How to Find the Best Local Food

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Locally grown produce tastes better because it’s fresher, and growers can plant better-tasting varieties if their fruits and vegetables don’t need to stand up to the hazards of long-distance shipping.
Locally grown produce tastes better because it’s fresher, and growers can plant better-tasting varieties if their fruits and vegetables don’t need to stand up to the hazards of long-distance shipping.
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Pete Dixon of Broadwing Farm in Hot Springs, N.C., roasts farm-grown red bell peppers at his local farmers market.
Pete Dixon of Broadwing Farm in Hot Springs, N.C., roasts farm-grown red bell peppers at his local farmers market.
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West Asheville, N.C. resident Michael Dickinson teaches his daughter, Lily, about the joys of local food with a fresh tomato eaten right out of hand.
West Asheville, N.C. resident Michael Dickinson teaches his daughter, Lily, about the joys of local food with a fresh tomato eaten right out of hand.
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Locally grown blueberries, raspberries, and apples.
Locally grown blueberries, raspberries, and apples.
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Our Increasing Reliance on Imported Food
Our Increasing Reliance on Imported Food

Would you like to reduce air pollution, recycle your money into your community, support family farmers and enjoy food that tastes better and is more nutritious than what you can buy at the supermarket? Easy! Eat more locally produced food.

Buying fresh local food also is the easiest way to avoid eating processed food with added sugar, fat and preservatives. Locally grown food tastes better because it’s fresher, and growers can plant better-tasting varieties if their fruits and vegetables won’t need to stand up to long-distance shipping.

“It’s so easy to be seduced by year-round produce at the supermarket, but when you allow yourself to be seduced all the time, you’re choosing a shadow image of the real thing,” says Deborah Madison, author of Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets. “Fragile things that don’t ship well, like apricots and lettuce, are really special when they are fresh,” Madison says.

The case for eating locally grown food is strong, but how do you make it happen? Across the continent, hundreds of people have sought answers by challenging themselves to eat more local foods — sometimes nothing but — for a day, a month or even a year (see “Taking On a Local Food Challenge,” below). To help you find your comfort level within the local food movement, here are 20 great ways to make eating locally work for you.

  • Published on Aug 1, 2006
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