Comments on: When Eating Locally Is Bad For You http://jcarrot.org/eating-locally-bad-for-you Jews, Food, and Contemporary Issues Mon, 21 May 2012 04:07:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: judi http://jcarrot.org/eating-locally-bad-for-you/comment-page-1#comment-16887 judi Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:34:59 +0000 http://jcarrot.org/?p=7706#comment-16887 Thanks for bringing this up. We have a bluefish tradition in Southern CT which has fallen out of favor in the last generation because 1. The fish smells bad and tastes greasy, and 2. It's full of heavy metals. But that doesn't stop whole (primarily poor immigrant or Italian-American) families from going out for a day's fishing on the bridges or piers of New Haven, with off-loading oil tankers a stone's throw away. Our harbor is currently off-limits for oysters, which had previously been a major industry here, but that doesn't stop people from fishing in shallow waters that are only dredged when the silt is too much for ships to dock- because of all the arsenic, PCBs and other nasty stuff that lives there. Thanks for bringing this up. We have a bluefish tradition in Southern CT which has fallen out of favor in the last generation because 1. The fish smells bad and tastes greasy, and 2. It’s full of heavy metals. But that doesn’t stop whole (primarily poor immigrant or Italian-American) families from going out for a day’s fishing on the bridges or piers of New Haven, with off-loading oil tankers a stone’s throw away. Our harbor is currently off-limits for oysters, which had previously been a major industry here, but that doesn’t stop people from fishing in shallow waters that are only dredged when the silt is too much for ships to dock- because of all the arsenic, PCBs and other nasty stuff that lives there.

]]> By: Adam http://jcarrot.org/eating-locally-bad-for-you/comment-page-1#comment-16802 Adam Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:28:04 +0000 http://jcarrot.org/?p=7706#comment-16802 You can easily eat fish that is not local that is also bad for you. Mercury and chemicals abound especially when we consider how much factory farmed fish is available in supermarkets...and you guessed it...most of it is pretty cheap. This is not just an issue of fish but of how the entire "local" food movement has, until now, basically marketed itself to those who are willing to drop 5 dollars on a cucumber or on a piece of cheese that would last a family of 4 about an hour. It's also worth considering that there are countries whose entire economy, like Ghana (pineapples) or Chile (grapes) that depend so heavily on the export of one or two produce products. What happens to those countries when, after our government has basically forced them to produce for us, we turn our backs and say no thanks - that food has traveled to far for us. But i digress. we do need to strike a balance - to support local farmers (and fishermen) and those who pick fair trade pineapples in Ghana. But this doesn't get to the core of the issue either. Maybe it's not about local food, or sustainable food, but GOOD (as in good for you) food that supports and rejuvenates urban communities with jobs and opportunity. A response to this quandary is found in this article that was in the New York Times magazine this past week: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/magazine/05allen-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine It certainly will help inspire my backyard gardening the rest of this summer. You can easily eat fish that is not local that is also bad for you. Mercury and chemicals abound especially when we consider how much factory farmed fish is available in supermarkets…and you guessed it…most of it is pretty cheap.

This is not just an issue of fish but of how the entire “local” food movement has, until now, basically marketed itself to those who are willing to drop 5 dollars on a cucumber or on a piece of cheese that would last a family of 4 about an hour.

It’s also worth considering that there are countries whose entire economy, like Ghana (pineapples) or Chile (grapes) that depend so heavily on the export of one or two produce products. What happens to those countries when, after our government has basically forced them to produce for us, we turn our backs and say no thanks – that food has traveled to far for us.

But i digress. we do need to strike a balance – to support local farmers (and fishermen) and those who pick fair trade pineapples in Ghana. But this doesn’t get to the core of the issue either. Maybe it’s not about local food, or sustainable food, but GOOD (as in good for you) food that supports and rejuvenates urban communities with jobs and opportunity.

A response to this quandary is found in this article that was in the New York Times magazine this past week: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07.....f=magazine

It certainly will help inspire my backyard gardening the rest of this summer.

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