Take that, locavore!
Adam Freedman ·
Jun 21, 2010 at 11:52am
I confess: I just ate an apple that came from Chile. It looked like this:
It was tart, crisp, with just a hint of carbon footprint to it. Actually, a couple years ago, there was a piece in Reason citing evidence that it takes less energy to import apples than it does to keep them in cold storage locally. Of course, the global warming mafia will argue that one just shouldn't eat fruit out of season, period. I say: what's the point of having an advanced economy if I can't eat apples year-round? Am I being too selfish here?
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May '10
Re: Take that, locavore!
I watched a show called "The Fab Beekman Boys". A gay couple from NYC decide to buy a farm in upstate NY and live the "simple life" by growing organic veggies, raising goats and selling goat milk soap to boutiques. They get all of their farming knowledge from the internet. I give the experiment 6 months. Farming is hard. That's why people stopped doing it. Canning is hard. That's why it is so great to buy fresh food year round. There's something romantic about strawberry picking with the family and then coming home to make jars of strawberry jam. But I wouldn't want to have to grow my own garden to sustain my family or raise and slaughter my own livestock. Who are those locavores kidding, anyway? Enjoy that apple. I hope it wasn't even organic.
May '10
Re: Take that, locavore!
Adam, the honest environmentalists will tell you they are actually against advanced economies.
Jun '10
Re: Take that, locavore!
Karen and Adam, I couldn't agree more. The "buy local" and the farming example you give are just a step toward a subsistence economy. Specialization and trade have made us all more wealthy. In the example of the locally grown apple, energy costs may (or may not) be higher for the Chilean apple, but the lower price is telling us something about the total resources consumed in bringing that apple to market. If you only care about energy, maybe buying local is appropriate (or maybe not). But if you care about all resources, then the price metric is the best gauge we have. I say buy whatever you want, just don't impose government policies that make my Chilean apple noncompetitive. BTW, I think PBS already did that farming experiment (Frontier House?) and it wasn't pretty.
May '10
Re: Take that, locavore!
Mmmmm. Carbon footprint.
Re: Take that, locavore!
Well, I agree with you about apples. Out of season apples can be delicious. But out of season tomatoes are pretty awful -- the trip up from wherever they're grown is a bouncy and bruisy affair, and by the time I get them in Los Angeles, they're either watery and tasteless or total pulp. Canned ones are a better choice.
So when it comes to tomatoes, I only buy local ones. Canned, that is, from the local grocery store.
May '10
Re: Take that, locavore!
I can't remember where I heard it, but there's a saying down South that if you see someone buying tomatoes at the grocery store during the summer, that is a person with very few friends.
Jun '10
Re: Take that, locavore!
Rob, you're right about the tomatoes. And nothing beats in season, locally grown produce from the farmstand. The crowd in power now thinks I should prefer locally grown organic food, but when it comes to produce of equal quality, if it's cheaper I'll buy imported every time. I guess I just don't know what's good for me.
May '10
Re: Take that, locavore!
I suppose this is as good a place as any to vent my frustration with the argument that organic food is automatically better than "conventionally grown" food. Sometimes organic food is better, but not always, and when you consider the price difference it can be hard to make a case for buying organic all the time. As for locally sourced food, I'm all for that, as long as it doesn't interfere with the Harry & David pears the friendly UPS driver delivers every Christmas.
May '10
Re: Take that, locavore!
If we were all to go organic, then Malthus would soon enough be a genius again.
May '10
Re: Take that, locavore!
The Boston Globe had a similar skeptical piece about this a few years ago: http://bit.ly/8XcvGH. From that I got the sense that there was a significant fad component. There was a bunch of enthusiasm for organic food, but then the conglomerates got into that market and the definition of "organic" became murky when regulatory language was proposed. For all I know, it's something else this year. The other wonderful thing I learned from that article is that there's such a thing as a "Vermont's most ethical eater" contest.
Re: Take that, locavore!
As Katherine Mangu-Ward has pointed out, foodies angry with the corporate co-option of the organic brand are turning for salvation to authentic food. This is all ridiculous, of course, but sadly the ridiculousness masks some basic, commonsense ideas about what to eat and why. Food grown well, naturally, and locally has more than aesthetic appeal. It happens to cost more. Sometimes, it's worth it; sometimes not. You can wash pesticides off an apple. You can't wash growth hormones out of your milk. It's fun to cruise your farmer's market on the weekend. It's not terribly fun to choose the right bag of pistachios from a floor-to-ceiling wall of nuts in a vast fluorescent chamber. Let's drain some of the political swamp here and realize that sane people should be expected to take advantage of bigger, more sophisticated markets, including organic, local, and artisan foods -- options which I like being able to select.
Re: Take that, locavore!
Oh, I agree with the aesthetic appeal - fresh produce tastes better, and I like to shop at the local farmer's market (although I always ask for plastic bags, rather than toting around my own burlap sack).
But Bruce made point better than I did -- let consumers be guided by price and taste, rather than government controls. I also agree with Bruce's point that resource allocation is baked into the price. Greg Easterbrook made this point years ago (can't remember where) re: whether to use coffee mugs or styrofoam cups. The answer is: use whichever is most cost effective for you.
And finally, let's not forget liberal hypocrisy. After all, they pick their battles very carefully. I walked into my favorite cafe this morning and remembered this thread. "Do you have any locally grown coffee?" I asked. The guy just laughed.