< The food crop on my block | Main | Friendship takes up the challenge >

Food and politics

Posted at 8:43 AM on February 9, 2008 by Cher Stuewe-Portnoff

"Think global, buy local" bumper stickers were fairly common in the 1980s. This started making sense to me after I began working at the Olympia Food Co-op, and it still has meaning for me now. In a global economy, I guess that's pretty close to being a political statement.

Just before Super Tuesday, Clinton commented on the role of regional food production and growers in rural upstate New York. Food, she predicted, was likely to become a security issue. Not to politicize what we're doing here, but for me, this was a good, hard poke in the ribs. Whatever one's personal politics, how we feed ourselves does deserve greater awareness. In ways we can all recite in our sleep, we're fairly vulnerable.

Just read an NPR report about the recent 30% cut-back in irrigation water in parts of California. One grower complained that the reduction was purely the fault of "environmentalists" who wanted more water to remain upstream. A mild case of tunnel vision? The disconnect with what's happening to water supplies everywhere aside, fewer avocados and grapefruits will be on the road this year. Another good reason to be finding our what's growing closer to home. I'll be glad when spring gets here, spending less time thinking about food, more time shopping at farmers markets and preparing it.