Vore

I’m looking for a word. I’d like you, my readers, to offer up some suggestions.

Localvore isn’t working for me. I know there are some variations on the practice of eating only locally produced food, but the term itself is absolute. I like the concept, but I also like chocolate and bananas. (See the Minor Heretic’s killer banana bread recipe) Other people’s diets are tiresome, so I’ll try to keep the explanation brief.

Your Minor Heretic is a vegetarian. I eat a lot of local products, including a type of bread called Cyrus Pringle from our local Red Hen Bakery. It is made with all Vermont grown wheat. I’ll search out local food products and often spend a little extra on them. I have been buying fresh spinach all winter from a local farmer with a greenhouse, so California is getting along without me on that front.

I do eat things from afar, but under three conditions:

1) Only if there is no true local substitute. There are no banana trees in Vermont, but there are plenty of apple trees. Ergo, I don’t eat apples from New Zealand or Chile. Sadly, nobody in Vermont makes Gruyere, so the Swiss get my money on that little luxury.
2) Fair Trade if at all available. No slave-grown chocolate for me.
3) The closest non-local supplier gets priority. 

Of course, your Minor Heretic being human, these rules get bent in order not to offend people or be a complete pain in the ass. So what does one call someone who buys local food when available and ethically as possible otherwise? I think there are a lot of people in this category, but it lacks the definitive name of the absolutist localvore. Kindalocalovore? Somewhatethicalvore? Tryingmybestinanimperfectworldovore?

Suggestions? If someone comes up with something really good I’ll make a Minor Heresies T-shirt and reward that coiner-of-buzzword.


Comments

[Katherine Fanelli]

I am inclined to think of myself as more of a "locovore" - crazy about eating as local as possible, as often as possible. But I know that word doesn't say it all and I, too, am curious if some other word might conjure up a less absolute concept. Hope you get a lot of response!

[bitscientist]

so you're thinking globally, eating locally:
globalitarianlocavore

[DMcNab]

What about the fact that it takes a hell of a lot of energy to warm up a greenhouse in Vermont all winter as opposed to driving a semi full of spinach from California. I have read articles that state that the energy required to get wine bottles from France on a large boat pales in comparison to the energy per bottle to truck California wines to the east coast.

[Minor Heretic]

Actually, a greenhouse in Vermont doesn't necessarily have to be heated in the winter. A couple of organic farmers I know have row-sized greenhouses within regular unheated hoop greenhouses and grow cold-hardy greens almost all winter. I was eating their spinach in January.

There's also the possibility of using waste heat from other sources to keep less hardy plants going in winter. The McNeil wood chip fueled power plant in Burlington, right next to the Intervale farms, would be a perfect application for this.

Shipping by water is about 12 times more energy efficient (per ton-mile) than shipping by truck. So yes, shipping from a port in France to a port in the U.S. is a lower energy proposition than across the U.S. in a truck. If only we had a functional barge system coming up the Hudson from NYC through the Champlain Canal to Vermont. Then we could go down to the dock and booze it up on Beaujolais with a clear conscience.