Thursday, September 17, 2009

Locavorism for Beginners: A Practical Guide to Living Like a Locavore

“Locavore”: One who subscribes to the practice of eating food that is grown locally.

There are many reasons a person might choose to live a life of locavorism. Some of the biggest pro-locavore arguments include supporting and sustaining local businesses and keeping money circulating within the local economy, as well as being more eco-conscious by reducing the carbon footprint of the food consumed (it is grown locally and thus not trucked in from hundreds of miles away). It also supports small-production organic methods of food production versus large-scale operations that require greenhouse-gas-emitting machinery to tend and eventually strip the land of its nutrients, rendering it unfarmable. Whether the reasons are personal or political, economic or ecologic, it is no doubt that the locavore trend is gaining momentum as people become increasingly conscious of the foods they eat.

In the Ann Arbor area, the opportunities to practice living like a locovore are almost limitless. An environmentally-conscious cosmopolitan area surrounded by sprawling hectares of farmland, Ann Arbor is uniquely well-suited for the locovore lifestyle. Interested, but not sure where to begin?

Start by reading the full article on "How to Be an Ann Arborvore" in Concentrate!