Locally Grown Apathy

Chalk this up to my ignorance or irresponsibility but I just don’t have any interest in whether or not my food is locally grown. If you care, then by all means you should support something you’re passionate about, but this is just not an issue that I care about at all. I can’t muster enough passion on this to power a CFL.

If someone makes me something from the garden, I’ll happily accept it since it came from someone I know. I certainly won’t turn my nose up at something locally grown but I don’t require it. However, if I’m dispassionately buying food from a restaurant or supermarket, I’m not that interested in where the food came from, except as a point of curiosity. You can serve me mushrooms from Kennett Square or fly them in from Thailand; I don’t give a shit.

You can be honest with me: Am I horrible?

The thing is that my Dad worked in the Acme warehouse for decades so I support larger supermarkets because they literally and figuratively put meat on our table for years. I understand that supporting locally grown food supports the economy but shopping at a big supermarket also must have some positive effect on the economy. Those employees at my Acme have jobs because people continue to shop there.

Another reason I haven’t hopped on the local food train is cost. I was just reading about local businesses that are popping up all over Brooklyn selling food and beverages that are totally grown within the borough. That’s great but I just don’t have the cash to spend $9 on a jar of jam or $6 on artisanal mayo. I just … the money isn’t there. I do not have it. More accurately, of course I do have $15 but extrapolate that into buying nothing but local artisanal food every week and it would become ridiculously expensive and I need to spend that money on other things. I don’t give enough of a shit to make that kind of sacrifice.

And I’m sorry, not to impugn the motives of people who are passionate about locally grown food, but given that Brooklyn is the Mecca of hipsters with trust funds, I have to ask: Is paying a premium for mayo with a fancy label just another pose for some people to strike, hoping everyone is watching?

Anyhoo, the answer is no. For me, it’s Smuckers preserves and Kraft mayo with a coupon, picked up at the dreaded Big Box Acme.

OooooOOOOOOOhhhhh … Biiiigg Booooxxx! (read in scary ghost voice)

Shopping locally is an important cause but there are a lot of important causes in the world and I’d like a break from this one, please. I recycle. I try to save energy. I drive a fuel efficient car. There may be some locavores who do not do any of the above and that’s OK because nobody is the Christ of the environment. We can’t all do everything perfectly but if you care about this cause and I care about that one, then maybe we can team up and have a positive effect.