A few readers of the One City blog brought up a great point last week in response to my post about organic food, one that I think merits discussion of its own: is “eating local” even more important that eating organic? Is it fresher? Better for you? The environment? Most important (to my lazy self), is eating local worth the effort? Because getting up early on a Saturday morning to shop the local farmers’ market is, uh, not my idea of fun.
Here are a few links about how to eat local and why:
http://www.foodroutes.org/how
http://www.foodroutes.org/why
http://www.eatlocal.net/how
Have any of you seriously tried this? Is the food better? Do you think you’re really saving tons of energy and fossil fuels by buying food that’s produced locally? (I’m thinking about how much energy it takes per pound of food to drive a pickup truck full of apples from upstate NY to Union Square vs. a barge full of bananas from South America — economies of scale here — but that probably isn’t a fair comparison. And there are still trucks that have to drive the bananas to our stores…)
Anyway. Until you guys can convince me otherwise, my idea of eating local will remain the bodega nearest my house, and the awesome restaurants on Graham Avenue. And this place: