Angry about local food

The only bad thing about this whole "sustainability/local food" trend is that some people insist they are serious about it. Here is one example from epicurious.com:

The UK's resident bad-boy chef and primary candidate for anger-management classes, Gordon Ramsay, said that he thinks that there should be a law in Britain targeting chefs who use non-local and out-of-season fruits and vegetables.

You'd think it typical Ramsay bluster, like spitting in a beleaguered TV contestant's food, but the guy's apparently dead serious, and has spoken to Prime Minister Gordon Brown about it.

Ramsay's plan is to fine chefs who use fruits and vegetables that aren't locally sourced and are out of season. Today's chefs, he said, have become lazy and faddish, and without a law, "the whole thing will spiral out of control."

The benefits, he said: cutting down on carbon emissions, importing less food, and improving food standards.

"I don't want to see asparagus on in the middle of December," Ramsay told the BBC. "I don't want to see strawberries from Kenya in the middle of March. I want to see it home-grown."

So far, reaction from British farm groups and nutrition organizations seems to be that, while Ramsay has the right motives, actually forcing people to eat locally and in season by law seems a tad drastic.

One thing's for certain: For political and economic reasons, it'd be impossible to even entertain the thought of such a law in the U.S.

TK: Don't bring this gospel to the U.S., please. We like our grapes in January and our asparagus in December.