locavore

this is my new favorite word. having been a slow foodie for almost two years now, it has taken a couple of well placed books to completely swing me over. i recently read michael pollan's "omnivore's dilemma" and am now reading barbara kingsolver's "animal, vegetable, miracle." (i say read... but i actually am ingesting them unabridged through my auditory canals. more about the wonders of audiobooks later.) for those of you unacquainted with the term, "locavore" means one who eats locally. no, not at the mcdonald's up the street. locavores eat food that was grown, spawned, birthed, hatched, milked, laid, or otherwise produced within a hundred miles of where they live. the food is usually not certified organic, but most of it is grown with more attention to the original intentions of the organic movement than its vacuum sealed, styrofoam-bedded, cellophane-wrapped grocery store counterparts. i am a little wary of the old fella who grows obscenely mammoth winter squash and bushels of greasy beans, but only because i remember grandpa and granddaddy's fondness for sevin dust. the advantages are myriad, but i will stick to the big three. one: because it comes from farms within an half an hour radius of asheville and is mostly grown without the dubious benefit of petrochemicals, it involves far, far less petrol than the same sort of thing shipped from california. or peru. the benefit in that is irrefutable. regardless of how you feel about al gore. two: variety! o my goodness! leafy greens like kale, collards, chard, russian kale, lacinato kale, every imaginable lettuce except iceberg, callaloo, bok choy, pak choy, and stuff i've never even heard of! tomatoes in every shade except maybe blue. carrots in purple, red, orange and near white. strawberries and blueberries. a plethora of eggplants and the dreaded summer squash. herbs to savor up any dish. because these farmers are real people and not agribusinesses, they have the ability to plant heirloom varietals that may be too delicate to make it a thousand miles to your table. or too regional to sell in peoria. like the hillbilly tomato. a sunset in every bite, the plant tag suggests that it be served in a sammy with wonderbread and duke's mayonnaise in front of the television set along with a cold PBR and a serious dose of nascar. that's a lot for one little plant tag. they also turn to pulp if handled too much, and they hate cold. so nix that one from the refrigerator truck. many farmers here are proud to be growing varieties that have been local for many years. like greasy beans and cherokee purple tomatoes. they exchange seeds and seedlings, much to the disgruntlement of monsanto and other botanical kidnappers. no one owns the genes of these little heroes of the plant world. with so much of the arable land of this planet dedicated to only a very few, very specifically bred varieties of corn and soy, the food supply that the majority of the world depends on is in incredible peril from microbial attack. did these folk learn nothing from the irish potato famine? besides, and this brings me to number three, it just tastes better and is better for you. locally grown produce is fresh from the field. the kale we ate last night was pulled yesterday morning. as were the carrots, beets, shallots, and potatoes. they taste like vegetables, not cardboard. the flavors and textures are bright and crisp. they have a flavor unique to those grown in these soils, with this particular water source, a terroir if you will. and foods eaten so soon after harvesting still retain all of the nutrients that leach out on a long trip across the world. vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, micro-nutrients, TASTE.
we will see how i feel about local food in midwinter, when all i can find are eggs, goat milk, potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, and (if the crop is good) lots and lots of apples. i think that my next purchase will be a gigantic freezer for my basement, so that i can preserve the bounty of summer until it arrives again next year.


post script: i am still not eating the spawned, birthed or hatched. i am still a vegetarian, too. but with excellent sources of truly free-range eggs and goat milk (been to the farm!), i feel better about some consumption of animal products. i am even learning how to make cheese. look out for the cooler when i visit, my dear family. goat mozzarella is my next frontier. and no, traveling 697 miles WITH food is not so much an ethical dilemma.