I was only somewhat joking the other day when I suggested to my fellow Community Food Connections board members that we adopt the slogan "Eat Local; Don't Die." The salmonella scare which follows the various E.Coli scares have not done enough to get people to notice that having a nationally based food distribution system not only makes food taste bad, it also increases the risk that it is bad. The FDA just cannot handle the massive job and the regulatory practices, like all huge legal schemes, contain a pile of unintended consequences that can actually squeeze producers of healthy and delicious food out of the market.
The other really bad aspect of the system is that we end up treating our food supply like a commodity which has become the victim of our creative financial times and is the subject of the latest economic bubble. All of this is driving up the cost of food.
But it doesn't bother me so much because the bulk of my food comes from the Farmer's Market. The price has remained steady as the shipping distance is small. The risk of bacteria is minimal as the stuff is not sitting around where it can be exposed and it is so fresh that it lasts much longer than store bought so there is less waste.
My food professional pal Judy Walker actually studies this sort of thing and writes about it so here is a link to her suggestions, which no so coincidentally include a number of things that I do: http://www.newhouse.com/stretch-your-food-dollar-with-these-tips-3.html
Let me know what you get out of it.
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