Take Local To The Next Level

Sourcing food closer to home is good for your community, your health, and your taste buds.

- Katie Morford, MS, RD

IF THERE’S ONE takeaway from the sky-high growth of farmers’ markets over the past few decades—the number of markets in the U.S. increased a whopping 395 percent between 1994 and 2017—it’s that our appetite for local food is here to stay. What it means to eat close to home, though, takes on new meaning with the latest movement: hyper-local eating.

While the USDA defines local as within 400 miles of your home state, hyper-local narrows the scope. It homes in on food within your own community, however you choose to define that—your county, city, neighborhood, or even backyard.

Consider Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco, which sells honey from bees buzzing on its rooftop, or Capitol Grille in Nashville, a restaurant supplied by a farm just four miles away. And then there’s the boom of urban indoor farms, such as Square Roots and Gotham Greens in New York City, which grow plants hydroponically (without soil) to sell in grocery stores that are sometimes a stone’s throw from where the vegetables are harvested.

If you’ve ever tasted a strawberry fresh from the vine, you know how much better fresh-picked foods can taste. And deliciousness is just one benefit of keeping your food source close to home.

The Nutrition Upside