Local Versus Organic – Haves Versus Have Nots

Time magazine’s main article in its March 2nd 07 issue reflects the uncertainty and confusion we have about ethical consumption of food in 2007. There’s a growing movement to eat local foods – food within a 100 to 250 mile radius – but, as the magazine suggests, that’s great if you live in California, ok if you live in North East USA but pretty restrictive if you live in Dublin. (The theory is that consuming fruit a local farm that even uses pesticides may be better for the planet than organic fruit shipped by fossil fuel burning planes, trains and boats half way around the world).

The author of the piece finally agrees to change his eating habits to eat more root vegetables in the winter and more fruit and veg in the summer – according to the stock that’s available in the local farms.

The problem with the local movement, PSFK thinks, is that it suggest that people in, say, northern Europe shouldn’t drink orange juice or eat much fruit for many months of the year. What seems to have happened is an over-reaction to the abundance of consumer choice we’ve been offered. We’re being offered the local variety but we’re choosing (or being persuaded to buy) the distant variety. The best and most celebrated example is Fiji water. Nearly everyone in the Western world has good local water – bottled or piped, but somehow we’re buying stuff that travels around the world.

Maybe what we need to do is apply a level of common sense: ensure that we import enough to maintain a decent diet, avoid foods that would be out of season locally and choose local when offered the choice.

Time Magazine