Author Jill Richardson on 5 myths that trash local food and why they're wrong

Last week on AlterNet, author Jill Richardson posted 5 Ridiculous Myths People Use to Trash Local Food -- And Why They're Wrong. Her subtitle summarizes well: "Articles 'debunking' the local food movement are stale, shallow and often incorrect."

Richardson's credentials are considerable. She founded the multi-user blog, La Vida Locavore, which covers the locavore movement internationally, and sits on the Organic Consumers Association policy advisory board. She is the author of Recipe for America: Why Our Food System is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It.

Here are the myths, along with a little Richardson juice to whet your appetite for the rest of the piece. All of the following are direct quotes from the article, linked in the first paragraph above.

Myth #1: People who eat local eat the same diet as those who don't.
A favorite anti-locavore argument is that eating local does not reduce oil usage or carbon emissions. Now, if locavores were munching ...

Myth #2: The only reason for eating local is reducing 'food miles.'
Often anti-locavore arguments, such as the one above from McWilliams, are predicated on the notion that locavores only eat local to reduce food miles ...

Myth #3: Growing food locally is inefficient.

This is the subject of the latest tirade against eating local. The piece sings the praises of "comparative advantage," noting that it makes the most sense to grow ...

Myth #4: We can't feed a growing population on local (organic) food.

This is the biggest whopper of all. The recent Freakonomics article says ...

Myth #5: Eating local (organic) food is elitist.

In the United States, where processed food is artificially cheap and where many people eat what they can afford to buy at the expense of their health, local food ...

Appetite sufficiently whetted? I hope so. Richardson's commentary gives me pause now and then, but overall, it's the article I wish I'd written myself, and she's done a bang-up job of it.

Get the whole article here: 5 Ridiculous Myths People Use to Trash Local Food -- And Why They're Wrong.

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Disclosure: Should you click on the Amazon link in this post and make a purchase, it is possible I might make a few pennies on the sale. Wouldn't that be a thrill.

  

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All text and images, unless otherwise noted, copyright L. Kathryn Grace. All rights reserved.