Guest Post - The Importance of Buying Local

*Guest Post*

I’m SFordinarygirl at Sf Money MusingsI’m a 26-year-old girl still making $30K a year after two years at a job I’m desperately trying to leave. Thanks to Mapgirl for allowing me to contribute a guest post while she’s enjoying her three-day vacation.

I want to emphasize the importance of eating and buying local food. Over the last year and a half after living on my own, learning to eat on a limited income ($30K) I’ve discovered a lot of things about food.

On my own I discovered a few things about food:

Most of the garlic, ginger and certain root vegetables sold in ethnic grocery stores and in Chinatown came all the way from China

Some of the produce is treated or coated with an exterior wax to maintain freshness

Imported produce flooded the grocery stores

It really surprised me to learn most of the garlic sold in Chinatown came from China. Gilroy, California is garlic capital – a mere 80 miles one-way from San Francisco. China’s even farther and who knows how they grow garlic. I was also disturbed me our grocery stores were stocking produce from a country with its own environmental and safety problems.

The problem with bringing fruit and vegetables far from our soils is freshness and quality. In order for produce from far away countries to be sold without spoiling they are often picked before their prime. This means garlic is plucked weeks before they are ready. It’s not just imported garlic that’s a problem. There’s also the problem of bringing blueberries from Chile. There’s no guarantee or assurance even organic produce shipped from far away is safe.

So I made a personal commitment to buy most of my groceries at the farmers market. At the market I have a direct relationship with the people who grow the vegetables and fruit I consume. There’s something exciting about eating a quart of big, red and plump strawberries. I had my first taste of fresh locally grown arugula and compared to the plastic packaged kind I used to buy at Trader Joe’s – there was no going back. The local grown arugula had a sharp bitter taste, typical of the fresh kind.

Our schedules are hectic and busy. It’s not always convenient or easy to buy local. We are often eating on the run, in the car or on our way to work. Dinner tends to be either a Lean Cuisine, a box of Mac and cheese or something prepared from Trader Joe’s. If each of us makes a commitment to buy one locally-produced vegetable and support our farmers, we would be help save the environment and see an improvement in our own diets and health.

I’ve noticed how much better my food tastes when it’s fresh and purchased directly from the farmers. Nothing beats a deep red heirloom tomato in the summer from the market.

For a listing of local farmers markets go to Local Harvest