Saturday, May 06, 2006

Eating locally

I'm currently reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, a journalism professor at UC Berkeley. The book is an attempt to look at where our food comes from and the broader ranging impact of the agricultural practices that are now standard in this country. Some of it is a little gimmicky (such as reporting on eating a fast food meal from a car speeding through Marin county) and definitely not balanced, but overall he does a good job of reporting an interesting story. There is much in the book I wasn't aware of, such as the politics of corn and what a high percentage of our diets comes from corn (virtually every additive in every form of processed food, it seems, not to mention that it's the grain that feeds the cows, chickens, and pigs we eat). It's definitely worth a read.

There's a group called the Locavores who encourage people to eat locally. They are SF-based but have members from a variety of states, I believe. For many things it's possible for us to eat food produced within our "foodshed" (say, within 100 miles) but not everything (pasta? coffee and tea?). Still, I've been trying to do that a little more than I had in the past, partly because of reading the Pollan book. Their May eat-locally challenge blog is located here.

5 Comments:

At 1:18 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Katherine!

Both of those books sound quite interesting. There was an article in our local paper recently about a woman who (with her husband) ate nothing but locally produced and harvested foods for a whole year. But...ack...no coffee??!! No chocolate? No guacamole or shrimp or curries? I would have a hard time with that, I am afraid- so spoiled!

Maggie

 
At 1:32 PM , Blogger Katherine said...

Yes, it would be tough to go 100%, especially for as long as a year! A day, maybe.

I think the locavores say local first, if not that then organic, fair trade, etc. We're not being very diligent about it.

 
At 1:18 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I put the Omnivore's Dilemma on hold at the Davis library and there are 24 people ahead of me. Luckily there are 10 copies.

Eating local for a month is a really interesting, educational and challenging experience. If oil prices rise, it gives you an inkling of what the future may hold. But the first day afterward, we're going to run out and get Indian take-out, sushi, etc.

Luckily if you shop at the Davis Food Coop and farmers market, it's not too hard.

 
At 9:03 PM , Blogger Katherine said...

Yes, I recently read The Long Emergency about peak oil, as well as another book along similar lines. He's a bit overwrought and rants a lot but it is disturbing to think about the future specifically with regard to agriculture when all those fossil fuels are gone. Maybe it won't happen in my lifetime, but if it does, we are lucky to live in the center of all this great stuff growing.

By the way, if you want to borrow my copy of Omnivore when I'm done you are welcome to it.

 
At 9:36 PM , Blogger dan said...

If you're interested in a book that discusses our situation regarding oil, energy, etc., the one I'd recommend is The End of Oil by Paul Roberts.

Roberts isn't overly alarmist, but the facts are scary enough that no embellishment is required. The book discusses the impact our energy consumption is having on the climate, the economic and security implications of reaching peak oil over the next few years, and what the outlook is for alternate sources of energy. He thinks we're pretty far away from being able to wean ourselves of of carbon-based energy resources.

I highly recommend it.

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home