In 2005, Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon began a one-year experiment in local eating. which culminated in the publication of their eponymous book. This year the Food Network has created the 100 Mile Diet Challenge reality show, chronicling the struggles of a number of families in Mission, B.C. as they try to live on a pretty strict regimen of foods collected from no further than 100 miles.
There are strange shows on T.V., most of them in the “reality” genre, but this is one of the weirdest. The whole exercise reminded me of the new psychological disorder proposed by Steven Bratman, M.D., which he called “orthorexia” and defined as “an unhealthy obsession with what the sufferer considers to be healthy eating”. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of eating locally as much as possible….stuff is always fresher, tastier, and there’s some comfort in being able to see where its grown and by whom.
The 100-mile diet wouldn’t be such a bad idea for a week or so (because that’s about all it takes to realize just how dependent we are on imports), but beyond a week and into the 90 days of the Challenge, it becomes an exercise in futile obsession for the simple reason that you know its not going to be sustainable beyond that point. No sugar? No coffee? For Heaven’s sake….why?? We are too globally interdependent in the new world order – and its not necessarily a bad thing either – how else will emerging economies ever prosper if we don’t buy from them…or should we go back to the “old days” of foreign handouts to buy peace? And the 100-mile diet doesn’t address the more serious issue….growing food locally, especially in Northern climes, isn’t always the best environmental solution. The carbon footprint of growing tomatoes hydroponically in Canada in the middle of Winter, is I’m sure, much larger than buying those same tomatoes from Mexico and trucking them here. Are they as tasty or fresh? Surely not. But they’re not much worse either.
The problem with the 100-mile diet is that it makes distance the issue rather than environmental impact, sustainability, and the spread of wealth across the spectrum of humanity.
