A locavore is someone who eats food grown or produced locally or within a certain radius such as 50, 100, 150 or 250 miles. The locavore movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers' markets or even to produce their own food, with the argument that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locally grown food is an environmentally friendly means of obtaining food, since supermarkets that import their food use more fossil fuels and non-renewable resources. (This is the theory at least; some would calculate more petroleum output buying locally. See richsoil podcast below for the rationale, from minutes 21-26.)
"Locavore" was coined by Jessica Prentice from the San Francisco Bay Area on the occasion of World Environment DayW 2005 to describe and promote the practice of eating a diet consisting of food harvested from within an area most commonly bound by a 100 mile radius.
The New Oxford American Dictionary chose locavore, a person who seeks out locally produced food, as its word of the year 2007.[1] The local foods movement is gaining momentum as people discover that the best-tasting and most sustainable choices are foods that are fresh, seasonal, and grown close to home. Some locavores draw inspiration from the The 100-Mile DietW or from advocates of local eating like Barbara Kingsolver whose book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle chronicles her family's attempts to eat locally. Others just follow their taste buds to farmers' markets, Community Supported AgricultureW programs, and community gardens.
See also[edit | edit source]
External links[edit | edit source]
- Hyperlocavore - A free yard sharing community (currently redirects to a Ning site, but may be moving sometime after Aug 2010).
- locavore365 Find food from local producers, allows search by distance for local food from any location in the world
References
- ↑ Severson, Kim (22 July 2008). "A Locally Grown Diet With Fuss but No Muss". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
