If you speak Spanish you may think this article is about crazy people. Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s not. I’ll be sure to include something crazy in the future, but not today. A locavore is someone who eats locally. I’m serious. I didn’t make this up. It’s in the dictionary. It’s a real thing.
Locally? Well we all go to the local supermarket or bodega or Wal-Mart or Target or whatever to get our food. That’s buying local right? Not exactly. If you look closely at where your food is grown or packaged you’ll probably notice that your food has traveled thousands of miles.
Thousands of miles? No problem. Right? Well… not exactly. Think about this: food rots. Let me rephrase: food is supposed to rot. This is why we have to refrigerate or freeze or wrap up our food. Even then it only last but so long.
With the advent of food science, the food industry has come up with many ways to ensure this doesn’t happen. They genetically modify the food to last longer or spray it with chemicals or pick the food way before it gets ripe and ripen it with chemicals. This probably has some effect on the quality of the food and the nutrition you get from the food.
Now if you’re okay with getting lower quality or highly processed or modified foods then you’re in the clear. Keep on keeping on. But if you do care about where your food comes from and the quality of that food there’s something that you can do about it.
Support your local farmers. Yes it’s that simple. If you’re in the supermarket, just look for signs on packages that say something like “grown locally”. You can also go to a local farmers market. If you don’t know where they are in your area just google “farmers markets” or “green markets” and you’ll find the information. You can also join a CSA (community supported agriculture) where you get a weekly bunch of freshly grown fruits and vegetables when you support the farmer financially.
There are so many reasons to eat locally ranging from the freshness and quality of the food to the importance of eating foods that are in season. I’ll save that for another discussion. But it’s something you should look into. You’ll thank yourself in the future.
Until next time, cheers to a better you!
If you have any questions, ideas, products you’d like reviewed, or just want to chat feel free to email me at onyi@okeeki.com , find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/onyi.nwosu, or follow me on Twitter @OnyiNwosu. Don’t be afraid. I am a nice person.