Eco-Dogma at the Locavore Church

Locavores get a fourth of july puff in the  Washington Post. This entirely uncritical story is eco-dogma  unedited.

“The folks at Kitchen Gardeners International might not call it a duty, exactly. But the group — one of the organizations whose efforts led to the planting of a kitchen garden at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. this spring — argues that buying and eating locally bolsters American communities and economies even as it makes for a more healthful diet, all of which might strengthen the nation as a whole.”

You mean stop obsessing about Michael Jackson?

“Choosing food grown close to home could help free the United States from its dependence on foreign producers. For example…most of the garlic used in the United States is grown not on American soil but in China. Buying local garlic would encourage more farmers here to grow it and eventually might allow us to wean ourselves from garlic grown abroad. ”

But how you gonna make folks buy more expensive garlic than the cheapo Chinese?

“Angie Tagtow, a food and society fellow at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy,… points out that foods grown nearby are more likely to have been picked at the moment of peak nutrient value, whereas those from afar  are commonly picked well before they’re ripe so they’ll withstand shipping.

“Between 70 percent and 80 percent of tomatoes harvested in the U.S. are picked green,” she says. “They’re bred not necessarily for flavor or nutrient value but for uniform shape or color and ship-ability.”

Obviously she hasn’t been shopping the markets lately or she would have found excellent foreign imports from The Netherlands among other places. Or maybe she’s not heard about HYDROPONIC TOMATOES which can be controlled for taste and timing and which are now available almost all year round and appear to suffer no damage from shipping..

Advice. Look for excellent hydroponics from Leamington in Canada.

“Tagtow, a registered dietitian and environmental nutrition consultant, adds that many local farmers “provide organic matter back to the soil, to build up the humus and increase the nutrients delivered to the plant.”"

There is NO PROOF WHATSOEVER that organic produce is more nutritious/healthier than conventionally grown produce. Organic produce is however MORE expensive.

“The Locavore freezes what he cannot eat “If frozen when ripe, fruits and vegetables can be just as nutritious as when fresh.”

What a waste of energy and electricity. Why not go to the supermarket and buy excellent frozen veg which work out cheaper all round?