Credit: Whitney Arotegui
“What is a locavore?” you may ask. No, it isn’t a new diet trend or an exclusive club reserved for those in the know. Locavores are those whose diets consists principally of locally-grown or -produced food. Taking a locavore approach to eating means a step back into simpler times, before the industrialization of the food system. Before the existence of genetically-modified crops and the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Before monocropping practices and animal production facilities dominated the U.S. food supply.
The USDA defines “local” as less than 400 miles from the origin of the product, or within the same state where the product is produced. Austinites have the unique opportunity to dine with a distance from farm to table of literally only a couple of miles (and in some cases, only a few feet). That is a big deal, considering the average American meal travels about 1,500 miles to get from farm to plate (source: Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture). [Read more…]