The May/June issue of Foreign Policy magazine, dubbed The Food Issue, found its way into my hands. The issue is chock full of very interesting information. The reporters conducted several interesting polls. Long about the last page of the issue, they queried the fifty-eight poll participants who are “some of the world’s leading experts” on food, its distribution, and the world’s hunger problems. The survey asked participants to fill in the blanks on specific topics related to food, such as: "The best way to feed the world in 50 years is…;” and “Organic is....” I found many of the responses thought provoking and interesting, some rather glib, a couple silly. But a respondent named Sallie James floored me when she filled in some blanks thusly: “The stupidest food fad is.... “the ‘locavore’ and ‘slow food’ movement”, said Sallie, and she elaborated- “snobbish, condescending, indulgent, misguided, and thoroughly unrealistic.” Gee, sounds like Sallie really enjoys her Mickey D’s and is unwilling to give them up!* Well, Sallie, it’s not that many years ago- in this country- that we ate what we grew or what we bought from our local markets which retailed food grown in the community. As a matter of fact a lot of people still do that today! Some folks are lucky enough to have farmers’ markets in their communities or nearby towns. Some people eat the produce from their own gardens. Some people buy shares from CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture- local farms where you can buy a "share" of the crops being grown); some buy their produce at farmstands. Some people even preserve some of their food! These small farms are more likely to use good sustainable methods in their farming than huge factory farms. If you get to know the people you buy from, you can actually ask questions of them. If you’re lucky you’ll run into folks using sustainable or organic methods. Buying directly from the grower can save not only you, but him/her money as well. (It is estimated that the farmer gets under 12 cents of every dollar we spend on food at the market.) Food that is grown and eaten locally is fresher, tastier and higher in nutrients than food that’s been shipped long distances. Eating locally keeps dollars in the community, and increases the security and resiliency of the community. A farmer being able to hold onto a small farm keeps jobs in the community and the natural beauty of the land is preserved. That’s all part of being a locavore, right? -eating what’s grown locally, or nearby. (I don’t think there is a hard and fast definition, at least no one spells out the radius for locavore eating.) Check further here. Slow food- the opposite of fast food- is the consumption of food cooked at home (or in a restaurant where no one yells through a microphone upon your order “want fries with that?”). In much of this country people still sit down to slow cooked meals, as they do all over Canada, Europe, Asia, South America and in fact just about everywhere! I guess they’re all too snobbish and misguided to realize that a fast alternative exists, that is if they'd be willing to sacrifice taste and nutrition on the altar of saved time. Yeah, Sallie, what a great alternative! I realize fast food is here to stay. It’s a convenience. It’s a necessary “evil,” but that doesn’t mean the alternative is indulgent, misguided and unrealistic. And I realize we’re exporting our fast food industry to other countries, too, where it’s gobbled up- not exactly a good example of American culture. When you cook at home you know where your ingredients come from… you know what you’re getting. Slow food means fresher ingredients, less processing, better taste, more nutrition, better all round bang for your buck.
*I was trying to be facetious, - imagining Sallie pounding down fast food. Sallie’s a trade policy analyst for the Cato Institute, a conservative “think tank.” Sallie’s no more getting her chow from a fast food chain than I’m getting carry-out from a five star restaurant. I think it’s Sallie who’s being snobbish. She doesn’t realize that little people like me don’t prefer to eat food that’s had the heck processed out of it and/or that’s traveled across oceans and continents before it’s reached my table.
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