Eating locally doesn’t mean a feed down at the local pub.

It has to do with the distance from where the food is grown, produced and packaged to where you ultimately purchase it from. The majority of the food in our ‘local’ major supermarkets has not only travelled long distances before it appears on our plates, but half the time it’s not even clear where the hell it’s come from or who produced it – there’s no story.

Eating locally is beneficial to our own health and the health of our planet, small business, local farmers and our community.

Here are the top eight reasons why we should all make a concerted effort to buy our food a little closer to home.

1. Fresh is best

It’s self-explanatory really. The less the food has to travel to get to your plate the fresher it is. Some of the produce sitting in your supermarket fruit and veg section has been sitting in cold storage often for weeks. A purchase from your local farmers market was most likely picked out of the ground or off the tree that morning.

2. It’s tastier

Compare the flavour of a freshly picked apple with one that’s been in cold storage for a couple of weeks. Nuff said.

3. You eat by the season

If you’re buying produce locally you’re only able to eat what’s in season at that time, which means it’s cheap and full of flavour. And also it’s kinda how Mother Nature intended us to eat, don’t you think?

4. Less food miles, energy and emissions

If you cut the distance in which the food travels, you cut the energy used to package, transport and store the food until it reaches it’s destination. Imported food items can travel tens of thousands of kilometres to reach their destination. Think of the carbon emissions expelled just to get a passionfruit that’s out of season in Australia to our shores.

5. Supporting the community

Would you rather put your hard earned coin in the pocket of a local farmer and producer or a food giant in the US? What about the supermarket giants that claim to support local farmers? Well, in comparison only about 18 cents from every purchase goes to the farmer. If you buy directly from the grower they get the whole lot. Makes sense yeah?

6. Local fare often comes with a great story

How good is a chat with your local butcher or baker? As kids the chats between mum and the local providore was painful to endure, but now we finally get it! Knowing how the chooks were raised, the corn was grown and the cheese was produced is an invaluable part of the ritual of cooking and eating.

7. It’s safer

Because locally grown food doesn’t need to be packaged or transported it is often organic or at the very least pesticide free. A few nibble sin your kale leaves is always a good sign.

8. Variety

One of our favourite things about heading to the local farmers market is seeing what unpopular veg is on the menu. Major supermarkets often sell what’s popular, long lasting and attractive. Local growers will often raise unusual and “ugly” produce you’d never find on supermarket shelves. It’s fun to experiment with new stuff and be surprised by it’s deliciousness.