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What Is Driving The Local Food Movement?

It's almost impossible to avoid local food culture,

especially

in an urban center like

Charlotte. Coffee shops market locally-roasted, fair-trade coffee; restaurants list the sources for
their meat products, alongside higher prices. Changes in culture and food preferences are driving
this local food movement. Although many Americans continue to follow eating habits adopted by

a prior generation

consuming large quantities of processed food

a courter movement is

spreading in the United States. Young adults with higher expendable incomes are putting their
dollars towards organic, locally-sourced, minimally-processed food. This paper explores the trend
and what drives

it.

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For decades America has led the way when it comes to heavily processed foods, for two

two primary reasons. First, "Americans like things that are fast and easy, requiring minimal

personaloreconomicsacrifice,,(lkerd*W1@odCulture,,).Thishasbeenthemain
selling point for the factory-to-table foods produced

in the United

States over the past few

decades. Corporations have engineered their products to have near-addictive tastes, improved

mouth-feels, enhanced appearances, and longer shelf lives. This was achieved by pumping foods

full of salt, fat, and corn extracts in a bid to hook the consumer. Corporations had little regard for
the nutritional value of their products.

The 2013 New York Times article The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Foodby

Michael Moss publicizes engineering foods to appeal to consumers. The article opens with a

discussion of James Behnke. Behnke is a scientist and former Pillsbury executive. He describes a
meeting of top food industry scientists and executives to discuss the food industry's concern over

the American obesity crisis.

A Kraft executive who presented at the meeting went so far as to

compare marketing junk food

to children as equivalent to marketing cigarettes. Another top

executive at the meeting-the General

Mills executive who invented sugary Yoplait

"Gogurt" for kids-reminded the group that consumers like what tastes gooa(

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Moss then discusses the science companies use to "get people hooked on foods that are
convenient and inexpel5ivs"-665ugtry, salty, fatty foods [that] are not good

quantities that we consume them." (Moss, "The Extraordinary Science Of Addictive Junk Food").

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He met with a "food optimizer"

Howard Moskowitz -- who literally spends time combining

taste, packaging, and color and testing the combinations on consumers to find the match that

sell the most product. Moskowitz seeks to find the consumer "bliss point"
there's just enough sugar or salt

"sensory satiety" and 'omouth feel" to determine how

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of Addictiv)e Junk Food").

The traditional American diet has led to rapid increase

the point when

in a product but not too much. He researches a product's

consumers (Moss, "The Extraordinary science

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will

in heart disease

and,

Type 2

diabetes. Obesity is now at epidemic levels in the United States, where children are now three

times more likely to be overweight or obese than the American youth a decade ago (Russo and

-Smith
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1). This is a direct result of the consumption of foods that are high-fat -*=--_
and low in

nutritional value. Many of these foods are developed and produced using corn and soy extracts.
While corn or soy products are not necessarily harmful to our bodies, the sheer volume of these
ingredients when considering our entire consumption

of food is alarming/

A 2011 leading

United States govemment health campaign advised Americans to "cut back on foods high in solid

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fats, added sugars, and salt. They include cakes, cookies, ice cream, candies, sweetened drinks,
pizza,and fatty meats like ribs, sausages, bacon, and hot dogs" (choosemyplate.gov).'*

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However, at the same time, the United States govemment has heavily subsidized corn and
soy production in the United States since the mid-1990s. The production of corn sweeten...,

starch, and soy oils have cost American taxpayers as much as $19.2 billion

in subsidies

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since N

1995 (Russo and Smith 5). This $19.2 billion figure is even more staggering considering that
does not include the additional amount the U.S. government has paid to keep corn

it

feed-for large

meat production facilities--cheap. (Russo and Smith 2). This is a colossal figure when compared

to the $689 million spent on the apple production subsidies over the past 18 years (Russo and
Smith 5). Such startling figures help to explain why "a growing number of Americans

are

expressing doubts and outright dissatisfaction with the current American food system" (Ikerd,

"The New American Food Culture"). At the same time, these subsidies in part explain why
processed food remains cheaper in many cases than healthier options.

A local food system is defined

as a "method of food production and distribution that is

geographically localized" (Eustainabletable.org, "Local

& Regional Food Systems"). The term

"local food" is shorthand for a number of things. It can mean sustainably produced food, whole
food

i.e. less processed food, and, of course, food sourced from local farms (and even within

that there is an ongoing debate over the radius of

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The growth of the local food movement can be seen in the Charlotte area. This is evident

through the growing number of farmer's markets, high quality supermarkets (Whole Foods),
community-supported agriculture (CSA's), and organic restaurants throughout the area. With the
addition of Johnson & Wales culinary school in2004, the food "scene" has been slowly gaining
momentum. As Kristie Greco, communications director for the Democratic National Convention
Committee, stated in the 2012 Nbw York Times articte)Cft arlotte Wokes tJp Bankers' Taste

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Buds," "Like mushrooms springing to life after a forest fire, it seems a serious food scene

has

emerged in Charlotte in the recovery from the economic crisis" (Severson, "Charlotte Wakes tlp

Bankers' Taste Buds"). The new food scene perhaps explains (in part) why the 2012Democratic
National Convention was held in Charlotte.

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The article goes on to explain some of the rationale behind the movement. Charlotte was
best known as a oomoneymaking mecc4l2and the food industry played on that for many years,

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offering high-end chain steakhouses and barbecue for the financial elite. However, in the wake

the financial crisiS coupled with the introduction of Johnson

&

of

Wales, amongst other factors,

"[F]armers and cooks found each other, and the whole town just seemed to be interested in
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expanding how it ate" (Severso\, '
For example,

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chef Clark Barlowe (a graduate of Johnson

& Wales)

has opened Heirloom, a restaurant

dedicated to only using North Carolina ingredients (Choiniere

22). Heirloom's menu is "based

on what is available that week, that day, that hour" (Choiniere 22). In addition, Barlowe sources

his ingredients, his cooking tools, and even the decorations for the restaurant from North
farms andbusinesses

Carolina

(Choiniere22).

The energy behind Charlotte's local food movement is akin to that of the national
movement. The growing exposure

of food production practices and the power that big

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producers have over the market and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a one of the

major driving forces in the changing national

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food ethic. The work of author and food activist WdY
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Michael Pollan has made a huge impression on many Americans, both from his books such
'oThe Omnivore's Dilemma" and

"In

Defense

of Food" but also from his appearance in

as W::

the ?*" "

documentary Food, Inc. The movie opens by telling the viewer that the food industry has
changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000 years. In particular, the rise of fast

food

produced as

if on an assembly line -

has created a market for mass produced food. These

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fast food companies value consistency in their products

Because companies want the same product

the same product for all customers.

to sell across America, they have extraordinary

market power (Food [nc.,2009).

Young adults today are using their increased spending power and choosing "fast-casual"
healthy options. Young adults are tuming away from typical fast-food choices in recent years.
Instead, these individuals

many of whom are willing and able to pay a'opremium" for healthier

and seemingly more wholesome choices, are choosing such "fast-casual" options as Chipotle,
Panera, and Subway. These chains

promising healthy options and more upscale atmosphere

have exploded in recent years, while traditional, low-priced fast food chains
have remained stagnant

like McDonald's

(Horovitz, "McDonald's Earnings fall; Changes Afoot"). The fact that

fast food chains attempt to incorporate "healthy" options (apple slices at McDonald's, for
example) shows that they are attempting to capture a segment of the more health-conscious
market.

Another reason for the local food movement is that the public has more knowledge about
mass food production tactics. The publication of documentaries like Food Inc. has heightened

the public's knowledge of the production practices used in the production of their food

including terrible conditions for animals and near-abuse of employees, many of whom are illegal

immigrants. Increasingly, companies are providing what consumers demand

a more

transparent production process that is kinder to animals and company employees.

New trends in the food and drink communities have put an emphasis on local ingredients,
as seen by the increase in the number of farmer's markets and the rapid increase

in coffee shops,

restaurants, and breweries that offer locally roasted coffee beans, local meat and produce, and

breweries claiming to use local ingredients. The buzzwords attached to the local food movement
have become, in some instances, m'ainstream

for example, "farm-to-table" eating and "fair-

trade" products. Many of these buzzwords have become synonymous with health. For example,
the "gluten-free" movement has been the biggest trendsetter in recent years in the food industry,
gaining popularity from celebrities touting the benefits of eating a gluten-free diet. lnThe Wall
Street Journal article "The Gluten Free Craze: Is it healthy?," Margo Wootan, director

of

nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, explains how a decade ago a
gluten-free diei would have helped an individual to lose weight by cutting out breads, cakes, and

muffins. However, her article explains that the "gluten-free fad has actually undermined people's
health because now there are gluten-free varieties of all that junk food. Whether your doughnut is
gluten-free or not, it's still a doughnut" (Jargon, "The Gluten-Free Craze: Is It Healthy? ").

Under Wootan's logic, one might also ask whether the "hip" local food buzzwords have become
code words for "health food," when that might not actually be the case (for example, a locallysourced doughnut is still a doughnut). Likewise, one might ask whether large food production

companies are now using thebuzzwords to sugarcoat (no pun intended) their not-so-changed

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products. For example, NPR recently noted that Frito-Lay has reformulated Cheetos to meet
school nutrition guidelines. (NPR, "Guess What Makes the Cut as a 'Smart' Snack in Schools?

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There is no single answer to what is driving the local food movement. Indeed

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movement's momentum is heavily driven by increased publicity of the effects of the typical
American diet combined with the exposure of mass food production practices. Another
supporting factor is the increased availability of healthier organic foods and a market interested in
purchasing those local products. However, the success of the local food movement depends on
the public's continued support and food companies'

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