Locavores

The term “locavore,” which was chosen as the Oxford American Dictionary’s prestigious Word of the Year in 2007, refers to someone who relies on locally grown food for dietary needs. The definition of “local” refers generally to a climatic region or a particular distance from one’s home, though the definition may vary depending on the locavore. According to the group of San Franciscans who first coined the term in 2005, locavores aim to eat food grown within 100 miles of where they live. Other local food advocates ascribe to these same parameters, such as the founders of the 100-Mile Diet.

People often choose to become locavores because they support the Local Food movement, the goal of which is to promote sustainable, local food economies. Local food advocates seek to develop a local food supply that provides healthy, affordable food to communities, strengthens local economies, and eliminates the need for long-distance food transport that relies on fossil fuels and harms the environment.

Locavores argue that the current food system is unnecessarily wasteful because produce is often shipped long distances to places where the same items are already available locally. Non-local food is also inefficient, they say, as one independent study found that while shipping a strawberry from California to New York requires 435 calories of fossil fuel, it provides the eater with only 5 calories of nutrition.

Locavores get their food from farmer’s markets and CSAs, or they may grow their own food in gardens or farms. Many locavores assert that local food is healthier because produce picked closer to maturity is more nutritionally complete than that which is picked early so that it will survive long-distance travel. They also agree that because local food is fresher, it often tastes better.