What exactly is local food? Is it hype? In a word, no. It's grown nearby, and supports your local economy. It tastes better because your food is often harvested on the day of purchase. It's healthier, as local crops are designed to taste good rather than spend weeks in transit and on store shelves. Plus, eliminating that long trip fights climate change.
If you're interested in learning more about sustainable farming practices, there are plenty of online resources -- and even mobile apps -- that can make eating environmentally sustainable food easy. If you're already connected with the local food movement, you can share your expertise with online communities hoping to create extensive databases of farms, shops, butchers, bakers and restaurants.
In honor of World Food Day (Oct. 16), Mashable is participating in Blog Action Day, which is seeking to create an online global conversation about food issues. We've chosen to contribute by sparking a discussion of local farming. We hope this post opens your eyes to ways you can connect with the local food movement, by making your daily food consumption more environmentally and economically sustainable.
Are you a subscriber to the local food movement? Please let us know in the comments if you know of other ways to connect online.
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