重口味SM

Most of a food's greenhouse gas output occurs in production, not transportation, says Professor Desrochers (image by Kelly Rankin)

Shop locally, eat globally?

The Locavore's Dilemma hits bookstores

Pierre Desrochers knows how to serve up controversy. When an acquaintance mentions she follows a 100-mile diet to help the environment, Desrochers calmly asks how much energy it takes to heat an Ontario greenhouse.

When a colleague lauds local food as more nutritious than products shipped thousands of miles, Desrochers politely points out that the diet of a 19th-century German peasant consisted of lentils and peas.

Now, the 重口味SM Mississauga geography professor has published a controversial new book that goes beyond polite mealtime conversation and pits what Desrochers calls the 鈥渞omanticism鈥 of local eating, or locavorism, against the realities of a global food-supply chain.

Desrochers is the co-author of The Locavore鈥檚 Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000-mile Diet, in which he argues that we should stop obsessing about how many miles our food has travelled to get to our dinner plate.

鈥淭hree centuries ago most people were eating local food,鈥 Desrochers says. 鈥淲hy do we think the world moved away from that? There are significant benefits鈥攑articularly, environmental and economical鈥攊n collaborating to produce food in the best geographic locations.鈥

Desrochers and his wife and co-author, Hiroko Shimizu, launched the book and faced local food supporters at an 鈥榓uthor meets critics鈥 event held on June 6, 2012 at the U of T Mississauga campus. Debbie Field, Executive Director of FoodShare Toronto, Canada鈥檚 largest community food security organization, attended the event and sees The Locavore鈥檚 Dilemma as 鈥渕anipulative鈥 and 鈥渇anning the fires, rather than trying to find a way forward鈥 on the topic of a long-term approach to hunger and food issues.

Desrochers and Shimizu realize their views are not popular with food activists. They waded into the locavore debate in 2008 after a visiting environmental studies professor labelled the Japanese as 鈥減arasitical鈥 because they rely on imported food to survive.

鈥淛apan is a tiny island country with little land to grow food,鈥 Japanese-born Shimizu says, 鈥渟o, Japan produces and exports electronics and cars. You have to do what you are good at. It鈥檚 a global win-win situation.鈥

The couple responded to the Japanese slight by publishing a policy paper titled, Yes, we have no bananas: A critique of the 鈥榝ood miles鈥 perspective, which showed that over 80 per cent of a food鈥檚 greenhouse gas output occurs in production, compared to only 10 per cent in transportation. The paper received instant attention.

鈥淭here was quite a reaction to it. We had all sorts of names thrown at us,鈥 Desrochers says, 鈥渂ut frankly, it鈥檚 the most successful thing I have ever written.鈥 The paper led to articles for the Financial Post and Reader鈥檚 Digest Canada, live debates, a CBC radio phone-in show, and eventually, a book offer.

The Locavore鈥檚 Dilemma digs even deeper to confront the key tenets of locavorism: local food minimizes food miles, boosts the economy and is fresher, safer and more nutritious than the imported food found in most grocery stores.

鈥淲hen it comes to the environment, focusing on food miles is like focusing on the tire pressure in your Hummer,鈥 Desrochers says.

More important than distance travelled is efficient production in an ideal growing location, according to Desrochers. For example, a New Zealand apple harvested and shipped to Canada in mid-March has a smaller carbon footprint than a Qu茅bec apple picked in September and stored in a refrigerated warehouse.

And although the buy-local philosophy may keep farmers鈥 markets and corner mom-and-pop shops in business, Desrochers contends it does nothing to help the poor, either here at home or abroad. Buying expensive local food means consumers have less money to purchase other things, and it shuts the door to developing countries in Latin America and Africa鈥攔egions with ideal climates to grow food鈥攊n order to protect inefficient local producers.

鈥淚ncreasingly, locavorism is being forced down our throats, and public institutions like universities, hospitals, schools and prisons are pressured to adopt local food, which is a waste of taxpayers鈥 money,鈥 Desrochers says.

Raised in Qu茅bec鈥檚 fertile Saint Lawrence Valley on a rural property with 52 apple trees, a colony of rabbits and the family sugar shack, Desrochers never imagined he would write a book promoting the virtues of globe-hopping food.

鈥淚 hope that when people read The Locavore鈥檚 Dilemma they realize there are food problems in the world, but local food is not one of them,鈥 Desrochers says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 fine to eat locally in season but we should eat globally the rest of the time. That way, we can have our cake and eat it, too.鈥

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