The Spectrum of Choices

Over the past five years we've attended workshops, read books, researched on the Internet, talked to people, learned on the job - whatever it took to do it ourselves.

Fast forward to this past summer, August of 2009, and as I eluded in my previous post, we really decided we were going to be deliberate about what we were doing after seeing the movie, Food, Inc. With inspiration from numerous other sources; Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon's 100 mile diet, our own successes, my great grandfather I never knew personally, we decided we wanted to try to stay as local as possible when it came to eating. ... [continued]




Kingolver, Smith and MacKinnon's books describe an extreme - an extreme on what I've termed "The Spectrum of Choices." In deciding what to eat or where to obtain our food, we have an embarrassing number of choices in the United States of America. These books would be at the extreme right end of the spectrum - everything is local, no exception, but at least you know from where your food came, who grew it and how it was handled. The opposite end, the left side of this spectrum, is where most everyone else in America is positioned - buy whatever is convenient regardless of its origin or what it cost to get to me and don't tell me what's in it or how it was processed because then I might not eat it!

We are definitely skewed toward the right - heavily, but with a dose of compromise and common sense built in. There are no absolutes with our approach, only what works for you. But your goal should be to live as close to the right end of the spectrum as you are comfortable, but also not so far that you can't maintain your position. The ideal would be to plant your flag at a point on the spectrum where you think you can start and only move it to the right as you bring additional aspects of your meal planning and consumption under this approach. At some point, you will reach a place where you think you can camp out indefinitely and that is it - that is your lifestyle.

We like the word "locavore." Locavore was in fact the New Oxford American Dictionary's Word of the Year for 2007. Broken down, loca [local] is "pertaining to a city, town, or small district rather than an entire state or country;" vore is "a combining form meaning 'one that eats' what is specified by the initial element." So combining these two, you get one who eats locally. Now, this isn't talking about where you put the food in you mouth, but where the food originated - where is the plant on which it grew or the ground from which it was pulled?

So on our spectrum, we are fairly close to the right, but definitely can't say we are pure 100-milers. Here are some of our guidelines and factors we use in making decisions about what to eat. This list is in a particular order and we stay as close to the top as possible.

1) Grow it yourself or raise it yourself
2) Seasonal Only. Only eat what is in season. That means no fresh tomatoes in December or Apples in May. If you preserve or can something, good for you. That's what we are supposed to do, then you can enjoy vegetables and fruits out of season (but they aren't fresh). FYI, citrus is never in season in NC.
3) Buy it from someone you know within a specified radius of your home. We use 100 miles, because it covers a large portion of NC
4) Buy from a Farmers' Market from someone you don't know, but can talk to and feel comfortable with their farming practices
NOTE: when buying from someone else, they must follow the same practices we do in gardening, which is basically no pesticides. It doesn't have to be organic, because we aren't but we don't add harmful things to our food as this would be contrary to what we are doing.
5) Buy from a grocery store if it is a product that is a raw or simple ingredient. Some examples or exceptions for us include, sugar, some spices, yeast, baking soda and baking powder, oil, chocolate (as an ingredient, not something made of chocolate). But that's pretty much all we buy from the grocery store. If it has more than two maybe three ingredients then it's probably not on our purchase list.
6) Then there's my "I have to eat out rules." When faced with a situation where I have to eat out because of work or a birthday, etc., I stick to pasta, bread and grains and if I need to select a meat, I chose seafood or fish. Other members of the family have different opinions on this item and that's fine. Remember there are no absolutes - it's what works for you.

It takes some initial effort to identify local sources for your food, but this is usually going to be a one-time effort. Again, that's one of the reasons for this blog, is to share our sources, help you find sources and to be an encouragement to your efforts. It's a great family activity. I believe the Spectrum of Choices is a personal and individual thing. Even within our family, each of us have a slightly different list of priorities. I'm at the extreme right in our family and we vary slightly. You need to decide for yourself what your guidelines are going to be and how far to the right you are going to plant you locavore flag.

~ Mark Watkins