A Brit questions local food

What some say is the hot social trend for this year - "local food" and the related issue of "food miles"- is being given even more credence in the U.K. Here, a columnist asks "Is local food really better?"

British PM Blair okayed a campaign to encourage consumers to "Just Ask" where the food on their plate comes from, and the country's Country and Land Business Association wants restaurant patrons to inquire where their food comes from and choose local over foreign produce. Not only to help farmers but to reduce the "carbon footprint."

The writer ask his readers, "So, is local food better food? Does it taste better? Is it ethically more virtuous to buy local rather than imported food? Why shouldn't we enjoy the fruits of globalisation and tuck into fresh produce all year round, even if it means importing fruit and vegetables from different hemispheres? "

A more positive treatment of the subject is found here, with the topic being local farmers in Missouri supplying university food service.

If time travel were possible, imagine the reaction to this debate on the dusty plains of Kansas or Oklahoma in the 1930s. When my grandma had chicken for dinner in Russell, Kansas, she knew it was local because she was the one who caught the chicken and lopped of its head.

She no doubt was grateful for that chicken could be purchased at the supermarket in her later years, and I seriously doubt she held it against the retailer if it was trucked in from afar. Times change.