The Benefits of Local Food

This morning I got an e-newsletter from the Worldwatch Institute featuring a video on the joys of eating local food, something we’ve been talking a lot about here at Grassroots.

They also have a survey up asking people who eat local to let them know what they think the greatest benefit is of eating local, and it lists things like better taste, limiting the environmental impact of transporting food long distances and ensuring animal welfare.

Our partners and allies in the food sovereignty movement would probably place the emphasis more on protecting local economies, and they would surely add a category for preserving sustainable livelihoods and protecting traditional cultures, but it is very exciting to see that the environmental movement and the global social justice movement are both focused on the problems of the broken food and farming system and in particular on local food as a solution for a number of environmental, social and human rights problems.