Connections between Articles
I enjoyed reading both “Explore with a Localvore” by Shannon Shea and “Working Toward a Just, Equitable, and Local Food System: The Social Impact of Community-Based Agriculture” by Thomas Macias. Both articles were interesting and helped shed light on some possible ideas for my upcoming research paper.
Shea’s “Explore with a Localvore” is an interesting read and it reminds me a lot of Pollan’s article “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch” in terms of tone, source credibility and writing style. Neither article includes adequate source information for specific quotes nor statistics (although Shea’s article does include a small section entitled Connect to Nature, listing some of her sources).
Content wise, Shea’s article reminds me of both Rozin’s article “The Meaning of Food in Our Lives: A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Eating and Well-Being” and Sims’ article “Food, Place, and Authenticity: Local Food and The Sustainable Tourism Experience by Rebecca Sims.” In “Explore with a Localvore” Shea discusses in layman’s terms the background information and important definitions associated with eating locally, along with reasons why to eat locally and ways to do so. Shea’s article focuses on similar ideas covered in Sims’ article, as Sims argues that a local, sustainable food movement could be used to bring in tourism to an area. This argument is seen when Sims states in her online article that “’local’ food and drink products can improve the economic…sustainability of both tourism and the rural host community through…sustainable agricultural practices [and] supporting local businesses.” While Shea focuses on the reasons to eat locally on a personal level, Sims’ article focuses more on the benefits of eating locally on a larger community level.
Shea’s article also has ties to Rozin’s article. Rozin argues in his article that Americans should change their lifestyle and be more like the French, who have a higher appreciation for the quality of their food and who travel less by car and walk more often. Shea’s online article supports these claims when she states “most local eaters say that their prime motivation for eating locally is the foods’ freshness, superior taste, and higher quality.”
I also enjoyed reading “Working Toward a Just, Equitable, and Local Food System: The Social Impact of Community-Based Agriculture” by Thomas Macias. I am struggling with finding the similarities that this article shares with the other articles that we’ve discussed and read for class, however. Macias focuses on the effects of socioeconomic status and race on who can and cannot easily participate in the local foods movement. Macias discusses “food miles” and the hidden cost of food in his article. In Macias’ online article he states “growing uncertainties about the costs…of fossil fuel inputs in industrial agriculture have placed the local food movement on firmer ground.” Shea also discusses the hidden cost of food in her article in more simplified terms. Shea explains “food miles measure how far the fruit or vegetable has traveled from where it was grown to where a consumer purchases it.” Shea further backs this claim by stating that “transportation results in hidden costs to society, concealed by the prices of industrial agriculture.” In essence, both articles explain the hidden costs industrial agriculture has on society, and that consuming local food can reduce these costs.
Works Cited
Macias, Thomas. “Working Toward a Just, Equitable, and Local Food System: The
Social Impact of Community-Based Agriculture.” Social Science Quarterly 89.5
(2008): 1086-101. EBSCOhost. Web. 8 Feb. 2010.
Pollan, Michael. “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch.” The New York Times. 29
July 2009. Web. 9 Feb. 2010.
Rozin, Paul. “The Meaning of Food in Our Lives: A Cross-Cultural Perspective on
Eating and Well-Being.” Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior 37 (2005).
EBSCOhost. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. http://www.ebscohost.com.
Shea, Shannon Brescher. “Explore with a Localvore.” New York State
Conservationist June 2008: 2-6. EBSCOhost. Web. 7 Feb. 2010.
Sims, Rebecca. “Food, place and authenticity: local food and the sustainable
tourism experience.” Journal of Sustainable Tourism 17.3 (2009): 321-36.
EBSCOhost. Web. 9 Feb. 2010.