Why Local?

This fact has been so overused by now it has almost become more cliche than statistic, but most of the food on the average American plate travels 1500 miles. Buffalo is located in close proximity to a wealth of farmland, much of it family-owned smaller operations that produce a variety of delicious edibles. Eating something that basically comes from your regional backyard saves transportation costs (and consequently reduces pollution), returns more money directly to the farmers whose labors produced the bounty than traditional mass-agriculture (where most of the profits go to bigger corporations), and most importantly offers fresher and more flavorful food.

Recent books like The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver examine local eating (locavorism), the joys of growing your own, and the inherent shortcomings of mass-produced agriculture. These are good starting points if you are looking for entertaining reads that will offer more in-depth information about our food systems. Anything by or about Alice Waters will also offer information on local, seasonal eating.

I believe that it is important for everyone in our region to invest in our community, and food is one of the cheapest, easiest, most accessible ways to do so. It is no secret that the Buffalo-Niagara region lags behind the rest of the country in many of the benchmarks of economic development. One area where I think we are strong, and have potential for tremendous growth, is in building and supporting a local food system. Whether it is creating more farmers' markets to increase the accessibility of fresh and local foods for neighborhoods, converting our numerous vacant lots to urban farms and gardens, or encouraging restaurants to source some of their menu items locally where possible, the potential is there for this community to create something that is both financially and ecologically profitable for our entire region.

It does cost a little more to seek out and support local foods. It is not going to be possible for many, if not most, people to do away with processed foods or produce like bananas that have traveled great distances. This blog will, I hope, offer suggestions and resources for people who wish to do what they can when they can.