Local Foods And Local Food

Locavores argue that food travelling long distances before being consumed declines in nutrition as antioxidants and nutrients decay — meaning that food which travels less distance (and is therefore eaten faster) is better for your health. However, Marion Nestle (as quoted by Alisa Smith and J.B. McKinnon) thinks that the nutrition argument isn’t based in science. According to her, “a person making smart choices from the global megamart can easily meet all the body’s needs”, and “there will be nutritional differences, but they’ll be marginal” (Source B). It’s clearly not unhealthy to eat locally grown foods, and they may even be better for your health. However, the benefits of eating freshly picked food may not be as great as locavores claim they are.

(Love & Das, 2016, para. 7). However, Love and Das (2016) expound on the inefficiency of this solution by stating that it “does not bridge the gaps to healthy food” because of their inability to invest in the community and understand their needs (para 12). Using vivid language throughout the article, the authors make their point emotionally impactful by emphasizing that big-chain grocery stores “lur[ed…] to the hood” leave when they no longer profit from maintaining a store in these neighborhoods (Love & Das, 2016, para. 9). Rightfully criticizing the existing solution, the authors expose the superficiality and inefficient manner of only bringing in more stores into neighborhoods. Moreover, by criticizing the superficiality of the existing solution, the authors suggest that eliminating food deserts involves a more personal investment into the betterment of the community. Overall, Love and Das permit the readers to gain an emotional insight on the impact food deserts have on low-income populations and understand the limiting nutrition conditions by appealing to

The growing locavore movement suggests that local food is key for healthy eating and community growth. One would imagine that the closer the source of one’s food is from, the healthier and more sustainable it is, right? However, this is not the case. In the set of locavore articles, the authors provide information to show that the locavore movement brings about issues involving inefficiency, energy use, and impracticality.

Buying local is the new slogan of producers and sellers selling their foods in the food market. There are a few stances that can be taken such as not bothering to care about where the food came from, getting what can be purchased within reason, and the extreme locavore. Although eating local and organic is desirable, it is improbable to create a sustainable lifestyle with the given difficulties.

Families in cities rely on general stores and health food stores to obtain food products. A severe shortage of food throughout the country would raise potentially difficult questions for families. Where are they going to get food now that stores

Locavores are consumers of locally grown or produced products. Eating fresh foods from their local farmer’s market can improve income twice as much for its economy. This is important because people give away their money to companies that could instead be giving it to benefit their community. Gogoi Pallavi the author of The Rise of the Locavore states, “It’s a movement that is gradually reshaping the business of growing...local food movement has already accomplished something almost no

All food should be available to all people. The concept of this is dwelled on in the article, “Food justice and Food retail in Los Angeles” by Mark Valliantos. Throughout the article, Valliantos maintains the notion that healthy food should be within everyone’s reach, yet inner cities are still suffering from shortages of fresh produce. To see this issue in action, Valliantos documented this reoccurring phenomenon in Los Angeles. The author gives a description of two areas within the city of Los Angeles, and how they are economically divided based on the amount of healthy produce one has at its disposal. He makes note of programs that already exist to help low income families receive healthy foods that they could not afford. He also

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011 Consumer Expenditure Survey, each year millions of americans visit grocery stores, spending an average of $8,315, buying food to feed themselves and their families. However, how many of these americans stop to think of the where this food came from, how it was produced, or the impact that this food has on our environment? On Buying Local, is a persuasive essay written by Kathrine Spriggs, that explores some of these questions, and addresses many points of interest regarding the ideas and benefits of buying locally produced food.

One of the most troubling issues that is concerning our country is the amount of people living with type 2 diabetes and obesity because of food deserts. Food deserts are affecting the lives of older generation and could follow into the next generation if nothing is done to eliminate the harmful consequences of food deserts in the United States. A complete wipe out of food deserts will not be an easy process, it will years to change the eating habits for lower-income communities. It is less of a challenge to just put a supermarket in a community that needs it, but changing poor nutrition is not as easy. To dispose of food deserts, there are several ways to take action within rural communities. Since fresh fruits and vegetables are troublesome

Adding local foods to people’s diets can be a small step to big change, for local foods have many nutritional and flavorful benefits. If fruits and vegetables are given more time to ripen, they can absorb more nutrients.The nutritional value of a food decreases over time. Farmer’s markets have the food picked within 24 hours allowing the food to have its potential nutrition (Source A). Cynthia Sass, a dietitian, mentions in Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon’s book Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally that phytochemicals and really powerful disease-fighting substances can “never get as high” when “a food never really reaches

People get to choose what goes into their own food. If a person were only getting their food from their backyard or somewhere close by they would not be using resources to acquire their food. As well as resources being saved by not driving to large franchises, they would be saved by not having the food processed and by not purchasing foods from a large name brand store would save the resources used to refine the food and gas of the large trucks that ship the food from place to place. Thoreau, an American Literature author, wrote, “Men say that a stitch in time saves nine, so they take a thousand stitches today to save nine to-morrow.” He thought that people rationalized that they were saving time or energy, but by saving a little bit they wasted much more. Conserving energy by not processing food would help preserve the environment along with helping with a person’s

The food industry has a large impact on individuals and will affect wider communities in the future. The rush of today’s society has pushed food production to become more commercialized with prepackaged/premade based foods. For numerous reasons such as time, work and costs of living, people are wanting meals that are cheap, fast, easy and don’t require much effort. This is due to many obligations and priorities in life that are put above

Before beginning their journey Catacalos and Janzen asked themselves questions such as, “Was choosing to consume foods locally a scam or was it worth their time?” along with “Is eating locally better for the environment?” as well as “Is choosing to eat locally more expensive than not?” Within a month’s time, both Catacalos and Janzen hoped to have their questions answered (117).

Society must educate itself on what type of food is healthy such as fresh or fresh frozen vegetables, lean meats, whole grains and fruits. Parents should take the time to explain what these are and why they are important, educating themselves if necessary. Families can also extend this education to a hands-on experience but starting a small vegetable garden which produces some of the vegetables they eat. Author and farmer, Sharon Astyk, and sustainable systems land planner, Aaron Newton, argue that people need to take back the control of the food selection and prices by growing their own or purchasing directly from local farmers. In their article, “The Rich Get Richer: the Poor Go Hungry”, Astyk and Newton (2015) write, “When we grow our own food, or buy it directly from local farmers, we take power away from multinationals” (p.518). I agree that society should become more involved and self-sustaining pertaining to food to retain independence from companies that are loyal to shareholders. This education will provide the current and future generations necessary resources to make improved food choices, thereby reducing the obesity and diabetes epidemics gripping our nation.

If we all took the time to do the easy research to buy local and support our community, we can visualize a healthy community both economically and physically. Less traffic and allergies and more fresh produce! According to greenupgrader.com one of the top reasons to buy local is because small local businesses are the largest employers nationally. Plus the more jobs you have in your local community the less people are going to have to commute which means more time and less traffic and pollution. Another benefit of buying local is Competition and