When people talk about buying local food, what does that actually mean? A big misconception is that if you walk into your local grocery store you will find things grown near you. But, in fact, produce is grown all over the country and the world and shipped around. This creates a lot of waste, toxic chemicals in the air, and usually poor working conditions for the people in the food industry.
Buying local produce tries to eliminate that by getting farms and farm hands fair pay, sourcing it close to the consumer so transportation doesn’t create pollution, and to ultimately get you the best tasting food.
Buying local produce means a couple of things for you. First of all, it can sometimes be a little bit more expensive, which is not something everyone can afford. However, if you’re contributing to your local economy, more people benefit. Also, that means you will only get seasonal produce, which means whatever is naturally supposed to grow in that season and nothing else.
Tomatoes, for example, are not meant to grow in the winter, so you won’t be able to make a BLT all year round. However, by eating seasonal foods you can broaden your diet and learn to preserve foods.
