Do you enjoy eating at local restaurants? Supporting them?
As you know, buying kind, local food matters. Not only does it support our local farmers and economies, but transporting food locally (rather than shipping it around the world) dramatically reduces CO2 emissions. It stands to reason we should obviously also support restaurants with locally-sourced menus. But…
Not All Restaurants With “Local” Menus Are Created Equal
“Local” is all the rage right now, which means the term is being thrown around by a lot of restaurants. Some of these restaurants buy local, while disregarding the importance of organic (read my thoughts on local vs organic here!). A local apple may still be sprayed with pesticides, and then coated with “food-grade wax” to keep it “fresh” longer. Ew! Beware of qualifiers like, “whenever possible” or “where possible”. Do you realize how subjective that is? A restaurant is either committed or kind food, or they aren’t. Of course, there are many ingredients we can’t get locally in Ontario year-round … so ask what “where possible” means and make sure you’re comfortable with the answer.
Discover how we source kinder local restaurants in The Wellness Intelligence Collective.
For more of our lessons in Empathy Economics click here.
