THINK before you eat

The Brookside organic farmer's market hosted a '100 mile diet' festival yesterday so this week we will be keeping track of how much of what we eat is locally produced. We think that eating locally produced food is important for a number of reasons:

• taste
• more nutritious
• supports the local economy
• more efficient (organic plots have been shown to use up to 56% less energy than conventional plots since energy is used to manufacture pesticides and fertilizers as well as ship products far away)
• preserves the environment
• provides economic support to small farms which may not receive government subsidies
• social benefits
• food safety
• genetic diversity
• safeguards traditional farmland
• better treatment of farm animals

We have been (and still are) doing alot of reading on the subject so we encourage you to read the following:
The Omnivore's Dilemma
Plenty
Coming Home to Eat
What to Eat

That said, there are some things we just aren't ready to give up so will continue to frequent local businesses which use imported products to produce exceptional products. This includes coffee and chocolate. Other staples not available locally include bananas and salt.