Our food now travels an average of 1,500 miles before ending up on our plates.
This globalization of the food supply has serious consequences for the environment, our health, our communities and our tastebuds.
Much of the food grown in the breadbasket surrounding us must be shipped across the country to distribution centers before it makes its way back to our supermarket shelves. Because uncounted costs of this long distance journey (air pollution and global warming, the ecological costs of large scale monoculture, the loss of family farms and local community dollars) are not paid for at the checkout counter, many of us do not think about them at all.
Lucky for us, in the greater bioregion of the Bay Area, one can eat like royalty, every day of the year, on locally grown and produced food. From West Marin come oysters, mussels, grass-fed beef, cheese, and milk. From the waters of the Pacific come seasonal fish like salmon, ling cod, and crab, while the estuaries give us halibut, sturgeon, and bass. Sonoma County is the home of sustainable chickens, spring lamb, of dozens of small farms producing fruits, vegetables, wild mushrooms and wines. Napa also gives us wines, as well as many fruits and vegetables. Contra Costa, Alameda, Solano, San Mateo, all of these Bay Area counties are home to some of the finest food grown or produced anywhere in the world.
Check out the Locavores website where you can find easy ways to eat locally.
