Analysis Of The Locavore Movement

Over the last decade, the locavore movement has slowly become an evolving trend throughout the world. It is defined as a decision of a community or an individual to eat locally grown products and food that are produced within local limits, usually a 50 to 100 mile radius. The movement started on World Environment Day in 2005 in San Francisco. The support for this movement has garnered so much attention that the word of the year for the New Oxford American Dictionary in 2007 was "locavore".

The movement is very important on a lot of levels. It helps to boost the local economy and jump start the revival of small farms. As stated by Maiser (2005), according to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generates

For example, supermarkets and large grocery chains have begun to take notice. British supermarket chain Waitrose is one of the many grocery chains promoting its local food sourcing. At present, more than 2500 local products from 600 local suppliers are available in branches throughout the country. Waitrose initiatives like 'Meet the Buyer' and 'Meet the Farmer' (which introduces customers to local producers) and the Waitrose Small Producers Awards, launched five years ago, continue to champion the work of small producers across the country and promote local food (Igd.com, 2008). This is due to the fact that customers are becoming increasingly interested in the provenance, quality and traceability of produce they are buying. Shoppers are willing to pay a higher price for locally produced food, seeing it as more sustainable, trustworthy, and with higher nutritional

Nowadays, more and more chefs are joining the trend of sourcing and serving up local produce in their restaurants. Take Danish chef René Redzepi for example, from the birth of his acclaimed restaurant, Noma, which has been ranked as the Best Restaurant in the World by "Restaurant" magazine for four years, Redzepi has been at the forefront of the locavore movement, using only the freshest ingredients gathered from in and around Copenhagen. He has been taking seasonality and local produce to an extreme. "If you do follow that natural cycle, you will inevitably eat better, cheaper, and much, much, much, much healthier." said Redzepi in an interview. (Small, 2013). The dedication to foraging for local ingredients, balanced with a respect for seasonal food cycles, is what draws customers from all over the world in, ultimately boosting the local