? Do we really need to have avocados in our life or Chilean Sea Bass. Do the people of Brazil really need our Napa Valley Wine? Surely we lived without Foie Gras in the 18th century so is it necessary now?

posted on Apr 18, 2008 12:52 PM ()

Comments:

good point which is why i bounce between locally grown and organic. I will not buy ANYTHING from China if I can avoid it.
comment by panthurdreams on Apr 21, 2008 11:39 PM ()
Here a lot of vegetables are from our own country, but a lot of fruit comes from southern countries for its too cold here to grow. When you read the origin of products on the back side of articles its amazing where some products come from.
comment by itsjustme on Apr 21, 2008 1:33 AM ()
We have a large Amish Community around here, so I try to get veggies from them..
comment by elfie33 on Apr 20, 2008 8:26 AM ()
Good article. I imagine buying stuff that is made in the U.S. is very hard. Should be a real challenge for you and your mom.
comment by hopefields on Apr 19, 2008 3:04 AM ()
I have always enjoyed going to the Farmers Market and buying fresh, just off the truck fruits and vegetables
comment by thepirateinthecity on Apr 18, 2008 9:44 PM ()
I shop the farm markets here in season. The produce is much better than the supermarkets have.
comment by jondude on Apr 18, 2008 5:19 PM ()
Matt,what can I say.You make a lot of sense here.I myself question about the organic move.The other day Mike says to me pick up some fruit we are out of it.
So,I picked up this plastic food and did not pay any attention where it c ame from.When the next day we had this for bfast.Mike says this is from
China.What?yep it was and the fruit sucks and mean sucks.
I took this and the rest dumped in the trash can.It was plain awful.
Said to myself,how can people buy this stuff?
There is a lot to be desired where our food come from.
Now I am very careful in reading where the stuff comes from
You do not give it up on the fruit and vegetables.
I know we rather buy it from our country,but they do not have it.
Chile and Argentina is not too bad or even Guatemala.
If we do not have it here why do we have to sacrifice on this.
I always wash my fruit and vegetables etc.
Things will picked up soon when the warm weather gets here to grow our own garden and yes we do buy local when it ready at the Farmer/s MKT.
We loved it there.It may cost a little more but well worth it.
Good article,but we have to improvised on something.
Stay away from the fruit from China,sucks.Central America stuff is much better than China.We try to buy stuff that is made in America.
Good luck if you can find them.Good point that your trying to make there.
But does not always work out this way.
Take care and excellent writing.How is mom doing?

comment by fredo on Apr 18, 2008 2:25 PM ()

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