The solution to one of the planet’s most imminent problems is right here in Western New York. In fact, it’s all across the country; even worldwide. It might sound crazy, but to the thousands who support local agriculture, it’s an obvious fact. It’s pretty tasty, too.
Most people don’t think twice about where their food comes from when taking a bite out of a Red Delicious. When craving a snack, the average Joe doesn’t look at a banana in terms of energy and fossil fuels. The average piece of foodstuff, however, travels over 1,500 miles to get to the local grocery store. The amount of fuel used to transport the different brands and types of food a normal person eats in one day could fuel the average University at Buffalo student’s car for a year.
One study conducted in 2000 at the University of Michigan estimated that ten percent of the energy used annually in the United States was consumed by the food industry. In a time of an “energy crisis” that figure is staggering.
In addition to how taxing food production is on our resources, the content and treatment of food products are becoming more and more of a guessing game. There used to be a time when people knew exactly where their food came from and what was in it. Now, there are the perils of genetic modification, pesticides, and sickly chickens.
There is something that the average consumer can do to avoid the mystery of food. As simple as it seems, the answer is limiting one’s diet to foods produced by farmers in the local region.
Jim Ieraci, owner of Ieraci Farms in Lewiston, NY, believes that eating locally, while beneficial for farmers, is a bigger payoff for consumers. He says, “Really, it’s more important for them if they eat locally.” He adds, “You don’t have as many health problems as far as pesticides and salmonella.”
In addition to health benefits, Ieraci continued to describe how the farmer’s plight is everyone’s problem.
“Thirty or forty years ago there were a lot of farms. Unfortunately, today it is dwindling increasingly. I hate to think what it will be like twenty to thirty years from now. People don’t realize the value of their farms; the communities will grow ever more in need of them.”
One of the ways people are eating local is through the 100-Mile Diet, created by James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith. They challenged themselves to eat food that comes from within 100 miles of their home in Vancouver, British Columbia. Before they knew it, a media frenzy followed, which then inspired others worldwide to embark on their own 100-Mile Diet challenge.
As Smith writes on 100milediet.com, “It’s an easy way to start thinking local. A 100-mile radius is large enough to reach beyond a big city and small enough to feel truly local.”
The movement began two years ago when four San Francisco-area foodies designated August 2005 as the first Eat Local Challenge and launched a website, Locavores.com.
“With gas prices spiking, people are concerned about our dependence on petroleum,” says Locavores co-founder Jessica Prentice in an interview with Time. “Why import apples from New Zealand when we can grow them nearby?”
Though the trend is widespread, it hasn’t quite hit in Buffalo yet, though one local bioengineering student from Niagara University, Lorelei Eschubach, has given the diet a try.
“At first, I expected it to be [expensive], but once I started buying in bulk and freezing things, it actually was kind of cheaper than going to Tops every other day,” says Eschubach. “It’s not easy at first, but if you’re motivated, anyone can do it, even poor-ass college students. Trust me; I know what that’s like.”
Despite her successful overall experience with the 100-Mile Diet, she doesn’t sugarcoat it.
“[The diet is] not the easiest thing I’ve ever done,” she says. “I would sometimes really crave bananas, or mangoes, or chocolate. I’d cheat… I think there’s very few people who actually do the diet so strict without ever eating something from out of a 100 mile radius. Every little bit helps and you can’t stress yourself out over doing a good thing already.”
When considering attempting the “locavore” lifestyle, keeping local health food stores in mind is a must. Mom & Pops Natural Foods, across from South Campus, is one local health food store that is dedicated to bringing options to those looking for local food. They carry several locally made items, including maple syrups, teas, jams, and soon, salsa and chili starters from the Massachusetts Avenue Project’s Buffalo inner city community gardens.
“It’s very important [to carry local food and produce]. The produce will be fresher; it’s a better product,” Park says. “I link it to the environment. Going local, people are starting to learn that it’s more environmentally friendly, you know, from not shipping and flying stuff across the ocean just because it’s organic.”
“We’re going to be carrying some produce,” Park says. “We’re going to start off with snack fruits and cooking vegetables, and depending on how that goes, we’ll expand.”
Additionally, University at Buffalo offers two farmer’s markets, featuring some of the major local farms as vendors. The largest, at the parking lot north of Allen Hall on the South Campus, operates every Saturday, rain or shine, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. until October 13. Some of the many vendors include Ieraci Farm of Lewiston and Independence Hill Farm of Friendship, NY, for vegetables and fruits, Honey Bee Farm of North Tonawanda for honey, Nancy Bryant of Independence Hill Farm for jams and jellies, and all-natural handmade soaps crafted by Buffalo resident Jill Tarr. Another farmer’s market takes place on Wednesdays outside of Capen Hall.
An additional resource for those trying to bring more local flavor into their diet is through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). According to LocalHarvest.org, supporters of CSA cover a farm’s yearly operating budget by purchasing a share of the season’s harvest. Members help pay for seeds, fertilizer, water, equipment maintenance, and labor. In return, the farm provides, to the best of its ability, a supply of seasonal produce throughout the growing season.
One local CSA farm is Native Offering Farm in Little Valley, NY.
“Food is of primary importance to us,” say Native Offering farmers Deb and Stewart Richie. “We are farmers because of this belief. We want to be close to the source.”
Native Offering Farm offers naturally-fed beef year round, pork in the summer and fall, and many vegetables varying by season.
“I think the CSA is a great resource. My roommates and I did that during college,” says Buffalo resident and local animal rights activist Jen Regen. “I don’t think it’s practical to live off of, though. I guess it’s not impossible, but what a miserable experience. Like, with the way we ate when we had CSA, I wouldn’t be disappointed if I never saw another squash again.”
Native Offering Farm makes a weekly appearance at another farmer’s market at the intersection of Elmwood Avenue and Bidwell Parkway (every Saturday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.), and offers CSA pick-ups at the Lexington Co-op.
Most importantly, Native Offering only travels one hour to deliver their produce, which is approximately 50 miles. That’s about 1450 miles less than the average food product in the supermarket. Your food will be 1450 miles fresher, and 1450 miles easier on the environment.
Some are skeptical about the diet.
“I never tried the diet, but from my experience in health food, and I have a lot of it, being a vegan for about 8 years, it seems really impossible,” says Regan.
“It sounds really great in theory and like a really great idea, but—this sounds funny—but I’m American. I was raised on Lunchables, Snack Packs, you know, all those nasty packaged foods, and then there were bananas, kiwis, all at my disposal. Do you really think after 20 years of living life that way it’s easy to give it up? I don’t think so; I don’t buy it,” says Regen.
“And truthfully, you’re giving up way more things that you don’t even realize. Pepper, coffee, salt, sugar… Those things aren’t grown around here, and you’re going to miss them,” says Regen.
Eschbach looks at things a bit differently.
“I kind of like the hunt and the challenge of food [on the diet],” says Eschbach. “Food is so easy these days. Just go to the grocery store and buy it, and that’s part of the problem. In order to eat healthy, you need to care about your food like you’re in a relationship together. It’s like, ‘you and me, tomato, we’re in this together and we’re going to make a kick ass salad or sandwich or spaghetti sauce.’ That sounds dumb, [but if] everyone thought about food that way, things might be different. Who knows? Maybe I’m a masochist, but I like to think I’m a food-superhero.”
For more information about the 100-Mile Diet, check out http://www.100milediet.org. For listings of local farmers and farmer’s markets, try http://www.localharvest.org, or visit UB’s on-campus farmer’s markets.
Michelle Matthews is an undecided major and a Features writer for Generation.
