Local Eating

9/7/07
The New York Local, an article by Adam Gopnik describes his quest to eat locally within the five boroughs. As he stated, “I was curious to see what might happen if you tried to squeeze food out of what looked mostly like bricks and steel girders and shoes in trees.” He collected honey from rooftop beehives, and went on a tour of edible plants in Central Park. So, there is more to New York City in terms of local food options than expected. However, the way Mr. Gopnik writes about his experience feels as if eating locally is a moral pretension. As if it is a diet of sorts, not a necessity. In certain, more yuppified places such as New York City I would agree that eating locally is not something just anyone can do. First off, it is hard to find and requires knowing the right people (evident by the article). Secondly, it is absurdly expensive. However, in most cases, organic community gardens where originally created by people that couldn’t afford food and so they had to rely on themselves. For that reason, implying that eating locally is a pretension is unjust.
After reading this article, it raises the question of what it means to eat locally. For most people, eating locally means eating food that comes from a range of 100 to 300 miles away from you. However, it is far easier to do such a thing in the Northern Pacific, than say the five boroughs. The notion of eating locally became mainstream as the oil prices continue to rise. Eating locally allows less fossil fuels to be used and therefore creates less of a dependency on foreign oil. Also, people take more interest in their health and what goes into the food that they eat when the food production is nearby.
The other day our class made pizza in the new cob oven down by the green houses. The experience of knowing that everything that went into the pizza (and thus our bodies) and that even the oven itself was all natural, was refreshing. We made the pesto the week before from basil that was grown at the University of Washington’s garden. The vegetables, although not from the garden were organic, I am sure. The pizza dough we got from Trader Joes but it is easy enough to make from scratch. Can you say delicious? Compiling all the pieces and then baking in an untraditional way with people around, celebrating the first use of the oven really epitomizes the importance of food and community. It is the food that brings people together at every occasion.