A friend who posted a comment to my last entry wrote:

"My main objective (is) to raise the issue that buying locally does have its costs as well as its benefits. There is no such thing as a purchasing decision that does otherwise. If you are a choosy mom who chooses Jif, the folks at Skippy lose a sale. If you are a buyer of local veg, then any non-local provider of veg loses a sale (and vice versa)."

This got me to thinking....

And so, to rib my good friend Jeremy about the costs and benefits of my decision, I will say that my new eating habits have benefited Stuart, Alice, Ken, Stanley, Amy, Rose, Mark, John, Cindy, Charles and a host of other farmers I have had the great pleasure of meeting. The money I spent on their food presumably went straight back into their lives and their farms. Conversely, I have not spent money on products by General Mills Inc., Unilever Corp., Hormel Foods Corp., PepsiCo Inc., and Kraft Foods to name a few.

My own smarminess aside, let me say that Jeremy's point is important and I value his contribution. In fairness, I have also not spent money on organic tomatoes from California, or organic avocados from Mexico. I have tried to live without these.

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Value judgments? Recipes?

Cheers.

P.S. Check out these local tomatoes for crying out loud!