{"id":4788,"date":"2009-08-10T12:48:28","date_gmt":"2009-08-10T18:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4788"},"modified":"2009-08-10T12:48:28","modified_gmt":"2009-08-10T18:48:28","slug":"five-good-reasons-to-eat-non-local-foodpart-1-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/five-good-reasons-to-eat-non-local-foodpart-1-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Good Reasons to Eat Non-Local Food (Part 1 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I love eating locally produced foods when I have the chance. \u00a0I enjoyed having access to fully tree-ripe stone fruit when I lived in Davis, CA. Today I get to enjoy the ultra-local herbs, vegetables and fruit from my garden part of the year, and I make 10-20 gallons of wine from my little vineyard.\u00a0 I feel that I am fortunate, not noble.\u00a0 In January our county (San Diego) is one of the few places producing strawberries and I certainly enjoy those, but it doesn’t mean I don’t buy them later in the year when they come from further North. \u00a0Local food can definitely be a treat, but to think that it is a noble thing to be a “locovore” is a bit silly and often quite pretentious<\/a>. \u00a0There are plenty of non-local foods that you should eat with no sense of guilt. In this and my next blog I’ll talk about why.<\/p>\n

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Limited Food Diversity<\/h2>\n

Humanity depended largely of “local” food for thousands of years. That didn’t always go so well. \u00a0The most common limitation was a lack of fresh produce options during the off-season in the temperate zone. \u00a0Even when I was growing up in the 50s in Colorado, we were mostly stuck with canned and frozen fruits and vegetables in the winter. \u00a0 Until some time in the last century, most people had very limited diets for much of the year.\u00a0 The bigger issue was that nutrient deficiencies<\/a> caused serious health problems in many places because the locally available food didn’t supply all that was needed<\/a>. Finally, famine <\/a>was a very real threat. \u00a0Clearly, we would not want to go back to true, “old-school local” food. \u00a0Most Americans need to eat more fruits and vegetables, not less, and we need to be buffered from production ups and downs, particularly in an age of climate change<\/a>.\u00a0 We really need food from other places to have a stable, balanced diet.<\/p>\n

Quality Issues<\/h2>\n

Most people know that the best wines, teas and coffee come from specific places where they have just the right conditions for quality. \u00a0This is true of other foods as well.\u00a0 For instance, a region centered around North Dakota<\/a> is one of few areas with the right conditions for growing high quality Hard Red Spring wheat – critical for making high dough-strength baked goods like artisan bread<\/a>. \u00a0It is also a good place for growing quality malting barley<\/a> and durum<\/a> wheat for pasta.\u00a0 Some foods really do need to come from specific places.<\/p>\n

Water Issues<\/h2>\n

Much of the US population lives in places where it does not rain very much, or in the case of California, where it does not rain in the main growing season. \u00a0In these regions there is already an issue of dividing water resources between urban and agricultural use. \u00a0There is definitely not water available<\/a> to pursue the goal of local production of crops that can be grown well outside of California.\u00a0 We need to use our water for the things that we are uniquely able to grow.<\/p>\n

In part two of this blog<\/a>, I’ll talk about Productivity Differences and The Mathematics of Land Availability.<\/p>\n

Photo of an outdoor, Swiss produce shop by Steve Savage (it most likely represents a good mix of local and shipped items)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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