Eat Local?

[patandchickens]

You know in the olden days on wagon trains you always saw them drinking coffe...hmm....I wonder if that is real. Coffee back then would be a monster extravagance. Not as easily gotten as some would think but you always see the big kettle pot with coffee..HA HA

I am not sure whether you're confusing the days of the wagon trains heading out west (roughly 1750-1875) with the days of cattle drives (only approx. 1865-1885, believe it or not), as I think it is largely the latter that is associated with inevitable pots of black coffee heated over the campfire...

... but FC, there has been large-scale global trade in food commodities for *ages*, and it has been a looooong time since people typically ate only or almost-only what was produced locally (with the exception of people in unusually remote areas to which there was little transportation).

Cane sugar was been widespread and (relatively) cheap across Europe, America and the British Empire from maybe the early 1700s. Most of the Asian and Indian spices that we know today were well known (and in some cases pretty easily affordable) in medieval europe. Coffee had very fully permeated Europe by the start of the 1700s, and was considered a major important beverage by many Americans by the 1800s. And of course it is obvious that tea (from India, southeast Asia, China, etc) was sufficiently common in the Colonies by the 1770s for there to BE a shipload of it for the "Boston Tea Party" to chuck into the harbor <g>, although probably in part as a result of the Revolution tea has never been as big a deal in the US as coffee has.

I think the difference between now and really even just 50-100 years ago, but also 200-300 years ago and 500 years ago, is not so much the availability of "exotic" items, but the fact that these days our STAPLES tend to come from way the heck around the globe. Someone 100 years ago would not be surprised that their chocolate bar came from Belgium, just like mine do now; but they would be stonkered to find that their garlic or flour came from China

JMHO,

Pat

 

[BeccaOH]

I agree with what Pat said about trade being widespread for many hundreds of years. But when pioneers weren't near a store or without the means to buy, there were alternatives to the coffee bean. Chicory and dandelion roots were roasted, ground, and brewed. Barley and other grains could be roasted and brewed. Same with teas. Tea didn't have to come from the plants in China. There are many herbal and other alternatives that can be brewed. The sugar beet and sorghum are grown in temperate climates and can be an alternative tot the tropical sugar cane.

Just a thought.

I couldn't go 100% local either, though I have tried to cut back on foods from countries like China and many out of season fruits and veggies that are trucked in from CA. They just don't taste as good as fresh.

 

[FarmerChick]

yes trade was everywhere in the older times...like Egypt. The Egyptians were monster traders and got their hands on alot of "un-local" product.

I guess staying local truly never had a real chance. Unless you were a pioneer rolling across the plains and couldn't get to a general store that might have product/supplies.

 

[patandchickens]

I seriously doubt that any portion of any culture before ours right now has ever considered eating totally local to be any sort of PRIORITY.

Although of course no culture before ours right now has ever eaten so much stuff from so vastly far away for no good reason other than price and mass-media brainwashing, either

Truly honestly, I see nothing whatsoever at all wrong with some degree of global trade in foodstuffs, particularly those that can't be grown where you live and that are relatively non energy consuming to transport (such as spices or chocolate) (well, I do eat a *lot* of chocolate... )

I think a lot of it is faddism, although there is a kernal of reasonableness in it.

Pat

 

[FarmerChick]

well alot of it goes to "why eat garlic from China" when you clearly have garlic grown in the U.S. for the big global eating picture. The China garlic could have X in it, from another country, and that is how disease and insects are travelled etc.

But I guess it truly doesn't matter in a way. Demand says it will happen. The trade structure says it will happen.

oh well...lol



I wondered if I thought to rid the whole pantry of "not local stuff" I would be left with "not alot"

 

[me&thegals]

Truly honestly, I see nothing whatsoever at all wrong with some degree of global trade in foodstuffs, particularly those that can't be grown where you live and that are relatively non energy consuming to transport (such as spices or chocolate) (well, I do eat a *lot* of chocolate... )

As already brought out, this has been going on forever. It's how much of the world became colonized. And, it supports trade with other countries and gives us goodies we otherwise could not have. I, for one, will NOT be giving up my chocolate or black tea. My husband would be unlivable if not for his coffee.

I think it is becoming a "fad" along with people becoming more "green." Some people feel it borders on insanity to ship in (just a guess here) sugar from Paraguay and apples from Guatemala, or whatever, when we could easily get them right here. In this time of paying attention to CO2 emissions and wasteful transporting, people are trying to at least be sensible about where they buy their food from. Not to mention considering the living conditions of the people who are raising our food across the earth.

But, I guess I'm preaching to the choir here

So, is my garden local enough? The seeds came from America, but some of them from halfway across the country. The manure is quite local. The labor is exceptionally local, but quite underpaid

 

[Wifezilla]

There is a reason to shop local but it usually isn't the reason people think. When you buy local, you keep money circulating in your area. Money circulating near you gives you more chances to get it back.

When you eat at the local dinner, that dinner owner can then take that money and buy your eggs and produce or get copies at your shop. The local landscaper you bought that pea gravel from might use that money to buy an ad from the local newspaper, etc...

In the case of chain stores, they are specifically set up to DRAIN money from an area. A majority of the money goes back to corporate. The salaries they pay are usually pathetic unless you are a manager. You end up at a company with 20 people, ONE making a living wage and the other 19 eligible for food stamps and rent assistance.

They often do not buy ads in small local publications. Their produce, paper supplies and materials are trucked in from a central location and not purchased from the surrounding community. Their profits leave the area and you don't have nearly the opportunity to get that money back because it is no longer circulating near you.

 

[me&thegals]

Excellent response, WZ! Because I have lovely families buying my CSA shares from May-Dec, I have a few extra bucks in my pocket to take my kids out for hot cocoa tonight at a local coffee shop, get a few groceries in our small-town grocery, fill the car up with gas and maybe even buy some biscotti from my local baker friend

 

[Wifezilla]

I really don't have anything AGAINST chain stores and I do shop at them when I don't have a local alternative. But I see chain stores for what they really are....money syphons. The thing that really ticks me off is often times small local businesses can't compete, not because their prices are higher or their products inferior, but the area government actively discourages small family owned businesses while using tax dollars to recruit chain stores to come to an area. Then they give these chain stores fast track help through regulations and sales tax exemptions the small guy couldn't even dream of getting for himself.

So, yeah.... shop local when you can. Keep the money circulating near you....and keep a close eye on those damn bureaucrats!

 

[FarmerChick]

Gas

Was gas made here first or IMPORTED for the use in that first car?

Hmm....