OP-ED Just taste this tomato!

Author: John Elder

The local food movement has become the catalyst for a new phase of environmentalism. In this regard it builds upon and complements many achievements of American conservation's past century. The wilderness ethic affirmed the beauty and the mutual dependence of all life on earth. The growing emphasis on local food now introduces a more socially inclusive and celebratory voice to the conversation.

The wilderness movement still strikes me as (along with jazz) one of America's greatest contributions to civilization. But a significant number of people in our country and around the world have viewed it as exclusive and elitist; one's perception of the movement is inevitably influenced, for one thing, by whether or not one can afford the transportation, equipment, and time for extended back-packing trips in the mountains. A certain forbidding quality in some key environmental legislation of the twentieth century has also irked some critics. Too much emphasis on prohibitions - even of noise and pollution ­- can strike people as against the American grain. While I for one would want to defend the 1964 Wilderness Act, the EPA, and the Clean Water and Clean Air acts against all comers, this seems a good time to incorporate more festive vocabulary into our environmental lexicon.

One advantage of the local food movement is its inviting and community-based character. At farmers' markets and CSA's, the underlying values may be on supporting our neighbors who are farmers and keeping more of our household expenditures circulating in our own towns. But what we find ourselves saying to each other in those contexts is not likely to be so overtly political. Friends meeting at the farmers' market are more likely to exclaim "Just taste this tomato!" or "Did you try some of this cheese?" Sensory pleasure, as Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini has often stated, can be the foundation for a social philosophy based on the mantra "buono, pulito, e giusto"-which might be translated in this connection as "delicious, wholesome, and fair."

As with the wilderness movement, the local food movement is susceptible to criticism as elitist. Food from the farmers' market often costs more than that purchased at Wal-Mart. This is where the importance of the value "giusto" comes in. We have to think hard about access to local food for lower-income families. More community gardens, focused subsidies for people who are partially dependent on food-stamps, and farm-to-school networks need to be developed. Similarly, the rights and livelihood of migrant farm workers, as well as the needs of farmers themselves, have to be factored into the equation. But if we apply ourselves seriously to all of these areas of food security and equity, both environmental protection and community sustainability may reap a delicious harvest.

(John Elder is professor of Environmental Studies and English and American Literatures. He is the author of Reading the Mountains of Home.)