The Locavore's Dilemma
I've been trying to eat locally. While I don't always make it to the farmer's market to actually meet the folks who raise my food, I am careful even in the supermarket to read labels and ask questions about the sourcing for the food I purchase.The butchers at my favorite markets know me now and automatically point out the pastured-raised, local, organic meats. In the produce section, I try to select only the bounty that grows close to home. I even check out eggs and dairy for their origins and shun the ones from far away.
After a trip 'round my supermarket, carefully choosing fruits, veggies and meats from within 100 miles of my home, what should I spy but potato chips attractively packaged and named for the town where my grandmother lived - in Connecticut. Sure enough, these chips are locally produced - if you happen to live in the Connecticut River valley. This is the locavore's dilemma - do we let curiosity and sentiment tempt us into buying potato chips from clear across the country? Or do we maintain our strict mantra of "local, sustainable, organic"?
I slipped. I backslid. I bought these chips and brought them home to enjoy with memories of my grandmother's house with the beehive humming in the back yard, the blooming mountain laurel in the garden and the weeping willow that made a mysterious hidden playground for a little girl while her mother and her mother sat on a blanket in the grass and shared secrets.
Labels: locavore
posted by Zoomie at
5:38 AM
9 Comments:
Of course you buy them! And then you laugh at the idea of Maui onion in CT. It's a mixed-up world.
You wouldn't be eating bread if you wanted everything to come from within 100 miles. Unless you made your own, from local whole wheat, which you do. :)
my opinion? completely acceptable.
Most rules can be, should be, bent now and again. Don't tell anyone but I've bought crisps from the UK, just because I liked the name, Darling Supds!
Cookiecrumb, I laughed at the idea of Maui onion in CT, too, but bought them anyway.
Denise, thanks for the validation!
Morgan, I like that name, too - wonder if they are sold here? :-)
Oh course, this is local - to you. Just widen your frame of reference to all the places that you've lived in. Easy, peasy. After all, I consider food items from Italy, Greece and Turkey to be local. I lived there, didn't I? Besides, who can resist good potato chips?To expect you to do so is unhuman.
Nancy, if you and I did that, all foods no matter what season, would be fair game (or is that fare game?). But, I guess the occasional slip can be forgiven.
Oh, I know - I was just pulling your leg. But really, how many people have lived in as many places as we have? It would be interesting to put the question to your flist and find out.
Perhaps you could order some online - http://tinyurl.com/nxn79j
Nancy, oh, I see, a wag are you? :-)
Morgan, heck yes, why not? Adding another 3,000 miles to the energy footprint won't make much difference, will it? :-)
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