Eating seems so simple. Put food on a plate, see a tasty meal, put it into your mouth, feel satisfied.
Walk around in New York and that process gets even easier. Bodegas and grocery stores line every block; street vendors hawk their snacks and fruits on corners. McDonalds and Taco Bell compete for your attention. Everywhere you go, food is there.
So in this city, choosing what to eat can be difficult. But at a time when global warming threatens the environmental balance and processed foods threaten the health of many Americans, it's vitally important to be conscious of what we are putting into our bodies. Buying locally grown food products is a crucial step toward reversing these alarming trends in our society - and in our world.
The vast majority of the food we eat is transported from commercial farms far, far away. According to Rebecca Sparks, the Steinhardt nutrition department's food program coordinator, the average distance our food travels from farm to table is 1,500 miles. This means that more and more trucks are on the road.
The negative effect that this can have on the environment is staggering.
Deliveries from local farms located within a 250-mile radius of New York, of which there are many, can get in and out of the city in one day. This guarantees that food is fresh and hasn't been wasting away in warehouses and trucks until it finally gets to your plate. The shorter distance also saves fuel, minimizing environmental damage.
It's not hard to find places to buy such food. The Union Square Greenmarket is the most prominent example of a spot where locally grown products are the rule, but plenty of others abound throughout the city, from the East Village's Tompkins Square Park to Brooklyn's McCarren Park.
Not only is local food more wholesome, but buying it directly from farmers also helps to create a bond between buyer and seller among those who frequent the market.
"You'll see gathering here," said Elly Hushour, the owner of Patches of Star Dairy in Nazareth, Pa., and a vendor of fresh goat cheese at the Union Square Greenmarket. "You're bringing community back to people. It's something that human nature needs, something back to basics."
It's very easy to take a trip to the Greenmarket and be amazed by the cornucopia of locally grown food that surrounds you. Paying for the food can be another matter. Many of the options at farmers' markets are cheap - it's possible to spend a dollar for a large bag of apples - but it can get expensive at times.
"Good food costs money, and it's much easier to eat well if you have money," Sparks said. "But it's possible to eat well even if you have a limited income."
For example, Sparks suggested, you can go at the end of the day to buy beet greens that are delicious and cheap. Inexpensive apples, sweet potatoes and onions are good choices too. Even though it's difficult to buy all your food locally, it's important to start small and build up from there.
A good way to do that is by joining a community-supported agriculture program. CSA programs partner with regional farmers who sell parts of their yearly harvest to individuals or organizations that prepay for the food. If peaches are growing well in a certain year, for example, then that's what the farmer will bring into the city with him for the CSA members.
CSAs allow you to eat food that has been grown in season and is ready to eat, instead of buying unripe produce that has been flown in from across the country, out of season. They also help support local farmers, who need the money to get their crops started. As more people start to care about the origins of their food, CSAs are becoming more popular - it is anticipated that there will be 50 in New York City by the end of 2007, up from 41 in 2006.
It's easy to join one - there's a CSA at NYU. The Washington Square CSA - run by Sparks - is sponsored by the Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health department, and has a 20-week summer season during which farmers bring in fresh produce from their farms straight to 35 W. 4th St. weekly (with shorter, less frequent fall and winter seasons). Join, and it might help you imagine a world where people eat what they grow themselves and huge food corporations don't exist.
"I think more and more people today are concerned with the safety of their food and where it's coming from," Sparks said. "So when you put a face to your farmer, you know exactly where it's coming from."
You'll be surprised at how much better the food tastes, said Steinhardt senior Anjal Chande, a food studies major who splits a CSA winter share with his roommate.
"It puts excitement and flavor - and even nutrients that are often sacrificed when food has to travel far - back into food," Chande said. "Food, after all, at one very simple level, is about enjoyment."
The more often we buy this way, the more money farmers will make, and the less likely they will be to sell their land to developers. This issue is about more than your daily eating habits. Act on it.
Zach Subar is a columnist for WSN. E-mail him at features@nyunews.com.
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