Locally grown and sourced vs. processed foods

Paige Walters, Editor-in-Chief, The Bagpipe|February 11, 2016

The longest, on-going argument emphasizes why eating locally grown food is better than processed products, and in the midst of the arguing, people sometimes forget that there are two sides to every argument.

It is imperative to have an eye to nutrition as well as sustainability (resource use that preserves the environment.) ‘There is no such thing as a free lunch,’ meaning one is not just paying the restaurant for their meal; they are paying all of the processes behind it. With that being said, if we eat local, we are exempt from paying the processing plants, and our money is recycled back into the community.

Local communities are not trying to make nutrition unaffordable. Instead, it is understood that good food costs more; thus, the middle classes and below may have to make a few sacrifices, but doing what’s right is not always easy.

Analogous to that of fruit and vegetables traveling through more processing factories, a car is more likely to be closer to a minimum of value the longer one owns it.

In conclusion, having an eye to nutrition as well as sustainability is necessary in leading a healthy lifestyle.