Food for thought (literally)

This post is in response to Jess's question/comment about eating local food.

There are many arguments out there for why eating local food is a good idea. Some ideas are more political, some are more ecological, some are health-oriented. Here are a few links to read so you can start thinking about which reasons are most compelling for you and whether/how eating local is something that fits into your values of Christ-centered living. (foodroutes.org, slowfoodusa.org)

Cincinnati is a pretty good place to live for local produce. There are a number of farmer's markets (and its almost market season!), several farms that will let you buy a share of their produce each year (called CSAs, or Community Sustained Agriculture), and other farms that sell their products on-site. Additionally, most grocery stores, aware of the many local food campaigns, are happy to post which foods are local (or you can always ask). There are different definitions as to what constitutes "local", of course, but it is logical that an apple from Michigan will be fresher and take fewer resources to transport to you than a banana from Ecuador.

Just to put it in context, because it is unlikely that any of us will eat all-local-all-the-time, here's a quote from an interesting book on the topic, "If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That’s not gallons, but barrels."