Presbyterians and apparently lots of other Americans are buying locally-grown food. This niche has widened to $5,000,000,000,000 annually in the U.S.
And in case you hadn’t heard, Barbara Kingsolver just wrote a book about her own family’s struggles and joys attempting to eat locally, called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I couldn’t bear waiting for the other 144 people on the library reserve list to finish reading it so I went out and bought it. I left town and, sure enough, my mother borrowed it, read it, and lent it out to someone else. Alas.
On the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle website, you can get recipes from the book and take a seasonal tour of the Kingsolver’s homestead.
More below on the local foods niche and the increase in “fresh foods” purchasing…
NEW YORK, June 20 /PRNewswire/ — Food safety issues and America’s awakening “green” culture are just a couple of the factors driving the surge in fresh and locally grown food sales, with locally grown foods expected to jump from approximately $4 billion in 2002 to $5 billion in 2007, according to Local and Fresh Foods in the U.S., a new report from market research publisher Packaged Facts…
Consumers, equating freshness with higher quality, are increasingly looking toward the perimeter departments of their local supermarkets for fresh foods, which not only include locally grown and organic fruits and vegetables, but fresh meats, seafood, dairy, and baked goods as well. According to the report, retail sales of fresh foods totaled $230 billion in 2005 and in 2006 fresh produce surpassed fresh meat as the top-selling department in perishables.
Whole story at http://www.dairyfield.com/viewprnews.php?nid=17736