Eat a Better Life

Near my home is a small bakery locally owned and operated by a French family. Inside are walls that need paint and repair; old, worn, and out-of-fashion decor; and ugly wood tables that wobble and creak as you eat on them. This bakery is located in the middle of a city block, on a major street, and has no parking lot. It is rare to find available parking spaces on the street, so if you want to visit this bakery you must park far off on a side street and walk. Yet despite these seemingly major short comings, every morning the bakery opens its doors to be greeted by a line of hungry and loyal clients. But why would people go out of their way to drive to this particular bakery and go through such inconveniences to buy baguettes and croissants, when they could go to the cleaner, more modern, and more accessible Safeway at anytime of the day, and buy bread at a cheaper price?

By buying bread from a local baker, or meat from a local butcher, or fruits and vegetables at a local farmer's market, you not only improve your quality of life through the pleasures of cooking and eating better quality foods, but you support your local economy, and in turn, strengthen the bonds of your community.

Buying food from a local vendor improves your quality of life. Rod Dreher is a writer and editor at the Dallas Morning News, and author of Crunchy Cons. In his book, Dreher says this about food: “...food, properly understood, is sacramental: it carries within it the care of the farmers who raised it and the merchant who sold it, the love and devotion of the hands that prepared it, and the happiness of the friends and family who share it” (Crunchy Cons, pg 58). Such an opinion of food may only be realized by buying food locally, which allows you meet the actual people who raised/grew it. By meeting the farmers you learn how their food is grown, and in turn carry a higher respect
for those farmers, and realize that the food you're buying is more than just bio-fuel, but someone else's lively hood, which means that the food has been given more attention than food being raised in bulk. You will find food from this source to be of a higher quality than factory food made for the masses.

On top of this, cooking with locally purchased food improves quality of life simply by the knowledge that you are preparing a meal for you and your loved ones to enjoy using the very best ingredients. Even the most inexperienced cook will create delicious dishes if the foods going into the dish are of the best quality. Dreher accurately points out: “There is no utilitarian reason to devote hours to preparing a delicious meal when you can save time by popping some tinfoil-encased gob of processed junk into the oven. Food not only nourishes the body, but it, and the ritual surrounding its preparation, nourish something in the human soul” (Crunchy Cons, pg 59). Cooking is fun! And cooking with loved ones is an enjoyable activity where everyone involved will get to share in the immediate rewards of knowing you created something that others are going to enjoy. So have some fun, try cooking a meal with someone you love using ingredients purchased from a local vendor, and you will discover an enjoyment you never thought food capable of delivering.

Buying food locally supports your local economy. So feel good knowing that your hard earned dollar is going to support people in your own community, instead of some suit sitting in an air conditioned office in some far off city. Economy is not only commerce, but as Dreher asserts, it is “... the inchoate and complex system of human relations that bound us together as a community...” (Crunchy Cons, pg 60). When the economics of buying locally are looked at in this light, we see that its not just money that helps hold our communities together, but it's us as individuals working and living together, and this in turn makes our communities pleasant, enjoyable, and worth living in.

Not everyone is satisfied with buying food locally though. Carrie Kirby, a blogger on wisebread.com, says “...I paid more at the farmer's market than I would at the store, but not outrageously so” (wisebread.com). However not all bloggers feel the same. Many have written that they pay about the same or a little less buying at a farmer's market. It has been my experience that buying food locally, not only from farmer's markets, but also from local butchers and bakers, does cost a little bit more. In fact, if cost of food is your bottom line concern, buying locally may not be the best option. But keep in mind large grocery chains are able to set up door buster prices on a single produce item, then tempt you into buying four dollar packs of soda or five dollar boxes of cereal. Also keep in mind that good quality food may only coast marginally more, if it costs more at all. Critics have also said that it's too inconvenient to buy locally. It takes too long to buy your produce at one place, bread at another, and still meat at another. It does take longer to shop your different local vendors. But with a little time management, you will find this to be a minor inconvenience when compared to the gains.

I say take an extra moment of your time and spend an extra few cents on your food and start living the good life by cooking and eating the good stuff. In doing so, you will feel the added satisfaction of knowing you are supporting your local economy, and strengthening the bonds of your community.