Comments on: Random, Sketchy Thoughts on Buying Local

By: avicd1

avicd1 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:19:26 +0000

I really enjoyed reading this page…Thanks for this

By: GeorgeEliot

GeorgeEliot — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 04:52:43 +0000

I’m not so sure your description of your “neighborhood food coop,” the New Pioneer Food Coop, is exactly right. I shop there regularly and can assure you that there is as much emphasis on the sale of local food products as more far-flung items. (The cheese selection, for instance, includes much of the best stuff produced in Europe and North America; and there’s plenty of fair-trade coffee.) Locally oriented and fair trade retail, in other words, aren’t mutually exclusive, at least in Iowa City.

And while I’m sure there are many shoppers and employees who care about local produce because it somehow seems more just, there are just as many, if not more, who like it because it’s the freshest you’ll find and therefore the best tasting. There are plenty of organic and “progressive” grocery stores that sell crap; New Pioneer isn’t one of them.

By: stuart

stuart — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:27:43 +0000

Being South African I don’t know how this is presented in the American media, but I don’t understand why people worried about food miles don’t emphasise veganism more as a way to decrease your carbon footprint.

Leaving the TV on standby is moralised by Al Gore et al, but I haven’t noticed the carbon side (of course the animal torture side is plenty moralised) of animal products much in the MSM.

But like I said I don’t live in the US.

By: nicole

nicole — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:19:58 +0000

And of course, ironically, it is the local food supplies that are more likely to be disrupted. If your area had a drought and all the farmers at your local market had a bad season, that would be a serious supply disruption and would affect only those people who wanted to eat locally produced food.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:21:59 +0000

Jennifer, when – pray tell – is the last time that a “supply-line disruption” left you or any other American hungry?

When was the last time civilization collapsed overnight and threw us back into the Stone Age? That doesn’t prevent survivalists from stockpiling in preparation for it. Fear need not be rational to be genuine.

Do a Google search for “3,000 mile Caesar salad” and you’ll find examples of the fear-driven locovorism I’m talking about. And you’ll note that I said some locovores are driven by this fear, not all of them.

By: Colin

Colin — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:12:04 +0000

Jennifer, when – pray tell – is the last time that a “supply-line disruption” left you or any other American hungry? I mean, outside of American combatants who were left hungry in the European or Pacific theaters during WWII or Korea when their “supply lines” were “disrupted”? Do you really think that people get into the “locovore” thing because they are worried about naval blockades preventing Chiquitas from getting to harbor in the U.S.? I doubt it. No, I would imagine that Kerry’s onto something here: it’s fashionable. People are locovores because it gives them a movement to belong to, and that movement has a patina of social responsibility associated with it, however spurious. Locovorism is a great way to exercise exclusive social and economic privilege while at the same time feeling good about yourself for doing so. It reminds me of the people I knew in high school who were straight edge and/or vegan. In fact, I think it’s a lot of the very same people.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:05:07 +0000

Based on the locovores I know, I suspect that for at least some of them, it has to do with insecurity or fear: if all of your food comes from thousands of miles away, there are many more opportunities for a supply-line disruption to leave you hungry than there would be if your food comes from your own backyard or the farmer within easy walking distance of your house. I’d bet that the percentage of locovores who keep large stashes of food in their basements is greater than the percentage of non-locovores who do.

By: Just a Barbed-Wire Fence Between Us § Unqualified Offerings

Just a Barbed-Wire Fence Between Us § Unqualified Offerings — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:47:15 +0000

[...] Howley at least avows some puzzlement as to why, in her personal experience, "locovorism" seems to have [...]