So far, I've had success eating mostly local foods, bringing produce with me and shopping at farmstands and farmers markets to complement my weekly CSA share. With what I know, I'm able to strategically use what I buy, saving some for later, and just generally making the most of what I have. (Seriously, try getting a whole share of mostly curly endive, the most bitter green imaginable. But we manage, we manage.)
While that's great, and promising for those hoping to be part of a CSA come fall, eating locally - or simply eating healthily - is not always a feasible thing. There are factors involved, including time, money, transportation, and just general priorities. It's easy for me to talk about eating local because I can afford it, I have time to learn about and cook and preserve some of these items, and I am within reach of local markets. Basically, the odds are in my favor. What happens when this isn't the case?
It's too often that direct-market agriculture and "localism" go hand-in-hand with elitism that brings with it a sort of trend that is limited to only those lucky enough. Farmers markets and CSAs turn into a romanticized indulgence that emphasize the individuality of the consumer's choice to opt-out of big box stores and transnational corporations. Ok, cool. Good choices, but when we think of the long run, and the maintenance of this exclusivity, it doesn't look like any substantial change will be made within our food system, especially if the gap between those who enjoy local agriculture and those who simply can't, continues to increase.
One of my favorite food systems and social justice researchers is Julie Guthman of UC Santa Cruz, with whom I had the opportunity to speak with this past semester. Guthman researches the shortcomings of alternative food systems, along with various topics and discourse surrounding what she calls the "paradox" of the organic farming industry in California and the rise of obesity in our country. Her two books include Agrarian Dreams: The Paradox of Organic Farming in California and Weighing in: Obesity, Food Justice, and the Limits of Capitalism.
Noteworthy articles include "Bringing good food to others: investigating the subjects of alternative food practices" and "If they only knew: color blindness and universalism in California alternative food institutions," both in which Guthman points out and deconstructs accepted norms within the local food movement and the backwardness of alternative food advocates' goals. She points to market places as "white spaces" and their "double-edged sword" containing on one side color blindness that "erases the privilege that whiteness has brought" and on the other side universalism, or or the assumption that values held primarily by whites are normal and widely shared ... In other words, when particular, seemingly universal ideals do not resonate, it is assumed that those for whom they do not resonate must be educated to these ideals or be forever marked as different."
Criticizing various food advocates, Guthman writes, “Their presumptions are that these institutions shorten the social and economic distance between producers and consumers, build community and participatory democracy, and otherwise serve as sites of contestation against a globalized food system.” According to Guthman, these presumptions coincide with alternative markets that “cater to relatively well-off consumers, in part because organic food has been positioned as a niche product … With some exceptions, farmers’ markets and community supported agriculture (CSA) tend to locate or distribute to areas of relative wealth.”
That said, these are just things to keep in mind for those who deem themselves as locavores and food justice advocates. Increasing food access isn't only about knowledge and getting others on board with local markets and practices. While those initiatives like urban gardens and farm-to-plate programs are awesome, Guthman points to the main culprit as the "unfettered drive for profitability at the costs of everything else" that big food companies stand by, and says that what's needed is not necessarily food system reform, but federal and state intervention in the form of tax, labor, and immigration reform, that will first decrease the inequality gap, which will ultimately provide for local markets that are more accessible, substantial, and feasible.
Just some food for thought.
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