The Local Food Movement: What happens when food gets to be more political than flavorful?

Charlottesville is a hub for the new local food movement.
But what happens when food gets to be more political than flavorful?

By Meg McEvoy/C-VILLE

This summer, take a break from the drive-through and get out to the county to see tractors roving the land or a few bent backs—people picking vegetables from the infamously stubborn red soil. Stop by a farm stand for some ears of sweet corn to douse in butter and chomp on the back deck as the fireflies come out in the evening. Try to navigate Water Street on a Saturday and bump into City Market shoppers with bushels of local veggies: beets with long, leafy stems, slender zucchini and bendy, yellow squash.

Yep, summertime in the ‘ville can be a wake-up call to the vegetable-ignorers. Even the most food-oblivious can’t help but notice there’s a cornucopia all around us.

But, lest we get carried away with good taste, remember that food comes with a philosophy. For in this area, where we care so much about everything else, why not care about what goes into our mouths?

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what gets put in mine. That tends to happen when one is researching a story about the local food movement.

But, from a mere eater’s perspective, I’ll be honest: While my diet is a slight step up from the pizza and ramen noodles of college days, I am still your average grocery store shopper.
Many of the things I eat come in crinkly packaging. The phrase “just add water” can be found in my pantry. I pass over organic yogurt and eggs for the cheaper stuff, and who knows where my produce comes from? Most of it goes bad in the fridge.

There are people who would say this is no way to live.

Since the organic food movement started in the 1970s, it is understood that the produce in the supermarket gets sprayed with all kinds of chemicals and pesticides that are unhealthy and polluting. Organic produce, grown using time-tested methods of crop rotation and old-fashioned bug repellents like plain soap, was found to be more nourishing and ecologically responsible.