Eating Local: Michael Pollan on Locally Sourced Food

Eating local means relying in part or as a whole on regional food vendors and farms for your meals. In other words, you might buy your veggies from a farmers’ market, your fruits straight from the grower themselves, and your meat from a local farm. Some who eat local take to calling themselves “locavores,” a spin on other common dietary descriptors like carnivore and herbivore.

Eating local is just one essential component of achieving environmentally sustainable agriculture as a whole. For instance, the modern food supply chain has a negative impact on the atmosphere because of how many carbon emissions arise from factory farming and food shipping.

When you opt to eat local, you make a conscious choice to sidestep harmful consumption of this ilk in favor of a more sustainable and nutritious alternative. You’ll also have far more insight into the food safety standards of your providers.

When you eat local, you, your community, and the world reap various benefits. These are just some of the ones food educator Michael Pollan sees when it comes to eating local food:

• Better nutrition: Local produce comes to you fresher and more nutritious than what you’d get from faraway food production. “I don't think people realize how much nutritional value is lost in fresh produce when it's shipped across the country, which it routinely is,” Michael says. “That ripeness is nature’s signal of nutritional benefit.” Expect fewer pesticides and more antioxidants, minerals, and nutrients when you eat local produce.
• Increased variety: Michael believes eating local makes you more prone to try new things. “I found when my family's been a member of CSA [a community supported agriculture initiative], we cook new things,” he says. “It gets us out of our ruts.” This is due at least in part to the fact you can only use your own region’s in-season ingredients, rather than rely on the full gamut of foods available year-round because of globalization.
• Informed consumption: When making food choices, think of how much more insight you’ll gain from knowing the exact place from which your meals come. “There are choices,” Michael says, “and each of those choices gives you an opportunity to express what matters to you, whether it's in terms of sustainability, animal welfare, pleasure, [or] health.” Check out local land use and farming practices at a variety of places near your home to see which vendor is right for you.
• Positive environmental impact: Local food is also sustainable food. As an example, think about how many greenhouse gas emissions arise from shipping food over long distances. "I think long and hard about the carbon footprint of what I eat,” Michael says, “and try to eat food that not only doesn't make the environment worse but actually helps improve it.” Reduce the number of “food miles” your edible items have to travel so you can lay the groundwork for a healthier environment.

The food system is complex, but learning how to eat local simplifies the process of figuring out how to get healthy and fresh food to your table regularly. Read on to learn what food journalist Michael Pollan has to say about how to eat local:

• Attend farmers’ markets. Michael believes regular visits to your local farmers’ market can spruce up your meals. “Farmers’ markets are proliferating around America,” he says. “There are thousands of them, and new ones opening every month. And this is where you can get, you know, very high-quality food, picked that day or the day before.” The fresher the food you buy, the more nutritional value it’ll have for your diet.
• Join a CSA. You may be able to find a local subscription service for your produce. “A CSA is an acronym for community-supported agriculture,” Michael says. “You basically subscribe to a farm, and every week they put together a box of their produce, and, for a monthly fee, you get that box of produce.” Check out local farms and co-ops to see if one offers this option.
• Meet individual farmers. Perhaps you live in a rural area or close to one. If that’s the case, Michael makes the following suggestion: “Find food artisans who are working in your area.” Working directly with local farmers will allow you to get the freshest food possible.
• Try different grocery stores. There’s a strong likelihood that a supermarket in your area sells local food. “Find grocery stores that are actually selling local produce,” Michael says. “Many of them are.” A trip to the grocery store might be all it takes to start you on your journey of eating locally grown food.

See food like you have never seen it before. With the MasterClass Annual Membership, journalist and educator Michael Pollan teaches you how to determine your ingredient sources, shop at the grocery store, and rethink your relationship to food.