We all have our rituals and practices around grocery shopping.  You may be a loyal customer of Trader Joe’s, Busch’s/Jewel-Osco/Albertson’s, Whole Foods, Aldi or Costco.  And convenience in this day and age feels key – where can I get the most of what I need without having to re-make too many decisions about what to buy and how to get it in my belly?  Well, I’m going to propose you create a new ritual around buying more locally – which will not only invite you to change where you go, but also, how you meal plan. Don’t worry. I won’t leave you hanging. I’ll give you ideas on what you can do to get there. Let’s start with why it’s so great for us to do this in the first place.

The What

“Buying Local” is a loaded phrase.  On one hand, it feels so niche, like an option for an activity on a Saturday morning.  But buying local isn’t limited to those with the time to peruse the stalls and sample goat cheese and candy cane beets.  It’s for all of us.  In fact, buying local checks many diverse boxes.  I’m going to share with you some of the beautiful boxes of buying local.  You can decide which one it checks for you.

The Why

Whether you’re motivated by flavor, health, the environment, supporting your local economy, or food security, buying local is a very powerful tool. 

Just the Facts Ma’am

Flavor

The flavor of food is most intense when it is first picked.  The food sold at farmer’s markets or food hubs was likely just harvested and traveled a very short distance to get to you, so it hasn’t lost much flavor. 

Health

Food more recently harvested has more nutrients, which can be lost sitting for long hours or days in transport and then on a grocery shelf.  In addition, food grown locally was likely grown on a smaller farm. Large industrialized farms are more likely to spray chemicals to speed growth, prevent loss from disease and weeds, and to slow ripening in transport.  So for health – local food has more nutrients and fewer chemicals.

Environment

Simply put, fewer fossil fuels were used to get local food into your hands.

Supporting your local economy

Buying local puts money into the hands of your neighbor rather than some person that lives thousands of miles away, living in another community.

Security

The more we can provide for ourselves, locally, the less vulnerable we are to resource restriction when there is global conflict or a pandemic.

Have you read enough?  Ready to buy local?  Skip on down to What You Can Do.

Let’s go down the rabbit hole, shall we?

Flavor

The components in food that make eating them enjoyable, the scent and flavor, are susceptible to something called oxidation.  Basically, the longer food is out of the ground, the more oxidation takes place and the less flavor food has.  Local food is more flavorful than what you will find in a retail store because it was picked at the peak of ripeness and often within days, if not 24 hours, of when it is sold to you.  Food sold at retail stores are harvested, sent to a distributor and then often shipped long distances before it gets to your table.  That’s a lot of opportunity for flavor loss.  If you’re “lucky” that food was sprayed with a chemical to slow oxidation so it still tastes decent. 

Health

When you shop locally, you are more likely to meet a person who grew, raised or prepared your food.  You can ask how they treat their soil and their animals.  Local is typically closer to its natural state with fewer preservatives and unrecognizable chemical additives. And like with flavor, as the time from harvest to your belly lengthens, the more oxidation reduces the nutrient content of your food. More often than not, local food was just picked and full of nutrients.  One more fun health fact – if you eat a varied diet, and shift what you eat with what’s in season, you feed the diversity and strengthen your gut microbiome.  Here’s a great article about it from the Cleveland Clinic!

The Environment

Local means that the food did not travel far to get to you.  That means fewer greenhouse gas emissions and a smaller carbon footprint.  Local farmer’s markets and food hubs also create a lot less packaging and food waste.  They are often happy to take back the carton or bag they portioned the food in, and they are open to suggestions.  If a farmer gets five or ten customers asking them to stop using plastic bags to portion their spinach, they are far more likely to find a more environmentally friendly solution than a national retailer. Smaller boats are easier to turn.  

Small farms are also less likely to toss a zucchini or a carrot that is shaped funny because it doesn’t resemble an idealized version of the vegetable.  I’ve been fruitlessly (ha ha) looking for data that tells us how much food is wasted for purely cosmetic reasons and can’t find one I can lean on (no source).  But I have read that 40% of food intended for consumers does not get to us, and 20% of that is because of its appearance rather than its condition.  While some are fed to cattle and used for compost, much of it goes to rot – which means the resources used to grow them have been largely wasted.  Those resources include water, fuel and time.  (And remember from a previous post – what should our cattle really be eating for our health, their health, and the environment?  Cattle should be fed what they have evolved to process in their guts.)

Supporting your local economy

According to a recent study out of Central Oregon, for every dollar spent on a local food product, $0.76 stayed in the community.  If you bought from a chain retail store, only $0.28 stayed in the community.  More money in the community means more tax dollars for the city to improve schools, streets and utilities.  It makes the area more resilient against outside economic forces. It also creates more jobs  – for every 5 on-farm jobs created locally, 2 off-farm jobs are created in the area.  

Security

COVID taught us a lot.  Remember when the toilet paper shelves were empty?  Remember when it was impossible to get hand sanitizer? Imagine living in a country like Singapore, a wealthy country that imports most of its food. When we had some conflicts with China, our president decided to pour resources in computer chip manufacturing so that we didn’t have to rely on China for our technology.  When there is national conflict or a disruption like a pandemic, being able to grow, produce, and manufacture locally can prevent hardship and even ensure survival for a community.  So building up and supporting local economies, from food production to processing and manufacturing, being self-sufficient is essential for security on many levels.

When did we stop knowing or caring to know where our food came from?  I know I didn’t even think about it until recently.  But if everyone bought their food from local farms, we would have more resilient communities, healthier local economies, healthier people and a healthier planet.

What You Can Do

1. Begin to arm yourself with knowledge. Start by picking one to three local and in-season produce and researching some recipes. Here is a great resource for achieving both. Doing this will help you overcome any trepidation you feel about trying something new.
2. Regularly visit your local farmer’s market. If you do that, you’ll meet the local farmers, figure out which ones grow the food in a way you feel good about, make connections, learn what’s available when and learn what to do with it to make a delicious meal!  After the initial learning curve, it will feel easier.
3. Purchase a CSA share.  CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  You pay for weekly boxes of the most recently harvested vegetables from a local farm.  You get super fresh and healthy food at a very reasonable price.  CSA’s will usually provide pick-up at the farm or the farmer’s market.  Some may even deliver.  If you recruit a neighbor or friend to do it with you, you can take turns picking them up!
4. Very deliberately sit down and think about your rituals around grocery store visits and plan out your shift to local.  This will make the transition easier.  Even if you just visit once per month, buy what looks best (and try something new!), and then head to the grocery store if you still need more items.  You don’t have to go cold turkey.  Make it an adventure!