What is it?
The word “locavore” has been coming up quite a bit these days, but what exactly does it mean? The movement has a goal to connect food producers with food consumers in the same geographic region, but also promotes fishing and hunting to provide Canadians with ethically harvested, organic meat and fish.
Eating and shopping this way helps to develop a more sustainable and resilient food network. Locavorism can help support local economies and has positive impacts on the health and well-being of communities and the environment. Hunters and anglers are great examples of locavores. The benefits of harvesting your own food goes beyond, organic, wild harvested meat and fish, and includes benefits like spending time outdoors, GMO/hormone-free protein, contributions to wildlife management and reducing your carbon footprint.
Eating locally sourced food reduces the distance that that food has to travel to get to your plate, which translates into fresh-picked flavour, more nutrients and fewer harmful pollutants being emitted into the atmosphere by vehicles transporting food. Additionally, locally grown crops are typically subjected to fewer pesticides and chemical preservatives.
Are you interested in becoming a “locavore” yourself? Here are a few ways that you can get involved in the movement:
- Go hunting
- Go fishing
- Shop at farmer’s markets
- Visit local farms or find a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program
- Grow your own food
- Forage for wild plants (Safely! Proper identification is important)
- Find out which restaurants in your area support local farmers, and give those restaurants your business
