Wednesday, February 10, 2010
How Local Is Local?
As of right now, I live in Jamaica Plain. It's ok. My cousin from DC came up and I decided to take him to the "local" eating and drinking establishments in JP. First stop JP licks ice cream. It was slow, so I asked the guy working behind the counter a few questions. They make whip cream there, and some flavors of ice cream. I told him about my project and he laughed. He told me the cones come from China and the sprinkles on my sundae came from Canada. He told me to guess where the strawberries came from. All this time I thought I was eating local ice cream. So if some of the prepared foods are "prepared" in JP, does that make them local? How far back do we trace this? 150 miles out of Boston does not get you that far, mid-New Hampshire, just about where Interstate 89 and 91 meet up. Next stop Sam Adams Brewery. We went on the tour and had free samples at the end. Only 5% of all Sam Adams is brewed here in JP. Nothing in bottles, just some kegs. I imagine if less than 5% was made here in JP then they would have to put PA on the label instead of Boston. So my "local" day. Not so local. And ice cream and beer, not the best combo.
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Ha ha, that's a good day! I think it's great that you found out about this stuff. It kind of gets back to the idea of greenwashing, except for local food. (Like the local apples in my post today from who knows where on the Eastern seaboard!). But like the guy at Greenward said, maybe we could see it as a good thing that all the food producers wants to be seen as local. That means there's really demand for it. I do think foods produced/processed locally are a step in the right direction even if they don't use locally-grown ingredients. But the benefits seem more to be about local business that way, and less about knowing your food source.
ReplyDeletePS--Come down Virginia way and I'll take you to some local wineries. The grapes are grown and bottled here! Somehow VA has come to be the emerging wine region to watch, who knew?
I think you're right, Brynn. Local production does seem to be more about the economic aspects of sustainability than the ecological aspects. (Think about our disciplinary perspectives... :) Both are critical components if we are going to make progress!
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