Friday, November 7, 2014

Where does my produce come from?

After a recent trip to the supermarket, I was curious how far our food travels to end up on the market shelves. Since most processed foods can only be traced back to the address of the company that distributes them, the search was limited to produce. Even then, the best that can be done in some cases (like organic bananas) is the country of origin.

Here's the map of some rather basic Fall produce purchases:


The bright side is that they are all at least from the same hemisphere, but that's still a lot of travel for a not-at-all exotic shopping list. A reminder that growing and purchasing produce locally does make a difference.