An interesting article in the August 2009 Bon Appetit caught my eye. On the surface, the article is about Vancouver, British Columbia and the local food movement there. But dig a little deeper in the article and you'll uncover what I'm beginning to think of as "local food exhaustion."No one's arguing that a local diet is not a good thing—it is, and that has been proven by Michael Pollan et al. I, for one, can't wait to taste the local blueberries and, of course, the delicious pears that southern Oregon is famous for. But, as I was staring at a pineapple at the Ashland Food Co-op, sometimes I just want something different. Something....not from around here. Should I feel guilty about my chocolate, almonds, coffee and pineapple?
Some of the chefs in the Vancouver area are starting to grumble about it (off the record, of course) about how the local movement is affecting them, and how it's almost become "like a religion" to some. However, if a chef makes an honest effort to buy locally, should we fault them for buying chicken that was shipped from 150 miles away? Or, more horrifying (to me, at least) should I eat nothing but apples, cabbage and squash all winter? Sometimes a person just wants a banana.
Has the local movement instilled too much guilt in us to eat hyper-locally?
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2 comments:
This really must be a toughie for restaurant owners, as such things do go in cycles and from, well, feast to famine. (Yar! Har!)
And if they stock up on local store-able items now, or put in orders for, say, the next year for locally raised meats or locally grown veggies, and then the customers don't come for it all, then it's a loss to the restaurant. That's if the farms are able to accommodate the orders.
I would say the smart thing to do would be to have just a small selection of local items but never, ever go overboard on it. Fresh out? Well, you know, think about it from a psychology standpoint: That will just make true fresh-food lovers try all the harder to reserve earlier next time. ;)
Just my two cents...worth the paper it's printed on! (Or a few of the keys of the keyboard it's typed on.)
Thanks for your insight Mel! I wish I could link to the article, it's really interesting. Alas, you have to have a subscription to read.
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