Eating Local

If you’ve ever been to the Seattle Pike Place Market on a weekend, you already know the hectic rush of shoppers’ anticipation to get the best pick of the fresh produce.
Brought in from all over Western Washington, local famers and growers dedicate their livelihood to producing and selling crops. Whether they do it for income or for the quality of the food they farm, local famers depend on the community to sustain their trade.
The beauty of the isles of colorful food lined up through the market is deceiving. Farmers’ Markets like Pike Place has so much to offer, but does not meet the needs of consumers today. Step into a Costco or any other major supermarket chain and an entirely different atmosphere consumes you. Suddenly, you are struck with “deals” and “sales” and 6 months worth of frozen chicken.
Factory farmed, mass produced food surrounds the American culture. The debate these days not only revolves on health issues about factory farmed foods, but how economically and environmentally sustainably this way of life is.
The ethical debate between eating locally farmed foods and buying industrial, mass produced food has been growing over the last decade.
Factory farmed foods offer a huge amount of food produced in a small amount of time, allowing for quick turnaround to consumers. Locally farmed foods have been known to help boost local economies and use less natural resources, such as fossil fuels, in transit.


The debate between eating locally produced food and factory farmed food comes down to a few key factors. First, local foods are known to be nutritious and full of vitamins. Little to no chemicals are added to locally produced food but they are also more expensive than chain grocery stores.
Local foods are limited in their variety due to the different farming seasons. Having less variety inhibits many consumers because of our current expectation to have access to any food, anytime, anywhere.
Consumers have become comfortable with the millions of options. Convenience, price, and availability are a priority over freshness or health.


It is because of this comfort that farmers are suffering. Farmers argue that since the beginning of man, we have always farmed and produced our own food. Their livelihood and communities rely heavily on local economy.
Local farmers are stuck. They want to promote their products for being more natural, better quality, and healthier for people and the environment, but those qualities don’t seem to be getting many people’s attention.
Farming communities have used global warming as an example of why people should buy locally. Goods that are produced and sold locally generally do not have to be shipped, frozen, or delivered, so they use less gas and fossil fuel in the process.
Naturally, there would be no debate if there wasn’t a key participant from the opposing side.
Large corporations such as Wal-Mart, Costco, or K-Mart all suggest that their companies are improving the lives of their customers by providing quick and affordable varieties of food year round.
In order to offset the negatives associated with mass production, corporations like Wal-Mart have launched campaigns to give back to their communities and provide inexpensive services (i.e. prescriptions, vision care, etc.). In doing so, many large companies have created communities where their store is the only option for consumers.


The Organic Consumers Association’s “Breaking The Chains” (BTC) campaign falls into the ethical debate of what we eat. BTC is a movement that is trying to shift the focus on consumers from convenience to quality.
Their mission is not to persuade every consumer to buy the most expensive, most organic products, but rather to inform consumers about the food choices that they make. Their organization raises controversial issues, such as protesting businesses like Starbucks and “break the influence of big chains.”
All of these components combined, the issue of eating ethically can be argued many ways.

The ongoing war between eating local versus consuming factory produced foods continues between two battling New York Times articles. In July of last year, Susan Saulny published an article entitled, Cutting Out the Middlemen, Shoppers Buy Slices of Farms.
Her pro-local standpoint was discussed with overwhelming statistics regarding the increased number of farms, the growth of shares in privately owned farms, and the numbers of people that are refusing to buy from supermarket chains and have turned to local food.
The article focuses primarily on the positives of East Coast communities pooling together their money to buy shares in local farms. The idea that people are “skipping out on grocery stores and even farmers markets and instead going right to the source buy buying shares of farms” is brought to attention.

Community supported agriculture (C.S.A) is becoming a popular choice for people who want to get involved with their communities in order to sustain and grow their local economies. The lifestyle is referred to as being a “localvore”
Josh Friedland, and op-ed writer for the New York Times published a very different article nearly two weeks after Saulny’s article was published.
His piece entitled, Is Eating Local Earnest or Elitist? mocks the pro-local worldview, arguing that “Why not poke fun at the trendiness of those who want their food local, but don’t want to get their “hands dirty” farming. What a bunch of suckers.”

According the Saulny’s article, a program coordinator for the Fulton Center for Sustainable Living at Wilson College said, “People are seeing ways to come together and work together make this successful.”

As a Seattleite, there are so many different ways to get involved in the Green Movement. A Queen Anne establishment by the name of Eat Local (http://www.eatlocalonline.com/) offers locally grown foods prepared into take-away meals for busy families on-the-go.
Other related blogs surrounding the Seattle Eat Local movement include, WorldChanging Seattle : (http://www.worldchanging.com/local/seattle/archives/008238.html) and Eat Local Northwest (http://eatlocal.wordpress.com/)