Why is local food better?

Jonathan Lung

Why is local food better?

            Buying and eating local food from a farmer’s market creates a satisfying and enriching feeling of not only eating healthier provide a healthier alternative it also helps with sustainability as we use less artificial material and use more of the natural world the way we had been for so long. When my family and I went to the farmer’s market every Saturday morning, I always enjoyed tasting the fresh honey dripping from the spoon or the sweet smell of oranges that was picked the day before. To compare the supermarket and local products, it is hardly a competition. People in the 21^st century are eating worse than we could have ever possibly imagined: eating artificial flavored food, manufactured can goods, and processed meat. While the low cost might be an incentive to buy all of the supermarket products we have now, there is no price to our health and well being.

            When comparing food products from a supermarket to a local market, it is noticeable the difference in taste. One example I personally attest the difference in is lobsters. When we wanted lobsters, we would always get it from the stores. However when we visited Florida’s coastline, my parents brought several live lobsters that were caught not from port. Not knowing any difference between store-bought food and fresh food, I questioned my parent’s logic, wondering why they would deal with a live lobster when a cleaned out, prepared lobster was next door in Wal-Mart. After eating the fresh lobster, I finally understood the differences between the lobsters in Wal-Mart and the lobsters from the fishing boats. The enriching flavor sticks with every bite from a freshly caught lobster, a quality that a store lobster lacks.

            We live to eat so why not eat the best possible food available to us?