- Published: October 3, 2022
- Updated: October 3, 2022
- University / College: The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney)
- Level: Intermediate School
- Language: English
- Downloads: 41
The paper “ Locavore” is an exceptional example of an essay on family and consumer science.
To eat food is an important daily function of an individual. But how one eats, and what one eats, is more important. Wrong type of diet, and using vegetables grown with the aid of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase the crop output, has resulted in many new diseases sprouting up. Locavores “ just like to eat food that has been grown locally to help the environment and the economy.”(How Stuff…)
The connotation of Locavore is simple. They limit their food consumption to what is grown and produced within a limited radius. The movement expects its supporters to buy food grown within a radius of where they live– be it 50 miles, 100 miles, 150 miles (80, 160, or 241 kilometers) or within a states border. The locally-grown food has caught the imagination of many people. The word “ Locavore” has become so popular that it was chosen as the 2007 Word of the Year by the New Oxford American Dictionary [source: Oxford University Press].
“ Many locavores give themselves several exceptions to their local diet. Commonly excluded items include coffee, chocolate, salt, and/or spices – although locavores tend to try and find local coffee roasters, chocolate producers, and spice importers when they can.” (Locavore….) People have realized all over the world that the deterioration of good food culture is one of the unfavorable impacts of the modern materialistic civilization. Packed and junk food, fruits, and vegetables stored in the cold storages for a long time before flooding them in the market for public consumption have worked to the detriment of the health standards of the people. “ The rise of farmers markets—in city centers, college towns, and rural squares—is a testament to a dramatic shift in American food tastes. Consumers are increasingly seeking out the flavors of fresh, vine-ripened foods grown on local farms rather than those trucked to supermarkets from faraway lands.” (Gogoi, 2008)
The small farmers have developed a sense of participation in the good food movement and the satisfaction of offering something tangible to eat, to the local populace. This goodwill is the greatest gain of the locavore movement, which by now has caught the national attention in America. The movement is not yet a big challenge to the giants of food retailing. But sooner or later it will! The giants will have many things to learn from the locavore movement.