Todd Kliman Definition Of Local

When someone gives you false information regarding a purchase, it can make you feel irritated. When you purchase food at the grocery store and the produce is labeled “local,” you expect it to be local. It is irritating when you find out that the produce you have purchased is not local. They are misguiding you. Many of you have experienced this and some of you may have never realized that this was being done to you. Several videos and articles have been made to spread the word, but it is time that the community makes a difference. Grocery stores are taking advantage of consumers and their brief knowledge of the foods they purchase. They follow the fads that the media emphasizes on. They are taking what is currently “in style” and advertising

Defining local has always been an issue. It can range from being just a few miles away to being the whole coast. In Todd Kliman’s “The Meaning of local” he states that one of the farmers he spoke to “defined local as his ability to ‘reasonably’ drive to and from a farm in a day” (Kliman 65). There is no set definition of local, which only causes more confusion for consumers.

Wholefoods, one of the most popular grocery states on their website “Well, we like to leave it up to our stores. Generally though, we try to use state lines” (Reiley). This quote was stated in Laura Reiley’s “How to tell if your food is actually local” article in Tampa Bay. It is absurd that the most trusted “local” grocery store does not have their own set guideline of local. For myself, I always looked at Wholefoods to be one of the healthier, honest choices when buying groceries. I would have never thought that they would sell foods that were labeled with incorrect

I ventured out the Issaquah Farmers Market in May 2017 and boy, was I surprised. There were foods from the Snoqualmie area to the Bellingham area. Foods ranging from lettuce greens to fresh apples that were picked that morning. I spoke with one of the farmers from the Steel Wheel Farm in Fall City. He had introduced me to Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). CSA allows people of the community to be able to have direct access to produce that is fresh and high quality that is locally grown. According Alex Smith, who is a CSA model promotor “the benefit of shopping local is that it offers the ability to see farmers as individuals” (Smith). For example, at farmers markets you may be given the opportunity to meet the farmer and they can explain how they do things and how it is different. Being able to speak to the person that was a part of growing your food is an advantage that buy non-local food could never meet up