Fit Fare

Ecocuisine is a movement meant to promote locally grown, sustainable foods.What exactly are “sustainable foods?” Those foods produced locally by people who value fresh, nutritious, seasonal food and who are concerned with social, economic, and environmental issues of food production and distribution.

Though many people have been turned on to eating locally grown produce, many areas of the country are now promoting locally grown foods such as eggs, cheese and meats. At many Southern California farmers’ markets, for instance, it’s common to find farm fresh eggs, artisanal cheeses and grass-fed bison meat.

Fortunately, you don’t have to live in Southern California to eat sustainable foods. Since it’s mid-April, farmers markets across the country are setting up shop with spring’s beautiful bounty of artichokes, asparagus, and English peas, just to name a few. So now is the time to meet your local farmers and start reaping the benefits of locally produced foods.

You’ll not only enjoy your meals more, but you’ll also help the economy and the environment. Not bad, huh?

Here are 7 great reasons why you should eat locally grown, sustainable foods:

1. Eating locally = eating seasonally = eating food that tastes better. Try a blind test: Place a supermarket strawberry next a locally grown vine-ripened strawberry. There’s no contest.
2. It’s more nutritious. Produce loses nutritional value after it is harvested. So the melon that was picked on Saturday and sold on Sunday will have a higher nutritional value than the one that took a 3 day cross-country journey by truck.
3. It supports small farmers. Buying locally puts money directly into the pockets of farmers and helps keep their farms viable.
4. It helps the environment. Buying locally means reducing fossil fuels and pollution from air and road travel.
5. It builds community ties. Farmers’ markets are ideal places to meet people, especially when you’re new to a community.
6. It makes you a smarter consumer. Farmers generally love to talk about their produce and are happy to teach you about things like how to differentiate among several types of peas. Plus, they typically offer free samples.
7. You’ll gain a deeper appreciation of farming and of farmers’ lives. When get to know local farmers you start to understand in a real way the hard work required of them and the hardships they face, like last year’s citrus crisis in California.
   

Need to locate a farmers’ market near you?

• Go to farmersmarket.com market where farmers markets are listed by state.
• Visit Local Harvest which lists thousands of small farms across the US that sell directly to the consumer.