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GreenMoney Journal - publishing since 1992
Fall 2010 issue
Socially Responsible Investing – Better Companies, Better Communities
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A Free-Range, Local Chicken in Every Pot
by Tracey Ryder
Fresh, seasonal, local, organic-all terms that have become increasingly confusing to consumers as
they make food-buying decisions. And with fresh food now traveling an average of 1500 miles before
reaching our plates, eaters have grown tired of eating tired food. What are consumers to do with
all the confusing choices? Where do they find credible information about what's best for their
health, community, environment? Edible Communities, a network of locally-owned and operated food
magazines, publishes 50 titles each quarter in distinct culinary regions across the U.S. and
Canada, all of which emphasize the importance of eating locally grown and produced foods. In the
four years since it was founded, Edible Communities has grown to be the most trusted and
influential media network dedicated to the local foods movement in the world today. Clearly,
consumers are "hungry" for more knowledge in this area.
In his 1928 presidential campaign slogan, Herbert Hoover promised Americans "a chicken in every
pot." Today, Edible Communities embraces the spirit of that slogan but with some tweaking: we want
the chicken to be sustainably and humanely raised by local farmers. In fact, we take the concept so
seriously that our company recently adopted Hoover's slogan as part of our vision statement, albeit
with the "local and free-range" qualifications added for flavor.
Decisions we make about
food not only reflect personal, political, or environmental concerns; they are also financial. I'm
frequently asked about the economics of food, which often creates the most confusion among
shoppers. Many families resist organic produce because it is more expensive than conventionally
grown choices. Others will only buy organically grown foods for better prices at big box retailers,
although the produce comes from great distances, requiring fossil fuel resources to transport it.
Increasingly, we hear about "the high cost of cheap food" meaning that fast food may seem cheap
when we can take an average family through a drive-thru window in less than five minutes and get
them all fed for twenty bucks. However, if you take the longer view, you realize that the cheap,
speedy food was raised with unhealthy methods for both for our bodies and the environment, and it
has traveled thousands of miles, consuming tons of fossil fuel, and has had the nutritional value
processed out of it, leading to costly health issues down the road.
If you consider that
fresh produce when it's in season always costs less due to the sheer abundance of it and that it
always tastes better because you are eating it at the height of ripeness, it isn't always the more
expensive choice. Add to that, it's grown locally by someone who lives and shops in the same
community you do; those food dollars end up staying within the local community instead of being
shipped overseas-a true win/win/win for producers, eaters and communities.
Not
Just Another Return to the Land Movement
In addition to overseeing the
publication of just over two hundred regional food magazines each year, I have the rare and
wonderful opportunity to travel most of North America while talking with farmers and food artisans
about their work and the overall state of our food culture. I also talk to many eaters. There are
themes that emerge during our conversations over and over again, and unlike the return to the land
movement of the 1960s, there seems to be less of a desire to disconnect from society and reject the
establishment. Instead, there is a desire for cooperation and communication and to make today's
food issues part of the mainstream. There is also a desire by consumers to know where food comes
from and to know the people who grow it. In fact, both halves of the equation consider the local
food movement to be part of a new mainstream; they're willing to put forth great effort to make it
so for generations to come. Another difference in today's local food movement is that it's grounded
as much in higher education as it is in common sense. Many farmers I meet have come to farming
after earning advanced degrees. They are well traveled and have many career opportunities. Yet they
choose to try and earn a living in a profession that requires hard physical work, a dependency on
favorable weather conditions (even when the world is experiencing greater extremes in climate
change)-and one where they buy retail and sell wholesale. Why? Did those expensive educations to go
waste?
No college degrees are wasted on this group, yet they are tired of the "business
as usual" approach to food. They recognize the inherent value in a product grown both for the
health of our bodies and of the environment. In his latest book, In Defense of Food, author and
advocate, Michael Pollan, advises eaters to simply "eat food," as opposed to "edible food-like
substances." Although he acknowledges that in another place and time that directive would sound
like the "manifesto of a crackpot," his premise is that we need to "escape the so-called Western
diet, whereby food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion." Ironically,
according to Pollan (and many others today), the more we have worried about nutrition, the less
healthy we have all become. So, the best advice is to use common sense when making food choices.
What's Better, Local or Organic?
I'm most often asked which
food is better, - locally grown or organic? Clearly, my company is at the forefront of a movement
that prioritizes local food, although we don't shun organics. The truth is that those small family
farmers whom we work hardest to support almost always farm organically but cannot afford the time
or expense involved of the rigorous certification process. Therefore, the produce they grow is
organic but can't be promoted as such because the farm is not certified. This is why we encourage
our readers to ask farmers questions. That's impossible to do if the farmer lives in China or if
you're buying at a supermarket. This is where local food really packs a punch-when the farmers
growing your food live in the same community you do, they are accessible. They won't lie to you.
They answer your questions and share recipes with you. Their family's well being depends on safe,
sustainable practices as much as yours does.
And for heaven's sake, don't be afraid to
grow some of your own food, for that matter. It's easy to stick a couple tomato plants in the
ground, give them a little water and watch them grow. Plant the things you love to eat the most and
supplement the rest from your local farmers market. Knowing where your food comes from, which
implies a degree of trust in those who grow it, is a powerful thing. Use that power wisely to make
better food choices.
Article by Tracey Ryder, President and CEO of Edible Communities,
Inc. (http://www.ediblecommunities.com ), a publishing and information services company that
creates editorially rich, community-based, local-foods magazines in distinct culinary regions
throughout U.S. and Canada. Ryder, along with partner Carole Topalian, were recently named to the
2008 FOLIO: 40-the oldest, most comprehensive and most distinguished compilation of publishing
industry innovators and influencers.
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