A visual demonstration of why it`s insaine to buy strawberries from another continent right now
Perhaps the longest title we`ve ever posted. I`m really fired up this morning.
We do not eat 100% local. I love lobster, crab, and will buy some things out of season (including lettuce). I do adore the sentiment, try to eat as seasonally as possible and prefer the sensibilities of local food where possible.
The local food movement has been under attack from many angles. Food is an emotional topic and the politics of it run deep through many people. False, exaggerated or misleading information is shared from all sides. I try to avoid the arguments and would far rather focus on the positives in my life and on my plate.
I purchased9 pints of local strawberries yesterday for $7.11 (taxes included) from a retail store. The berries were a day old and had to be sold on discount as their quality drops quickly and the store receives a daily shipment from a local farm (one that I`ve gone to for 30 years). At $0.79 a pint they are much more affordable than the $3.79 for todays berries.
While lining up to pay, the woman in front of me was looking at my box of berries with wonder. I noticed she had 2 pints of strawberry-like product (ok they were `real`strawberries) from California. I live 4,364 km (2,700 miles) from where her strawberries are shipped. Her 2 pints were $7.00 plus tax ($0.30 cheaper than local berries).
If berries that are shipped 8 km to the store lose almost all value in 24 hours, what the heck are we consuming when it comes from the other corner of the continent… The most amazing thing about those berries is how strong they are to withstand the shipping and handling that they do.
I had the privledge of listening to Chef Thomas Keller speak this year and the experience continues to resontae with me. When a woman stated that she wanted blueberries in the winter, he smiled, looked at her and simply stated `but you can`t` (Keller is a massive fan of quality and local is not a mandate of his).
In a few weeks I will not be able to buy local strawberries and that will be the end of my strawberry consumption for a year. Call that local if you wish; for me it feels like the only option. And, for that, I`m excited!
Comments
Joel – California is not on another continent. Another country, yes. And your point is valid… just slightly off, geographically.
Also… while some people find the variety bland, many farmers are now growing “everbearing” strawberries, including a number of farmers who vend at Nathan Phillips Square and Metro Hall farmers markets. We eat local strawberries all summer – they bear fruit until the first hard frost – on a good year we’re still eating local Ontario berries for breakfast on Thanksgiving day.
The main Ontario berry season is almost over but that doesn’t mean you can’t still get local berries.
Sheryl,
I should have pressed snooze one more time – lauging at myself. I suppose with the earthquake I was thinking that it was in a new continent. Laugh.
Totally true re the everbearing plants…almost bought one this week as a matter of fact… a little too fired up this morn
It just perplexes me how such a delicate fruit travels so far and what we are willing to eat when there is an alternative…
now to fix my geographic reference (and laugh at myself)
word!!!
Interesting post Joel.
In my 20′s I followed a Macrobiotic diet; basic premise of the diet was that you only ate locally. This was easy for me to do since as a child we ate that way. In the summer we would take many trips to the local farms and get all the cherries and berries and apples we could and then we canned, preserved, made jam, dried out etc, so that we could eat these fruit in the winter. But in my adulthood I had a discussion with my father about my concern with our food being radiated and contaminated with pesticides, and his response was, “when you come from a war-torn nation, where you don’t have anything eat, to come to a country where there is so much abundance, you don’t care about pesticides.” And I further add, that in north america, we are very lazy, and want our food prepared and presented and want it cheap as well. Generalization, I know, but I do believe that you are helping to change this attitude with your fantastic blog!
I always run this argument in my head while at the grocer. People are paying $7-8 a pint for Mt. Ranier cherries, when there is an orchard 90m away that, with gas, will cost $3.49 a pint. No one wants to do the work themselves. For us, its a productive day out, that ends with the munchkin taking a 4 hr nap