What is Local

Define “Local”

The phrase “buy local” is often associated with supporting the food production sector. There are many different reasons to purchase foods that have been produced locally.

1) Some people may be concerned with reducing their “carbon footprint” which is primarily an idea that reduces the distance that food travels from farmer to consumer and thereby reducing the amount of fuel used for transportation.

2) Other people may be interested in buying food that supports food production in areas that they consider to be of regional or national significance. Nationalism can be a positive influence on the food sector as members of various communities will go out of their way to buy from producers that they consider to be a part of their community. Conversely this policy can have and has had dangerous global implications. If nations decide to place high tariffs on imports in order to protect their producers (protectionism) other nations will do the same and the economic system of the world can begin to close. For greater historical context see The Great Depression.

3) A growing reason to buy locally is personal health. Food that is produced locally is not stereotypically associated with processed foods. Local food production has a number of words associated with it that are designed to show a purist and healthy form of food: “natural”, “fresh”, “clean”, “unprocessed”. The overall health benefits from a more natural diet are almost always positive.

If those are some of the reasons to buy locally produced foods then the definition of “local” will change according to each individual’s reason.

So what is local?

When a person living in Ontario wants apples and intends to “buy local” they have 14 varieties of apples grown within the province (according to www.onapples.com) to choose from, however, there are over 30 types of apples grown in North America. A consumer must ask themselves if they need a specific type of apple, and if so, is it grown “locally”? Is North America local enough? Should you buy Cortland apples from York Region if you live in Peel and Cortlands are grown in Peel? The answer depends on why you intend to buy local.

What if a person just wants to buy fruit and happens to prefer mangoes. Are apples a valid substitute for mangoes? If their intention is to lower their carbon footprint or support national production than perhaps it is a valid substitution. For culinary uses depending on the application, apples do not often substitute for mangoes. If they really want mangoes and believe in buying locally for the purposes of carbon footprint than a person in Canada may be forced to overlook Mexican mangoes for the Californian mangoes.

What about seafood. In Ontario the variety of “locally” produced seafood is very narrow in comparison to Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, B.C and other ocean coastal areas. So assuming that your moral and culinary compass allows you to eat seafood and you live in Ontario, where is seafood local? Is it local within Canada or North America?

There is another definition of “local” that has a growing significance in Canada. Many people in Canada are first or second generation Canadians and as such have a strong connection to their former nation. For nationalist reasons is it acceptable for these types of people to “buy locally” from their former nations of residence?

Local is an evolving word.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “Local” as: In regard to place; in belonging to or existing in or peculiar to a particular place; of one’s own neighbourhood.

Regardless of your interpretation of local or reason for buying local this trend appears to be growing in public consciousness. To be aware of where your food originates and eat according to multiple moral and economic standards will hopefully have wide scale positive influence on our health, wealth and ecological happiness.