Why is it challenge to eat local? what's the core problem?
Thinking about Eat Local week, I came across some things that caught my attention that eating local seems like it's much more than just foods coming from local source.
In many ways, we think it's hard to eat local. Typically it's more expensive to buy local foods, they are not available at stores and it takes more energy to prepare meals from local ingredients. Of course, it's easier to pop frozen pizza in the oven, or go eat out.
OK, so if we live in a rural farming community like Hamakua coast on the Big island, where we are, it's still hard to get everything local because we have to plan ahead. It's not very flexible. Yes, once a week to farmer's market trip requires more planning than going to grocery store when we feel like it or when you can find time between work and kids demanding your presence.
Yet, my greatest concern is that our imported food culture has forced the environment to adapt us instead of humans adapting the environment. Like Hawaii already had a local food culture completely self-sufficient until new comers brought their food culture and changed the local foodscape, which in turn we have to import all the ingredients on the recipe to make thanksgiving dinner and fast food hamburger lunch.
Yes, I brought rice culture and I know giving up rice is not easy when growing up with it for my whole life, but how much commitment should it take to live on the new land or is it just a resort?
For example, to make thanksgiving dinner in Hawaii we don't grow those irish potatoes for mushed potatoes but taro and sweet potatoes and most people don't eat much turkey, but pigs. and we don't grow wheat to make pie crust and cranberries for sauce.
Adaptation can be good so instead of making mushed potatoes, we can make poi (mushed taro) or even my favorite mushed ulu (or bread fruits). and make kalua pork (shredded pork) instead of turkey for thanksgiving dinner. and what do we use for pie crust? and is thanksgiving really a part of Hawaiian culture?
I know some Japanese immigrant neighbors who have been living here for a few generations brought their original culture, adapted and replace with local ingredients. Hapuu fern is a local tree fern that Hawaiians didn't eat, but Japanese immigrants found a way to make it palatable by boiling it for a long time and removing the bitter clingy taste. It's texture is almost like a pickled bamboo, it's crunchy and not much flavor. so they added a little flavoring to make it savory. I can understand why it appealed to Japanese immigrant, but not Hawaiians.
Other adaptation was bringing and growing some edible plant source. Avocados and bananas grow like weeds and produce much foods. Chayote is a squash that just takes over and give us many squash looking vegetable that can be pickled or cooked. also some beans are pretty wild and wildest guava makes good jam, but why are they not being sold at stores? Too much work and too little money to be made, perhaps. Even people don't harvest macadamia nuts because they don't earn much money anymore.
Anyway, we tend to look at large scale farms and gardens to produce typical kinds of vegetables, but we need to look at a bit further to find what local foods really mean. It's not just what we can grow locally with imported fertilizers and amendments and machinery and even labor...., then it's just a new type of branding. I noticed that some manufacturers claim because they make their products here with all the imported ingredients, suddenly it becomes local. It's a very gray area indeed. Is it local or is it not?
In many ways, we think it's hard to eat local. Typically it's more expensive to buy local foods, they are not available at stores and it takes more energy to prepare meals from local ingredients. Of course, it's easier to pop frozen pizza in the oven, or go eat out.
OK, so if we live in a rural farming community like Hamakua coast on the Big island, where we are, it's still hard to get everything local because we have to plan ahead. It's not very flexible. Yes, once a week to farmer's market trip requires more planning than going to grocery store when we feel like it or when you can find time between work and kids demanding your presence.
Yet, my greatest concern is that our imported food culture has forced the environment to adapt us instead of humans adapting the environment. Like Hawaii already had a local food culture completely self-sufficient until new comers brought their food culture and changed the local foodscape, which in turn we have to import all the ingredients on the recipe to make thanksgiving dinner and fast food hamburger lunch.
Yes, I brought rice culture and I know giving up rice is not easy when growing up with it for my whole life, but how much commitment should it take to live on the new land or is it just a resort?
For example, to make thanksgiving dinner in Hawaii we don't grow those irish potatoes for mushed potatoes but taro and sweet potatoes and most people don't eat much turkey, but pigs. and we don't grow wheat to make pie crust and cranberries for sauce.
Adaptation can be good so instead of making mushed potatoes, we can make poi (mushed taro) or even my favorite mushed ulu (or bread fruits). and make kalua pork (shredded pork) instead of turkey for thanksgiving dinner. and what do we use for pie crust? and is thanksgiving really a part of Hawaiian culture?
I know some Japanese immigrant neighbors who have been living here for a few generations brought their original culture, adapted and replace with local ingredients. Hapuu fern is a local tree fern that Hawaiians didn't eat, but Japanese immigrants found a way to make it palatable by boiling it for a long time and removing the bitter clingy taste. It's texture is almost like a pickled bamboo, it's crunchy and not much flavor. so they added a little flavoring to make it savory. I can understand why it appealed to Japanese immigrant, but not Hawaiians.
Other adaptation was bringing and growing some edible plant source. Avocados and bananas grow like weeds and produce much foods. Chayote is a squash that just takes over and give us many squash looking vegetable that can be pickled or cooked. also some beans are pretty wild and wildest guava makes good jam, but why are they not being sold at stores? Too much work and too little money to be made, perhaps. Even people don't harvest macadamia nuts because they don't earn much money anymore.
Anyway, we tend to look at large scale farms and gardens to produce typical kinds of vegetables, but we need to look at a bit further to find what local foods really mean. It's not just what we can grow locally with imported fertilizers and amendments and machinery and even labor...., then it's just a new type of branding. I noticed that some manufacturers claim because they make their products here with all the imported ingredients, suddenly it becomes local. It's a very gray area indeed. Is it local or is it not?
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