Locavores

Locavores are people or groups of people that concentrate on attempting to eat locally produced and/or harvested food. Hand-in-hand with locally produced or harvested foods is the fact of seasonality -- certain foods are only available at certain times of year. With the cost of gasoline accelerating, more and more people are looking into the costs of transporting food across great distances. Others are more concerned with taste and freshness. Local production in some cases is becoming as inexpensive, or less expensive, than alternatives. An example is the price of asparagus. Much of the asparagus in the stores now comes from Peru or Mexico. It typically sells for $1.99 and up a pound. Although much of the seasonal asparagus we eat around here comes from eastern Washington, this is still much closer. When this asparagus comes in, it typically runs from .99 cents/lb. to $1.99/lb as is much fresher. One of the big issues to grapple with however is the luxury we now have for eating asparagus whenever we want, rather than just when it's in season. As gas and transportation prices go up, prices for imported foods will increase, and some foods may become truly luxury items. For more information, visit Locavores http://www.locavores.com/

Paul