A locavore is someone who eats food grown or produced locally. The locavore movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to produce their own food, with the argument that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locally grown food is an environmentally friendly means of obtaining food, since supermarkets that import their food use more fossil fuels and non-renewable resources.

As of late there has been a lot of buzz around eating organically, and now there is information about eating local. Whether you want to reduce your carbon footprint, eat more healthy, or just plain know what the heck is in your food, eating local could be a great option.

What the heck is eating local?

From Wikipeda:

“Local food is a collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies - one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution, and consumption is integrated to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of a particular place".

What it means is eating food that is either grown or produced locally or around a specific radius (It depends on the product but usually between 50 and 150 miles.) It is considered an alternative to the global corporate models where producers and consumers are separated through a chain of processors/manufacturers, shippers and retailers.

There are several ways one can eat local foods. One is of course buying from a farmer's market. You can also visit the local farm stands in your area. Also, you could join a CSA (community supported agriculture) A Community Supported Agriculture is when a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables but other farm products may be included (Such as fruit, dairy, eggs, meat products etc). Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season. Your dividends are essentially the products that the farmer grows/creates. This helps the farmers because they have the cash upfront to pay for their expenses. CSA's help you by having fresh food with little if any alteration, and developing a relationship with the person that makes your food. Quite often people get to visit the farm once a season and get to see how their food is actually made from the beginning of the process to the end. Encourage your local grocery store, natural foods store, and area restaurants to purchase products from local farmers.

Grow your own food in your backyard or community garden. A community garden is Any piece of land gardened by a group of people. You can grow vegetables, fruits or flowers and plants. Some of the benefits are that it improves the quality of life for people in the garden. It provides food that is nutritious which lowers food budgets and promotes self reliance. It also allows social interaction, especially in areas where there normally wouldn't be a tight knit community (Urban areas). Community gardens also beautifies neighborhoods and reduces crime and vandalism.

The food is tastier, due to the fact that its sold right after harvest and normally riper than food coming from a big chain supermarket. It's also fresher due to the fact that there are less chemical preservatives to keep it fresh and extend the shelf life.

Eating local is also a way of preserving or renewing interest in regional ways of cooking local produce, and of knowledge of local produce and landscapes, that would of otherwise been endangered or gone extinct.

It also encourages farmers to diversify crops, thus making the land more sustainable as opposed to one crop farming. It also strengthens your local economy by protecting small farms, local jobs and local shops, restaurants and stores.