Musings: Defining Local for Me

In choosing to make local food more of a centerpiece in my lifestyle, I've been faced with deciding what local actually means for me. Certain things get the local stamp without much thought - farmers market produce which generally (at mine) gets vetted by someone else, for instance. And what's good enough for them is good enough for me - generally NY and NJ vendors with the occasional VT cheese vendor (Bufala di Vermont is one that I haven't tried but pops up once in awhile).

Local absolutely consists of the lettuces, herbs, tomatoes and jalapenos we have growing on the deck even though a couple of the plants (chives, mint) were transplanted from a family garden in Vermont.

Furthermore, I've decided that local can be whatever is local while I am traveling. We spend a fair amount of time in Vermont, giving us access to great cheeses, meat and additional produce at their farmers markets and local stores. Naturally, the products must be local to VT to count.

The last layer of local that I've considered is the sort of local that is small business in support of some local vendors and some national. I frequent a store called Provisions in Manhattan which has great olive oils and some local products. The local items are not many, but there are RI, VT, NY and NJ foods available and the store is the base for year-round CSA pickups.

For the purposes of an eat-local challenge, I can't in good faith say that anything bought there regardless of origin is local. However, in the big picture of my personal food values, supporting this store is supporting the kind of "local" that I'd like to see in NYC neighborhoods - independent small grocery stores that have relationships with small local producers, all of whom care deeply about quality, freshness, connection to people and land, and community.

So, is the sea salt from WA sold at the local natural grocery local? Not literally. But maybe, in order to create the world we want to see, we need to make sure the definition is flexible enough to support our small businesses who support some local vendors and find us some interesting national or less local vendors who are marketing great products.