The New York Times just wrote an article about bust locavores who pay people to grow a garden for them. A locavore is someone who only eats locally produced food to reduce the fossil fuels required to bring the food from farm to plate. Anyway, in the article they quote Corby Kummer (food columnist and book author) as saying “The highest form of luxury is now growing it yourself or paying other people to grow it for you... This has become fashion.”
How is the "highest form of luxury" growing your own food or buying food from someone else? Either of those are fundamental parts of society and survival, it is not a luxury. I know food prices are on the rise, but eating is not a luxury.
I understand that the article is focusing on local eating, but why should that be a luxury? Why is it considered more luxurious to eat a tomato grown less than 100 miles from your house compared to a tomato grown in China? Has our society become so fossil fuel dependent that it is cheaper to grow parts of our meals on other continents than in our own town? Local home gardens once provided 40% of our nations vegetables, what happened? Now eating locally is considered a luxury and a home garden is a rare thing.
When did local become exotic?
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